Take a Selfless

In the age of selfies I was tickled when a 16-year old student wanted to use me as a model to sell her pants online. It's nice to know teens can't solve all of their problems alone in their bedrooms with their phones. Sometimes the unorthodox English teacher is called to assist.
   
Like any good photo shoot, Matilde crawled on the floor and climbed on chairs looking for the right angle and I reluctantly struck every ridiculous pose she requested. Her hours of research on how to take photos of her friends in the high school bathroom had paid off. She'd made me look five pounds thinner and the pants looked so good I considered buying them myself.

Although technique plays an important role in photography, it's not everything. A perfect shot isn't always the result of timing, the right light, a good eye or a thousand tries. Sometimes it involves a sixth sense.

Two of the best photos of me were taken by people that barely knew me. The photographers didn't crawl or climb. They just pointed and shot and captured the Kodak moments.

The first one was in Japan in 2001. I'd met a German boy twenty years my junior in Tokyo. Three days and 280 miles later he found me sitting at a temple in Kyoto and said, "Give me your camera. I think you're going to like this picture." I allowed one shot. I wasn't willing to waste two on a silly thing like me writing in my journal. I didn't fluff my hair or move my leg to make it appear more like a rifle than a cannon. What he saw was what he shot. And when I got back to Chicago and developed the film what I got was the most zenlike photo of the trip.

The second photo was taken recently by a new Moldavian friend in the mountains. On a run one morning my quick stop to say hello turned into orange juice on a glass tray with a crocheted doily. The juice was in a wine glass (just the way I like my Diet Coke) and next to her tiny coffee cup there was a pot of honey (she puts a spoonful on her tongue and then drinks her coffee over it).  

As I sat on her stoop in my sweaty running clothes admiring the tray she said, "Give me your phone. I think you're going to like this picture." I didn't use pursed lips or peace signs to distract from my cannons clad in running pants. I just sat there and smiled and accepted the shot 'as is'. Valentina was right. I like the photo. Maybe weekends in Valle di Seren bring out my serenity.

I wouldn't describe myself as zen or serene and neither would anyone else I know. Yet, these two people that barely knew me saw it and fortunately had the sixth sense to know it was something I needed to see in myself. Selfies don't catch these moments. Grabbing your camera, tilting your head and sillyly smiling at yourself changes the whole mood.

The next time you go for a selfie, why not go selfless? You don't need Matilde's moves to make the subject look better than they really are. Just look for someone that needs a photographer to find in them what they haven't yet found in themselves.