Hands-On Photography Episode 125 Transcript

Please be advised this transcript is AI-generated and may not be word for word. Time codes refer to the approximate times in the ad-supported version of the show. 

Ant Pruitt (00:00):
Today, your Hands-On Photography. We are talking street photography. I am just so in just, mm. So pumped up to be able to sit down with Mr. Harry Williams and go through his flow of street photography. And I gotta tell you, it's not quite what you think. I mean, you, you. Mm.

Ant Pruitt (00:17):
It's not just getting out there important shooting. I, I I'll tell you that right now. Great stories, great images. And that's coming up next

Speaker 2 (00:28):
Listeners of this program, get an ad free version. If they're members of club TWI $7 a month gives you ad free versions of all of our shows plus membership in the club, TWI discord, a clubhouse for TWI listeners, and finally the TWI plus feed with shows like Stacy's book club, the untitled Lenox show, the GIZ fizz, and more go to twit TV slash club TWI. And thanks for your support.

Ant Pruitt (01:02):
Hey, what's going on everybody. I am Ant Pruitt. And this is Hands-On Photography here on TWI TV. Hope y'all are doing well. I am unbelievable as always. I love sitting down with you find folks each and every Thursday to discuss different tips and tricks to help make you a better photographer, as well as a better post processor. And also like to sit down with a fine professional photographer out here in this world. That's just eager to share their tips and tricks and knowledge with all of you. Hands-On Photography listeners. Hey, I appreciate y'all joining me. And if this is your first time catching the show, welcome to you. Thank you. Go ahead and subscribe and whatever podcast application you're enjoying us on. We're available on all of them. Of course, some of you already know this, but yeah, go to Apple Podcasts.

Ant Pruitt (01:49):
Subscribe right there. Go to Spotify. Subscribe there, go to Google, go to YouTube. We're available on all of those. And if you have the option to do a nice little star rating or comment or likes or whatever, all those algorithms do. Do that for me as well, to help push us up in the search results and help grow the Hands-On Photography community, or just feel free to head on over to our website, twit dot TV slash hop that's twit.tv/HOP for Hands-On Photography. Appreciate y'all doing that and appreciate y'all sharing all of the love for the show. So let's go ahead and get started with this week's episode. Last week we talked about the moon photography challenge and, and again, I really do appreciate all the feedback that we got from that one. And prior to that, we had a couple interviews and one of them was interviewing an amazing street photo. The Canon Explorer of Light Miss Chrisanne Johnson. Well, this week I'm interviewing another great photographer. That's not just doing street photography, but boy, so dagum good and just has a really, really interesting take. As a matter of fact it got the attention of a local publication here in the San Francisco and bay area, SF gate. They reached out and did a feature on him. And we're gonna talk about that momentarily, but first allow me to introduce you to Mr. Harry Williams. How you doing, sir?

Harry Williams (03:19):
Great. Thank you.

Ant Pruitt (03:20):
<Laugh> Hey, I appreciate you joining me today. Again, I, I came across your story on sfgate.com and was like, wow, this is just unbelievable. And a lot of our Hands-On Photography listeners have been quite curious about street photography and, you know, for the last year and a half, me personally, I've struggled with street photography cuz here in this particular area of, of Sonoma county, it's been a bit dead out and about people have been just sort of either sheltering in place or the businesses have been shut down. There's just been flat out quiet and so going out and trying to explore street, photography's just been a little bit rough for me and, and I sort of felt bad about it, but I'm glad I was able to come across folks like you that's been able to get out and travel around the world, whether it's here in the bay, down in San Francisco or heck even out in Cuba and wherever, where else have you been? You've been all over the place here recently.

Harry Williams (04:21):
Yeah, I was fortunate. I was just in Portugal about a month ago and then in Mexico three times over the last course of the last, probably six months. So I go the Mexico to go surfing, but then I also I've been trying to do a lot more photography in Oaxaca. So I made a trip to Oaxaca a few years ago. I went back and then I'm kind of starting this new body of work in Mexico in Oaxaca, but that that's more concentrating on, on really getting even more in depth on people's hands and the people that work in the fields, people work in the markets. And again with all of my work, just trying to get sharper closer, tighter, and just show, you know, sometimes when I'm doing that type of work for me, it's like, I would just want like one little element in the shot to say everything.

Harry Williams (05:23):
And sometimes I'm like, well I gotta get tighter or closer if there's a little mark on that person's hand or they're missing a finger and it's one word that says that they're like a Shoemaker, then you, you just kind of drive all these things from that image. Like how do they lose their finger or is it making shoes? You know, mm-hmm <affirmative> so so yeah, I've been, I've been going down there a lot and I try to work on multiple bodies of work at the same time. So it keeps me kind of fluid. And just like you said, if there, if there's times in the city where there's not a lot of people out or I'm not doing a lot of street photography, then I can pivot and keep working on something else and just kind of keep challenging myself to look at things different. Cuz sometimes, you know, when I just do street photography it just kind of becomes redundant and I wanna always keep making, keep myself as an artist that makes stuff look fresh

Ant Pruitt (06:19):
Now, see, this is fascinating because you, you said one keyword pivot and just sort of keeping things fresh. That sounds like a, a man that, that knows a bit about branding and marketing <laugh> is that, is that right? Is that right? <Laugh> yeah.

Harry Williams (06:35):
Yeah, of course.

Ant Pruitt (06:36):
You know, cause I've seen, I've seen some of your profiles online and, and I believe it was Harry Williams marketing. Is that correct?

Harry Williams (06:44):
Creative

Ant Pruitt (06:45):
Harry Harry Williams. Creative. Yeah. Can you tell me a little bit about that and what, what, how you got started with that and some of the services offered from you

Harry Williams (06:53):
Folks? Yeah. My background has always, well my degree in photography. So I got a degree from Ohio state in 19 94 95 mm-hmm <affirmative>. But what I, what was really interesting is when I was in school they taught us, they were really only interested in teaching us how to be artists, that my, all of my teachers were already respectable when the art world, they, they, one teacher had images in MoMA in New York city. So they weren't really interested in teaching commercial photography. So as an 18, 19 year old kid, you're like, what am I gonna do? Like <laugh> when I get outta school.

Ant Pruitt (07:33):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Harry Williams (07:35):
But in the reality is what the good and the bad thing is I wasn't really prepared to do commercial photography when I graduated. I was just taught to be an artist. So and, and, and all honesty, I didn't really like it. So I just thought at one point I wanna just shoot what I wanna shoot and I'll work and get a job in a creative field. But that way I can ever have to, I can just shoot what I wanna shoot and I don't have to make money on it, you know, I can just kind of keep working. So so that's kind of where that went. And my, my background's always been in visual merchandising and design. I worked for a number of years for William Sonoma pottery barn. And then I was a creative director, a kids clothing group. And then I just broke off and did my own thing. And I was kind of doing everything from store design and visual merchandising photography. I mean, I had a lot of things under my belt, so I could kind of take on projects and they would kind of span a lot of different kind of creative areas. So that's where it H Harry Williams creative kind of came from,

Ant Pruitt (08:45):
You know, it's great that you mentioned the design aspect of things I've spoken about this before on the show. I even had a, a graphic designer on the show, Mr. Dave Clayton, Mr. Dave Clayton, come on and just talk about some of the principles in design and how those principles can be applied to your photography and really make your photography stand out. Have you found yourself, you know, just sort of preaching the gospel of that as well and some of your work, I know you're doing street, but every now and then as you're framing up something, do you sort of have this little checklist going off in your oh yeah.

Harry Williams (09:20):
In your head? Of course. Yeah. Well, and when I was taught photography and this was like these guys that are from the seventies and they were, they, they were like the original street photography guys. They, they were really, really big was before digital that we were not allowed to crop anything. So whatever we shot in frame, we could not crop and we'd have to print our stuff in the dark room with the Sprocket holes. So you couldn't, so they would look when you would have your critiques, you could see exactly what was in your frame. And if you didn't do that, you would, you were gonna get an F you know, wow. <Laugh> for years and years and years, and years and years, I only shot like that. And it was very critical to me what was in that frame. And most, probably 75 or more percent of my shots are not cropped. So that's why I'm always trying to get really close to when I'm doing my portraits.

Ant Pruitt (10:16):
Okay.

Harry Williams (10:17):
They're not, I don't shoot with a telephoto lens. I don't, I mean, there's, sometimes I'll, I'll shoot one, but not with portraits or not with not with people. If it's a scene in the city that I want to capture, maybe a light falling on somebody and it's just capturing shadow or light or form, then may, maybe I might, but, but almost all, well, all of my portraits are 50 millimeter or, or a Mac lately. I've been shooting with a macro lens, but if they're fixed, they're not, they're not seen lenses.

Ant Pruitt (10:49):
Outstanding. Yeah. I was gonna ask you, so what are you shooting with? So it's a 50 millimeter. My understanding with the 50 mill is it's per pretty much like your standard human eye focal. Is that, that why you went with that? Or why not say a 35 or even an 85? Just because you want to

Harry Williams (11:08):
Closers it's the distortion and getting closer. And then also with the 50 that I shoot with, it's a 1.4. So I like it

Ant Pruitt (11:17):
Beautiful to feel.

