099 | I’ve watched this new Street Diaries episode by Joe Greer

I was watching this new Street Diaries episode by Joe Greer¹ and there were a few moments that stood out to me that I want to quickly highlight here. The first moment is around the 11 minute mark when Joe runs into another film crew who’s following some extravert girl dancing around. The second moment is when they run into some guy called Jimmy K who is determined to insert himself into the video.

Both persons are very loud and very outgoing. They are also very interesting subjects to photograph. This is obviously the type of thing you want to see when you are out on the streets taking photos. You want some action, something special to happen. So when people talk to you and be all up in your face with their energy, what do you do?

You take a photo.

I saw Joe having no hesitations to shoot away, while these people were doing their thing right in front of him. It’s a thing I noticed immediately because I recognised how I would’ve responded in such a situation. I’m way more avoiding and way more dismissive when people ‘disturb’ my process on the street. Basically, I’m a little scared to have these types of interactions. Of course, these people can be unpredictable and you never know what they might do next. Of course you have to be careful and vigilant.

That doesn’t mean you should run away from these types of settings though.

Instead, it’s way better to embrace them. Let the moment be what it wants to be and don’t prohibit it from unfolding by being dismissive. You are right there, you want to document life so be there and shoot. Shoot as much as possible.

Oh, also, this entry marks 100(!!!) consecutive days of writing! Counting the announcement of the project on December 31st 2020 as well. Tomorrow will be the official 100th entry for my Monologue project though. I’ll try and come up with something interesting to say.