After focusing on street photography during my trip to Washington DC and Baltimore in June, I began questioning the ethics of sharing those photos of people without permission. I decided to focus on taking street portraits with my subject’s enthusiastic consent.
Not only did it not feel right sharing pictures of strangers without their permission, but I’m a people person and find far more joy talking to the people I photograph than just taking sneaky snapshots.
Free Photos for Fun People is a street portraits project that I started in August 2024 to get awesome pictures of fantastic people during my travels.
Finding approachable people ended up being far more difficult than I expected. Everyone seemed to be in such a hurry! That’s the big city energy, right? Go, go, go! I walked around Boston taking pictures of my surroundings for over an hour before finally stopping anyone.
Athena and Haley were my very first people portraits with written permission. They quickly filled out my online model release and we goofed around together for about 5 minutes. First with the Make Way for Ducklings statues in the Boston Commons and then we took advantage of the beautiful scenery.
It was so much fun getting to know these strangers for that brief window. I wish my memory was better so I could tell you more about them! I did reach out to all of the participants so I can include more details when I post on social media. Hopefully, more respond. Either way, you can find more of the fun by clicking on their photos!
While I’m certainly not opposed to photographing other travelers like myself, I wanted to focus my energy on people who lived in the area. I decided that individuals were likely to be locals if they had a dog and who doesn’t want pictures with their puppies???
I found Ellie getting ready to enter a dog park in Central Park during my first day in New York City. She was excited to participate in my new street portraits project with her 4 year old dachshund, Bernie, and her foster pup, Bernadette.
I stopped two very friendly grad students near my AirBnb on my last day in Boston. If my memory serves, both are studying at Northeastern University.
I won’t lie, Sam Schaper was one of my very favorite people to photograph. I’m a sucker for action shots and Sam was happy to show off his skateboarding skills. Sam and several other skateboarders were doing stunts at Columbus Circle close to Central Park. The light was getting low, but I still got some great shots along with some awesome posed and candid street portraits. Sam was also the first person to send me more information from my follow up. Thanks, friend! You’ll be the first person I post about on social media. Once an image is clickable, there are more pictures ready for you!
After being shot down by a couple people, I decided to turn my focus to some of the musicians and artists. Not only were they pretty much guaranteed to be locals, but I knew they could use their pictures to promote their artwork. Win, win!
James and Kakush shared a guitar for a quick few minutes of pictures in Central Park.
Want to hear a recording of James performing?
I tracked down Instagram links for these two awesome musicians, too.
Instagram.com/jamesericadler
https://www.instagram.com/kakush_music/
I got to know a couple amazing artists with booths at Washington Square Park.
Delphine Le Goff is a former actress from Paris who first jumped into drawing during the pandemic. Impressive work! I’m excited to share more of her pictures on Facebook, but be sure to also check out this article I tracked down. You are quite the treasure, Delphine!
https://www.instagram.com/displaybydelphine
Take a look at more of J. Eric Cook’s artwork, too!
https://www.instagram.com/ad.tumulum
We were wound up in the hustle and bustle of the Big Apple next to Rockefeller Center, but I snagged a few great shots of Hugo and his German Spitzs, John, before taking a quick tour inside St. Patrick’s Cathedral across the street.
Here’s another fantastic artist blessing the streets of New York City. Take a look at Nicolas Cascio’s work at: https://www.instagram.com/liveartonthestreet/ and LiveArtontheStreet.com.
And last, but not least, We Are Camera Monsters caught my eye. I’ll happily support their business with one of those awesome camera t-shirts!
I’m really enjoying the photography of Bryan Close, as well.
Such a pleasure chatting with all of these talented people. I suddenly have some pretty cool friends in two of the best cities in the US!
Keep an eye on my Facebook and Instagram for more Free Photos of Fun People!
