I'm having tea with Jasmine, an artist here in Portland who I met a few weeks ago, and from whom I purchased my first piece of original artwork. We're almost done with tea and I decide that today I will ask her to make eye contact.
It's a different kind of vulnerability to ask someone who isn't a stranger. Asking (and being rejected by a stranger) is an experience that, if you want, can just fade away and be forgotten. It's likely that you'll never see each other again. They'll probably forget about the interaction, too.
But asking someone who you know, even a little, is more likely to be remembered. I think there's more vulnerability in that.
Jasmine and I don't know each other very well. This is only our second time meeting. The first time was two weeks ago, just briefly, when I stumbled into her art gallery opening, chatted briefly, and spontaneously bought one of her pieces. Still, even with that little bit of face-to-face interaction and a few emails exchanged since then, asking her to do this doesn't feel like asking a stranger. The excitement I feel is different. And I'm pretty sure she'll say "yes" anyway.
She does, so I start the timer and we begin.
Afterwards we talk a little about the session and I take her photograph. I experiment with a composition that places her on the left side of the frame, however, she prefers this one:
