you don't mind if i steal your soul do you?

This weekend, I ran around with a camera (a contraption I truly despise, both because I don't like people using it on me, and I don't like the way it tends to distrupt social flow). I needed a whole lot of pictures of faces for a final project for a class. Most of the weekend, I was in various parts of LA.

It was really interesting, the different responses I got from people. I always asked if I could take a picture of their face for a school project before I started snapping away.

Some people were completely willing, some would wander over to see what I was doing and ask if they could be part of it too. Some people flatout refused, for whatever reason, I didn't press the issue.

What was most interesting, though, was when people asked questions or made comments. Some said sure, then kind of begrudgingly submitted to it, muttering about being sure they'd end up on some illicit website, and of *course* it was just an innocent face shot for school.

A lot of people asked where I was from, what it was for, some out of genuine interest, but a lot were trying to find holes in my story, catch me off guard to prove I wasn't just going to print out their face, perhaps just the nose or chin, and then delete it.

What people objected to the most was not the picture, but what happened to it. A part of me wonders if people would have been as hesitent if I'd had a film camera instead of a digital one.

Conversely, I'm amazed at times with how comfortable people are posting pictures online. The number of times I've heard about parents or employers tripping over unfortunate pictures on myspace and the like... It strikes me as a sort of collective agreement to naivete, that if we believe hard enough that the net is safe and private, we'll make it so.

I don't know, it was just incredibly weird to me that I could wander up to complete strangers, even if it was in semi-social settings, and steal their souls, I mean, take their pictures, with so little protest, with so many people seemingly not giving a thought to the possible consequences.