KRISTIN WINET
is an award-winning travel writer, blogger, and
photographer. Her work, has been featured
both online and in print, covers culture, cuisine,
accommodations, and experiential travel. Check
her out at
.
i
man’s picture instead, because this column
isn’t about proper photographic technique,
something that I, as someone who’s still
figuring out how to adjust the aperture on
her camera, am probably not qualified to
offer. It’s about connecting with people,
which is something I’m pretty good at,
even if I do say so myself.
Throughout the years, I’ve taken a lot of
pictures of people on my travels. At first,
the photos were just, well,
bad
. Candid,
even stealthy, shots often resulted in blurry
faces or backsides. Over time, the photos
improved as I got bolder about asking
subjects if I can take — or re-take, as the
case may be — their photo. Sometimes
people say no or shake their heads (maybe
they were having a bad-hair day, I can
completely understand), but most of the
time they are pretty open to the idea. They
especially love it if, as I’ve started doing,
you promise to share the photos with them
once you get home.
I’ll say, too, that the practice of connecting
with my subjects has really enriched my
own social media life, as my Facebook
page has become a weird and active
conglomeration of the people behind the
portraits I’ve taken. From the giddy
teenage girls I met on a beach in Taiwan to
the random 20-somethings I met at a bar in
Amsterdam, to the fifth-generation cheese
maker in Italy, there’s always something
noteworthy happening in my newsfeed. In
fact, I’ve watched those girls go to college,
those random bar people meet other
random bar people, the cheese maker
come out with a new variety of
manchego
,
and, more recently, the Salt Man’s
bountiful spring salt harvest.
People
23
enVoyage
