Silhouette by the Lake

A young woman
Sits by the lake
As the sun sets
On another day

I took this shot yesterday evening while going for a walk along the lakefront. I loved the way the light was hitting the water and I was trying to work out a way of showcasing that when this young woman sat down for a breather right where I was looking at shooting.

Normally I would have asked if she minded being in the shot but with social distancing at the moment and as I was shooting telephoto and she was a fair way away, I couldn't really ask. So I decided just to snap a quick shot but make sure she was in silhouette.

I like how the shot came out and it's really about the contrast between light and dark so the silhouette works really well for the shot.

For what it's worth I'm not really someone who likes taking photos of random people but I started out with street photography where having people in the shot can often add to a photo so I developed my own set of rules for what I was comfortable with and I've pretty much stuck to them ever since.

My rules are, if I can ask first I will but when that's not possible, if someone walks into my shot or if having someone in the shot adds something interesting to the photo, then I'm okay with it. But the shot mustn't put them in an unfavourable position and I prefer not to have them be obviously recognisable if possible. And if anyone would rather not have been in a shot, I'll delete it no questions asked.

Basically I try not to be a dick. It's not that hard really and it's worked pretty well so far!

Haiqua and photo © CJ Levinson 2020