825/900 - Tarisai
We all know the feeling. We aren’t really expecting to meet an interesting person for our project. Then we see someone and we are instantly captivated and thrown into high gear. I was on a brief coffee break mid-lecture in my class downtown and decided to stick my head outside to check the weather. I saw this woman coming into the building as I was going out. She was talking to a friend and I assumed she was headed to a class. I looked over my shoulder, wishing things had worked out better and saw that she was exiting the building through the rear doors. She wasn’t rushing to class. I spun on my heels and caught up with her in the laneway between university buildings. I apologized for cutting into her conversation but said I just HAD to invite her to my project when I saw her sensational and stylish look. She was smiling but hesitant. “I have to be at work in like 4 minutes.” “How about if I do it in 3 minutes?” “Sure.” (laughing, probably at my boldness. Meet Tarisai.
The sun was strong and the only option I could think of that would be good for a “speed portrait” was a wall brightly painted with bicycle outlines. I handed her my card and confirmed the Flickr posting aspect of the project and she said that would be fine. I struggled a bit to keep the strong sun off her face and wound up squeezing her against the wall and photographing her virtually parallel to the wall. It turned into a mostly backlit situation and if I’d had more time I would have used my reflector but time was of the essence so I skipped the refinements.
Tarisai is a 21 year old Journalism student with a summer job as a summer officer of the student union. I didn’t have a chance to find out what that involved or to learn more about her other than that she has some super sense of style and a very friendly personality. “Were you born in Canada?” “No. I was actually born in Zimbabwe.”
I had her type her email into my mobile phone because I was having a sudden attack of dyslexia and was unable to process the spelling of her lovely and unique name.
Wishing that I had a few minutes to find out more about her, I knew I had borrowed a couple of minutes she really didn’t have so I sent her on her way to work with my thanks and one more apology for interrupting her conversation (her friend had gone on while we did the photos).
Thank you Tarisai for taking a couple of minutes for a fun and very spontaneous meeting and for participating in The Human Family. You are #825 in Round 9 of my project. Good luck in school and in life!
Additional note: The lovely Tarisai thanked me for the photos which she liked. She also took me up on my invitation to introduce herself more fully via email since our time together was so limited when we met. Her words in response to some prompts I emailed her: "I was led into journalism firstly by my dad who is also a journalist and secondly because I want to give a voice to those marginalized in society who always find themselves forgotten. I want to be a political journalist and outside of school I am involved in social activism revolving around the lived experiences of black people. My friends would describe me as stubborn, artistic and immensely sarcastic. And I want the world to know that the revolution will not be televised because it is happening right now." With more people like Tarisai, I think the world will be in good hands.
825/900 - Tarisai
We all know the feeling. We aren’t really expecting to meet an interesting person for our project. Then we see someone and we are instantly captivated and thrown into high gear. I was on a brief coffee break mid-lecture in my class downtown and decided to stick my head outside to check the weather. I saw this woman coming into the building as I was going out. She was talking to a friend and I assumed she was headed to a class. I looked over my shoulder, wishing things had worked out better and saw that she was exiting the building through the rear doors. She wasn’t rushing to class. I spun on my heels and caught up with her in the laneway between university buildings. I apologized for cutting into her conversation but said I just HAD to invite her to my project when I saw her sensational and stylish look. She was smiling but hesitant. “I have to be at work in like 4 minutes.” “How about if I do it in 3 minutes?” “Sure.” (laughing, probably at my boldness. Meet Tarisai.
The sun was strong and the only option I could think of that would be good for a “speed portrait” was a wall brightly painted with bicycle outlines. I handed her my card and confirmed the Flickr posting aspect of the project and she said that would be fine. I struggled a bit to keep the strong sun off her face and wound up squeezing her against the wall and photographing her virtually parallel to the wall. It turned into a mostly backlit situation and if I’d had more time I would have used my reflector but time was of the essence so I skipped the refinements.
Tarisai is a 21 year old Journalism student with a summer job as a summer officer of the student union. I didn’t have a chance to find out what that involved or to learn more about her other than that she has some super sense of style and a very friendly personality. “Were you born in Canada?” “No. I was actually born in Zimbabwe.”
I had her type her email into my mobile phone because I was having a sudden attack of dyslexia and was unable to process the spelling of her lovely and unique name.
Wishing that I had a few minutes to find out more about her, I knew I had borrowed a couple of minutes she really didn’t have so I sent her on her way to work with my thanks and one more apology for interrupting her conversation (her friend had gone on while we did the photos).
Thank you Tarisai for taking a couple of minutes for a fun and very spontaneous meeting and for participating in The Human Family. You are #825 in Round 9 of my project. Good luck in school and in life!
Additional note: The lovely Tarisai thanked me for the photos which she liked. She also took me up on my invitation to introduce herself more fully via email since our time together was so limited when we met. Her words in response to some prompts I emailed her: "I was led into journalism firstly by my dad who is also a journalist and secondly because I want to give a voice to those marginalized in society who always find themselves forgotten. I want to be a political journalist and outside of school I am involved in social activism revolving around the lived experiences of black people. My friends would describe me as stubborn, artistic and immensely sarcastic. And I want the world to know that the revolution will not be televised because it is happening right now." With more people like Tarisai, I think the world will be in good hands.