Stepping outside my comfort zone...

Some of you know that I have a great admiration for folks who do candid portrait photography. Most especially of those who routinely photograph total strangers (after first asking permission). I've never worked up my courage to do that ... until this morning.

I made a very quick trip over to Lake Seminole this morning and stopped at one of the smaller ponds to take a few early morning shots. While I was shooting, this woman and her daughter approached me and struck up a conversation. Turns out that they were wanting to tell me about their church - usually a conversation that I would dismiss, and quickly. However, this woman had such a nice way about her, and such an infectious smile, that I decided to let her go through her spiel. As she was talking I became increasinly fascinated with she and her daughter - and when they reached the end of their spiel, I blurted out "can I take a few pictures of you?" As the words were leaving my lips, I had a jolt of stark fear - I don't know a darned thing about taking photos of people, what on earth was I thinking, etc.

But they quickly agreed and then started giggling - I chatted and got them laughing even more, while clicking off about 20 quick shots. So, meet Crystal and her daughter, Yenna. Crystal has the most beautiful big smile and bubbly laugh while Yenna was a bit slower to smile ... but Yenna's smile made the sun shine. So here you have my very first attempt at street portraits. I had to fiddle with the image a little - had the camera set for a landscape which wasn't really ideal for a portrait - but not unlike yesterday's seascape effort, I'm pleased. I see much room for improvement, but I'm happy with myself for pushing outside of my comfort zone.

For those who stop by to see birds and wild creatures, thanks for bearing with my forays into new territory - tomorrow I will return to my usual genre, I'm sure.

Hubs and I had a lovely outing to Weedon Island and Sawgrass Lake this morning where hubs saw his first ever alligators! Very fun time. We are now settling in for a nice nap, then meeting some friends for dinner. The clouds have rolled in, and the forecast is for rain later ... which will actually be kind of a nice change of pace.

I posted three other pics on Flickr ...

Smoking can turn your nails blue, apparently

A cute little baby alligator

Another shot of Crystal and Yenna

Y'all have a great weekend!

Debbi