Paris: Street Style Photography

After a long weekend in Seattle, I flew directly to Paris. A few hours after arriving, I took my camera and met Atif outside of a fashion show. I had just left a promising career to embark on a journey of self-exploration. With this huge life change I decided I would follow curiosity and see where I land and what I learn. First task was to tackle street style photography.

The show had just ended and there were streams of people flowing out of the building. Some lingered while others slinked their way through the crowd off to the next show. It was Paris Fashion Week.

I had no idea who was who, if someone was even an anyone in the industry. I took a place out of anyone's way on the sidewalk and just watched with my camera by my side. I was completely paralyzed with fear and couldn't bring myself to take even one photo. At one point, noticing that I was just standing there, Atif came over and encouraged me to get into it and just snap away. Nope, I couldn't. I left with no photos.

On my way to the next show a few hours later, I thought about what had happened. It's always been in my nature to be reserved and a bit timid. As I've grown older I've had to push past it because it's often hindered me professionally and socially, but it still lingers there inside me. I reflected on all this then decided that I really didn't want to let myself feel like I couldn't do something or I couldn't learn. After all, this was the whole point of this new chapter in my life. So I forced myself to do what was making me feel incredibly uncomfortable and scared: at the next show I got out there, picked up my camera and captured moments. I tried not to worry about anything or anyone (photographers can get pretty aggressive for the shot) and I tried to believe in myself.

This battle is a challenge and there are tons of times I still feel intimidated. But how incredibly rewarding it is to push yourself outside of your normal boundaries. It just completely opens up your world and it's a high. I'm constantly learning about myself by being behind the camera.

I learned that I don't love shooting fashion but I won't pass up the opportunity to learn and reflect. I shot Fashion Week this year, both in NY and Paris, and it left me feeling uneasy. I don't get how so much money and time can be spent on something as superficial as this and how society can revere models and celebrities (among others) like gods while there are people out there fighting for human beings' basic rights to survive and survive a decent life. This is a larger thought I'll have to come back to in another post.

All in all, this was an exhilarating experience that reminded me to keep trying.

Here's a set of my photos from Fall Paris Fashion Week 2016. Let me know what you think!