Camera Shy.

John Loengard, Life magazine photographer and later photo editor, said of photographing the great Andre Kertesz "He was a very difficult subject. Sometimes the camera just bounces off of the sitter." Yes, that happens to me from time to time. However that's different from the subject who is "camera shy". Sometimes I can get past "Oh, I never take a good photo." with "Well, then you need a better photographer."

When I took a copy of last month's print of the month to the subject, Sylvia, she said "That's really nice. Who is it?" Nancy (December print of the month) said when I brought her a print "Lovely, I don't see myself like that."

June's print of the month subject was different. Sitting chatting with her and a couple of mutual friends on the sunlit Inn porch at Seabeck, when I got out my camera she looked like I had pointed a loaded skunk at her. (sigh) I'll be interested at her reaction to this photograph of her.

Keith Carter, one of my favorite "regional" photographers and a veritable fountain of quips about photography and his work, said "The hardest part of starting a new project is starting it."

Yep. I'm trying to get two projects moved off of the back burner with, as yet, little success. One of this I'm provisionally calling "Off of the Main Drag" -- photographs of small businesses that have somehow survived redevelopment and gentrification either by being in a hard to use location or a sketchy neighborhood. This barber shop is on James (the steep bit close to 1st Avenue). Even at that I'd better get going. I missed a good many of them in South Lake Union.

The other back-burner project is the "7x14" project I mentioned a couple of months back in which I'm using up stray framing and plexi pieces. I'm up to five candidates so far. Here's one of them. This light hearted and somewhat goofy family wanted a portrait of them for the opera for the beach for the garden for bedtime. I tried to convince them to add a fitth, nude, but couldn't get them behind that idea.