Candid Portraits Are a Tricky Business

This trip to Ireland was an opportunity, or series of opportunities, for me to take photographs I could not or would not have taken otherwise, and that has me feeling inspired. I'd like to share these photographs in the spirit of sharing how I was inspired and what I learned.

First, this trip was an opportunity for me to meet some really fabulous people. And I was inspired to take candid portraits of several  of these people.

Candid portraits are a tricky business. I like to get people's approval before I point my camera in their face, but if they know your taking their photo, the portraits tend not to be all that candid. I learned that you can ask someone's permission to take their picture, and then continue to shoot after they have stopped posing and/or feeling self-conscious about the camera. This is when the best photos happen.