Sento

Today was the day I got to take camera #20 from Blipfoto's When you're a stranger project out for it's maiden voyage. Since I was meeting a friend and then heading to the sento (pubic bath house), I thought I'd grab a shot there, maybe of one the customers on their way in or out of the old-fashioned building in which the sento is located, but definitely not one of the pasty, wrinkly old men in the baths. Instead, I went for a portrait of the attendant (who may have been the owner) sitting in his little cubicle at the entrance where you pay.

I take a lot of photos in the street but I'm usually shooting candids, so this project has pushed me into doing something new. Asking strangers for a photo is hard enough at the best of times, but doing it in your another language adds another level. The sento is quite famous for it's garden and pond that you can walk around in between baths so I broke the ice with a little bit of chat about the garden and then slowly worked round to get the portrait. He looked pretty fed up when I first stared talking to him, but in the end when I asked him for the portrait he was all smiles. Here's hoping it comes out okay.