Que sera sera

Seen on a friend's GTalk status message -
"A windfall of millions for a team that won a farcical cricket tournament… and pittance for the heros of the Nehru cup for football and the Asia cup for hockey! No wonder our country will never see beyond cricket!"

People photography

Catching people's faces on film when they are doing anything but looking at the camera - this is one of my favorite forms of photography. And among people, I love taking photographs of strangers. Not people I know.
In the bus. The restaurant, talking animatedly to the one opposite them. The laugh at the end of a joke. Lost in thoughts. Browsing through clothes. Books. Smiling to oneself. Leaning on something. Holding hands. Swinging legs. Playing with their hair. Smiling at a text message.
And the liberal use of zoom.
But taking the photograph is not the toughest part. It's the fact that you need the permission of the person before capturing the shot (or they can sue you or get you arrested for breach of privacy). Catching them at an exhibition or carnival or any public place is the easiest, because photographers are expected there. But other places it's difficult. Also because of the fact that it's a stranger tall guy who has taken a 'liking' to their kid and wants to take a picture. Ow. Or if it's a girl whose picture I want to take. That's the toughest - I break into a sweat and my tongue goes vaguely involuntary.

I had asked a friend - "How do you manage to take photographs of people you don't know?"
"Well, you smile at them, and just hold up the camera. They smile back and continue what they were doing."

Well, may be you have a cute smile. I don't. :) Cause when I smile, for most of them, it's "Uh oh, strange brown man is taking my photograph."
Or "Uh oh, strange brown man has weird smile. Oh dear God he has a camera!!!"

Here is an embed of shots I had taken when people didn't know about it. Please don't sue me, I am just a photography hobbyist.

Damage control - by Miss Teen South Carolina

So Lauren Caitlin's train of thought was yet to board the station when she was asked that famous question about *US Americans* and maps. (Aside, that was a dumb question to ask on a beauty pageant. Aside aside, beauty pageants have lost perspective. Aside aside aside, this post is not about beauty pageants.).
But what I really liked about her was the fact that she appeared on national television, on the Today Show and gave a nice explanation about the *pageant incident*, the repercussions of which made it last week's most-watched-video-on-YouTube.
Was it effective damage control? I don't know about that. But I really admire her comeback. And the self esteem and confidence that came along with it.