Buongiorno amici! I hope you are having a nice weekend :)

I am spending these last days before Xmas with my parents:

they came to Switzerland to visit me, so this weekend we planned some daily trips together.

I don’t know if you are belonging to the category of “social photographers”, enjoying photo-walks with friends and family, multitasking fun conversations while spotting nice frames to photograph and being completely relaxed and present, or to the category of “introvert photographers”, affected by what I call the “ALL-IN SYNDROME”.

What’s that? Well, you know when you implode in your own bubble full of colors and lights, and everything around disappears, including your poor friends and family trying to spend time with you? I belong to this category.

Although this is absolutely fine for me to be that way when I am alone with my camera, it becomes a bit uncomfortable when family and friends are with me, because I tend to leave them out of my bubble without even noticing it. What to do? Do not take photos when out with other people (and feeling frustrated) or take photos and stay in my bubble no matter what (and making my people feel ignored)?

Since I did not like any of these solutions, a while ago I thought of a way to take photos and enjoy my passion while traveling with non-photographers, being also able to enjoy time together.

These are my tips, that I used also yesterday during a daily trip to Strasbourg at the Xmas markets with my parents:

Street portrait of Very and her mom looking at a photo in the camera. — **EXPLAIN WHAT YOU ARE SEEING**

When we walk around with our “non-photographers”, we need to keep in mind that they probably do not see the world in our same way. Not everything is a possible cool photo, and for sure they do not want to stop every 2 seconds to wait for us while we frame our next creation.
Maximum effort to expect is a group selfie as a memory of the day and move on. However, if we explain what we have just seen and want to achieve, they will not feel completely left out and will probably show more interest in the result.
Although they do not use a camera anymore, they were experienced hobbyist photographers until not long ago, so they were happy when I invited in my creative bubble, asking them for a feedback and future ideas.
This was definitely a win-win situation: I could take the photo I wanted and they felt included in my moment.
No tensions in the day, wohooo!

2. DO NOT OVERDO IT! :

If you have my same “All-in syndrome” and tend to get sucked into the black hole of your creative mind, you better repeat this to yourself several times during your day out with non-photographers: do not overdo it! Even involving your friends/family in your creative process will not save the day if you stop every 2 seconds to take photos of EVERYTHING. It will be perceived as the entire day was planned around youself… and although this is not your intention, well, they would be right to feel that way.

I unintentionally did this mistake a couple of times in the past, but when I saw the disappointment in the eyes of the other person, I did not know how to fix the time together spent not really together, and felt soooo stupid.

If you think about it, being selective and efficient is also a very good photography exercise: as I mentioned in the travel photography post (see Blog 6. The traveling lens), curate every single shot and then move on, without filling the entire memory card with quick photos that you will not be happy about and probably will never look again. POCHE MA BUONE! (a few but good!)

Fujifilm X-T5 + XF 16-80 mm f/4 WR

3. MAKE THEM THE SUBJECTS OF YOUR PHOTOS:

Even non-photographers can see how your camera is essential in your life, and if you ask them to be your subject they will feel at the center of your attention (not too many times, remember! Do not annoy them!). Moreover, how many times did it happen to you to stop for like 20 min waiting for someone to pass and create the shadow you want, or you did not manage to get close enough to your subject of interest? Now you have subjects you can use to practice or to get that one shot you never manage to get right! ;)