People are fascinating creatures, don't you think? Triying to photograph them can be a bit tricky. Maybe they're having a bad hair day or something. They will often tolerate a few pix, but quickly become annoyed if you're always pointing the camera at them. Getting spontaneous shots can be a mixed bag. When they're good, they can be fabulous. All too often people have their eyes closed or their mouth wide open! I've noticed that to be good at photographing people, you have to overcome your fear of offending them. Strangers can get really annoyed, and I've got more than a few shots of glaring faces. It's much easier to shoot animals or flowers... unless you have a long lens!

Of course there are the people who just love to have their pictures taken, and I would wager that growing up they had a mom or dad who often had a camera in their hand. Or they're a photographer themselves, and these days that includes just about everybody.

There are some people that no matter how many shots you take of them, you can't get a good one to save your life. That's frustrating, and kind of embarrasing for both of you.

My hat's off to photographers who can consistently get good, flattering shots of people. There's definately a knack to it.