Reflection

At first, I thought this project would be difficult to complete. Not because of the photo aspect, because I have a lot of experience taking photos, rather I thought that I would have a hard time coming up to people and asking them questions. I’m a pretty outgoing person but approaching strangers on the street is a bit more intimidating. My plan for approaching strangers was to just very forward in asking to talk to them and approach them in a non-threatening way. My plan worked out very well and I ended up meeting some really kind people. I really enjoyed meeting all of these different people and they couldn’t have been any more lovely than they were.

My first photo is of person named Walker. I got this photo while I was at an Orioles baseball game. I had brought my camera because I thought I would try to get some photos while I was there. I had originally just gotten the picture because I thought it was a cool photo, but I looked at the photo again and decided to approach him to ask him my interview questions. He was so kind to let me chat with him for a few minutes despite being so busy. I had such a good experience talking to him that it made me really optimistic for the rest of the project.

My second photo is of a person named Kelly. I was in Downtown Annapolis taking photos and I saw him skateboarding and thought he might be interesting to talk to. So, I approached him and asked to interview him. His answer was so interesting, and it was so nice talking to him. We talked for a while and we got along super well. I would even consider becoming friends with him. He was such an overall genuine person who really put off a lot of good energy into the world. Again, I had a great experience and I felt even more confident in going out and talking to more people.

My third photo is of a person named Nina. I was taking photos while on a trail and ran into Nina. She looked so happy, so I really wanted to know if she was just putting that off to the world. It didn’t surprise me at all when she said she was actually happy. She was super approachable and really delightful to talk to. She was the third person I had tried to approach while walking on the trail, so her being so welcoming was very exciting. She seemed so genuine and kind and overall had such a great energy to her. I could tell she was driven by the people she loved. I really appreciated our conversation.

My fourth photo is of a person named Gabriella. I was at a photo meet up in D.C. recently and found it to be a great opportunity to meet some people and interview them. I tried to interview a few more people, but they all declined, which was a little surprising. I didn’t use a different technique of approach with Daniella, she just opened up to me. She was so fun to talk to and she had a lot of charisma. I could tell she was in her element at the photo meet up, she did seem genuinely happy being there. Talking to her made the rejections feel a lot better.

My last photo is of a person named Zack. I was on my way back from the photo meetup from the previous photo when I saw Zack with his bike. Something about him caught my eye, so I had to talk to him. I took his picture then caught up to him afterwards. He seemed like a really cool guy and had a ton of energy. He was super approachable and also really kind.

 As I was seeking people out to interview and photograph, I was actively trying not to take photos of people who were similar to me in a lot of ways. I really tried to put effort into meeting a diverse set of people to put the contact theory to work. I talk to people who are different than me every day, but I think while working on this project I was a bit more cognizant of our differences because I was so focused on the diversity aspect. All of my friends are different than me in some way, but I never really focus on it, so I am not usually this aware of differences and how they affect our interactions. During this project I also had to throw away my preconceptions about people when deciding whether or not to approach them. I couldn’t let my implicit biases around appearances, like the way someone dresses, take over when deciding who to approach. I think if I didn’t keep this in mind I might have unknowingly steered away from certain people because of aesthetics. I liked this assignment because it was a reminder that we should always be checking our biases and always try to check ourselves, because we are all human and we aren’t perfect.