Madrid Orgullo [Madrid Pride]

Each year Madrid celebrates Gay Pride with a weekend full of parades, parties, and concerts. The center of Madrid shuts down for the festivities and the party takes to the streets all night long. I only braved taking my camera out one night, Thursday, which was a bit calmer and allowed me to trek up and down with my tripod, camera and flash.

The mission was to capture up close portraits of some of the concert goers. This was a big deal for me as I have trouble asking people for permission to photograph them. Simply ... I'm afraid of rejection. But seems as though if you approach with sincereity and a nice demeanor more then likely people will be ok with it.

Here are some of my favorites:

Fotografiado el 2 de Julio, 2009. Chueca, Madrid.

Things of note: select aperture you'll be working with first. Measure light before you ask someone to pose. I learned people get tired of posing after about 10 seconds. And lastly, don't feel pressured, if someone wants to see the image right away, be ready to give them your email address and tell them you're happy to email them.