Alan Shapiro will be presenting on Street Portraiture: It can change your life. And maybe someone else’s.

Alan Shapiro is a lifelong storyteller and a story gatherer.   These days, he just happens to always carry a camera.  When he talks about street (or environmental) portraiture, people immediately get anxious…intimidated.  His response is simple:  

What if all this is about sharing good karma?

Finding and Sharing gratitude?

Finding and Sharing joy and delight?

What if this practice could fix things?

Amplify things that needed more attention?

Help someone overlooked feel seen?

What if your interaction with a perfect stranger made them feel a little more perfect…and was the highlight of their day?

Join Alan for a presentation of stories, tips, and techniques about his experiences making portraits with perfect strangers and his cameras on (and off) city streets all over the world.

Alan Shapiro Bio:
Alan grew up on the creative side of the advertising world, working with clients around the world; telling their unique stories in very unique ways. He had the pleasure of collaborating with many, talented photographers and film directors. He became envious of their art and craft. At first, he saw it as a means of reducing his stress-filled life. As a Chief Creative Officer at the world’s largest Advertising Agency Network Omnicom, he needed a distraction. A friend gave him a camera. Then he bought another and another. His new hobby and daily “creative exercise regimen” turned into a joy-filled and all-consuming passion. Then, his first photo client called, followed by many more. 

His work can be seen throughout the entire hospital set on ABC’s The Good Doctor, in launch campaigns for the Apple iPhone and Nikon as well as for Cadillac, OnStar, Lockheed Martin, Die Zeit, Ricoh, Cotton Incorporated, Scholastic and numerous others. His work fills entire walls in Bose stores and Ritz Carlton Hotels worldwide and hangs in numerous private and corporate art collections. His macro, food and still life work can be seen in countless editorial publications and products from housewares to clothing to puzzles.

As much as Alan loves creating images, he genuinely loves to teach; sharing his workflow from capture through post-processing and printing. He is a super high-energy instructor with a knack for getting people out of their comfort zone as well as helping them discover and capture beautifully simple things in beautifully unexpected ways.

More Thoughts from Alan on Street Portraiture:

When I tell people how much I love street portraiture, environmental portraiture, whatever you want to call it…walking up to complete strangers and asking to make their picture, I watch something happen to their faces. Anxiety. A flinch. Abject fear. Like I just described jumping out of a plane.

Here's what I wish they understood instead: for me, this whole thing is just an excuse to share good karma. To go looking for gratitude, for joy, for delight, and then hand it to someone else like a gift no one knew I was carrying.

What if this practice could fix something? Amplify something that's been waiting too long for attention? Help someone who's gone unseen all day to feel seen, if just for a second?

Russell didn't speak much. I asked if I might spend a few moments capturing him, and he nodded. That was it. The entire negotiation, conducted in a single gesture.

There's something I always remind myself as I'm walking out and about with my camera: the bigger the smile you give, the bigger the smile you get. Don't get me wrong. I'm rarely fishing for a smile. Russell never smiled. I want to believe he tried once or twice.

But the smile isn't a request. It's a disclosure. It's me saying, before I even raise the camera: here's my heart. You can see it plainly. Now it's your turn to show me something true.

With Russell, what came back wasn't joy. It was something quieter. A kind of dignity that looked like it had been waiting all day, maybe longer, for someone to notice it was there.

That's the part nobody warns you about. The photograph isn't really the point. The photograph is what's left over after the actual thing happens, which is two strangers sitting on a park bench in the shadow of the Flatiron building, agreeing without saying so, that this moment…this face…this person, counts.

So, I will once again put these two questions into the universe:

What if your few minutes with a stranger were the best part of their day?

What if it was the best part of yours?

To find Alan and his work, go to:

AlanShapiroPhotography.com

Instagram: @alanshapiro515

Facebook: @alanwshapiro