Environmental Portraits of Convenience Store People Pt. 2

 Bonnie

 Gheni & Surinder

Timothy & Sukhmeet

 Nick

Dominic

For my Environmental Portrait assignment, I decided to revisit my previous idea of capturing convenience store people. The idea came about back in early 2011, when I was at a convenience store around the corner from where I live and I realised, while I was queuing up to pay, there were some people who would just pay and leave (nothing wrong with that) and then there are others who would take a few seconds longer and chat with the cashier. Back where I come from, I don't normally see that happening when I was growing up. I figured I would chat with them too, get to know them a little better, be friendly and leave them with a smile and I bid them a good day/evening ahead. I guess my inspiration are the people you see in these images. I'm doing this for them. It's not everyday when a customer comes in, buys something, ask permission for a photo of them and then return the next time with a framed photograph.  With the camera being involved, I wanted to breach the barrier between them and customers and I hope I've successfully captured that. Looking back at the images, I notice that most of them have the same type of shelfing system. Same colour too.

From a technical aspect, I would previously approach them and asked them to relax and just smile for a picture and to no surprise, the photos appeared very candid like. This time however, I would ask them to stand up straight and I would allign them in the middle of my frame. Even though every image almost have the same composition, they're different in character as their personalities various. I didn't use any lighting equipment. I depended solely on their fluorescent lights and any available daylight coming through windows or open doors. I feel like if I would brought in my own lights, the images wouldn't look as candid and natural as theyd do now. But that's just oppinion. What do you guys think?