Happy Accident

My usual photo walk after work brought me to the city market. I was a bit hesitant to shoot at first since there were a lot of passersby. I stood in a corner for a while to observe and check if there's anything worth being gutsy for. I'm not superstitious or anything but when I saw the words "SHOOT" from a jeepney graphic (it was actually SHOOTER but I only saw SHOOT from where I was standing), I was encouraged to go ahead and shoot. :)

I started trying to take a few vendor portraits. I noticed one in particular who had such a lovely look when she laughs. When she noticed me however, she frowned and told me she gets sick whenever she's photographed. I came near her and introduced myself. I told her I meant no harm and was just doing this as a personal project. To convince her, I brought out some printed photos of other street vendors and street mainstays. The vendor beside her who seemed more interested took the prints from my hand and looked at them. She surprised me by saying it was her grandfather in the first picture. She then happily named each person in the prints. She even showed them to another vendor who shared her delight in knowing each one.

This is not my best photo but I like it as it shows what I similarly felt earlier: surprised. :)