Pushing My Comfort Zone | San Francisco Street Photography

I did something that was very far past the line of my comfort zone – I went to San Francisco for a weekend long street photography workshop by Eric Kim. Spending two days with a bunch of new people, in addition to pushing through the anxiety of talking to strangers on the streets was huge for me. I also spent my first night ever in a hotel alone!On regular sessions I'm expected to deliver quite a few images per hour. Eric told us that during the entire weekend, we had to make three great images.THREE.After that he would help us pick the best one out of the bunch.ONE?!What a relief – and what an immense amount of pressure on one image – all at the same time!During my regular sessions, I am expected to be smack in the middle of everyone's business. On the streets,  I had to reflect on why an image would be important to make, as well as how to communicate that to the person I wanted to take images of.It was a great exercise to think about why I HAD TO get a picture of someone, and watch them light up because a photo of them was important to me. Some of them I promised not to share online, but having them reminds me of pushing through the uncomfortable.The things I learned during this workshop will definitely help me with travel photography, because people are the most interesting part about new places. I haven't felt comfortable enough to ask to make portraits of locals on travels – now I can't wait to get back out on the streets of San Francisco!

Hop on over to Eric Kim's street photography blog to see images by the other workshop students.