Shurijo Staff no.1

This delightful, polite,, smiley and helpful staff member at Shuri-jo Castle in Naha, Okinawa, obliged me this photo-op after I had captured and returned a renegade shoe-bag (you take your shoes off to enter parts of the buildings) that had escaped his attention.

 

I have decided to think of it as a karma thing, because the other guy wearing men's kimono and bowl-on-head in the castle courtyard could not be shot whilst facing you - I managed only a few rear view shots when he was sure I had moved-on. Little did he know I was ready for him when I passed through to the throne room (taking my shoes off first of course) becoming part of a seeming conveyor belt tour (a frequent occurrence at busy Japanese monuments)!

 

Actually the shots of the other guy were not so interesting after all. I am always of two minds as to the "shoot-and-run-with-a-great-candid-much-like-you-imagined" school of photography as opposed to the "ask-politely-with-a-non-threatening-approach-and-take-away-a-posed-portrait-losing-all-the-character-that-your-mind's-eye-captured-moments-before" scgool.

 

I usually go for something in between, trying not to be impertinent or imposing but equally not too sly when shooting a candid. Now that I have a digital SLR, it is quite easy to proffer the post-view display for the subject to have a look-see. This method is invariably popular with younger subjects and seems to lighten the concerns of rightfully concerned parents, especially when you can offer (without to much hassle on your part) an emailed copy of the picture in the short term.

 

Of course, their are some occasion when one's zeal to get the picture will commit manslaughter on one's best intentions. Equally there are some times when the mind's eye will just have to do. Still sometimes it's nice to have that incredible image all to yourself, knowing that (at least with today's available mind-scan techniques) only you can access it. Or is it just me who thinks so?

 

Any thoughts?

Done