Harry Williams (11:19):
Yeah. And it, that was something that's really, I've only started to do within the last, probably last two years. Because again, when I was brought up in photography, we all had to, we had to shoot everything at like F 16, because you wanted every you, that was the other

Ant Pruitt (11:35):
Thing you feeling the frame, right? <Laugh>

Harry Williams (11:37):
Well, you're, they, my teachers thought was that why throw something out of focus if it's not, it's supposed to be out of focus and why is it there? So everything in the <inaudible> conscious of, like, you shouldn't throw things outta focus, you know? So 

Ant Pruitt (11:51):
Wow.

Harry Williams (11:52):
Interesting. It took me a long time to break these habits. Yeah. Took me a long time to break some of these habits. And then recently in the last, probably two years, I've been shooting a lot of portraits wide open at 1.4 and letting everything fall out, except for like the sharpness of the eyes or something. And I love it. It's it's, it's like, I'm like, oh, why did it take me so long to do

Ant Pruitt (12:15):
This <laugh> but

Harry Williams (12:17):
You know, but then it it's sometimes when I shoot people's hands it's opposite, cause I want them to be really, really, really sharp. And so I, I kind of go between the two. And then there's sometimes too where I don't even the things on street photo, something will happen so fast that I know I'm like, I just gotta set this on auto, just so I can make sure to get this shot. And I can't, I don't have time to like play around with different exposures and stuff, so

Ant Pruitt (12:43):
Yeah. Makes sense. That makes sense. Yeah. I, I don't typically ask this question, but what's the camera that you using?

Harry Williams (12:52):
I use a icon to Nikon D seven 50 and then, like I said, the stand I just carry usually when I go and walk, well, not usually always when I go and walk, I just carry a 50 millimeter lens on camera. That's it. I don't carry any of, I don't carry a backpack. I don't carry, I carry, I go really, really light. And it, I feel like that helps me to, to photograph people for one people just look at, they look at me as a tourist. They don't think I'm, you know, some professional photographer with all these, all this equipment and all this stuff. And mm-hmm, <affirmative>, I think the long having a T photo or even a longer lens puts people off too. Mm-Hmm <affirmative> cause again, you know, because when you photograph somebody automatically, they're like, why do you, the first thing is like, why do you wanna photograph me?

Harry Williams (13:40):
And if they see that you have all this equipment, then they already start to assume, well, you're gonna use my photo to make money. You're gonna use my photo for this or that. And you know, but when you kind of travel light and you're just kind of look like you're walking around as a tourist, it, it just breaks all those things away. And then, you know, I don't just walk up and start taking pictures of somebody. I have a conversation and then I talk to them, but and then they might say, oh, you know, you know,

Ant Pruitt (14:08):
Well with that said, why, well, do you even bother to pull out a smartphone for some of these, these trips? Or, you know, why not?

Harry Williams (14:18):
Sometimes I carry a GoPro.

Ant Pruitt (14:21):
Okay.

Harry Williams (14:21):
So sometimes I have a GoPro in my pocket. And when I'm, if I, if I'm, if, for example, if I'm walking around and I'm, and to take portraits of people, you really have to it's like a, you just really have to be in the mood, you know, cuz you're really just kind of engaging and talking with complete strangers and you have to be mentally like ready to do that, you know? And and sometimes when I'm out walking, I'm just not in that state of mind. So I might carry a GoPro and I might just shoot street, like how people would shoot with Leica or something like that. Mm-Hmm <affirmative> but to be honest, probably most of the times and I, I shoot a lot like that. You, I mean, there's a very, very small percentage of those that I ever post <laugh>.

Ant Pruitt (15:10):
Yeah. Right,

Harry Williams (15:11):
Right. Just because when I look at it, I don't know, there's something about it. That's not, it's not my, not my, really not my style things. I'm not controlling the frame. So it's just like, you have to shoot a lot of pictures like that to get one where you're like, oh, this is, this really looks great. The composition looks great. Mm-Hmm <affirmative> and that's always, always been the thing with street photography is those guys that really are good at it. They shoot a, a tremendous amount to get that shot and cause a lot of it's just point and shoot. They're not, you know, some of 'em, I mean the masters are really great. They know where to hold their camera, but a lot of people will say they're street just cause they're taking pictures when people really looking at them. But a lot of it, it's not that doesn't really make a great street photograph, you know, for, to say

Ant Pruitt (16:00):
Now with these expeditions, if you will. How do you go about just, just planning to go? Do you just wake up one morning and say, huh, I wanna go to Oaxaca or I feel like across The tick to Portugal, how does this come about?

Harry Williams (16:14):
No, I mean, I love to travel. What happened was when I was, when I, I I'm from Ohio. So when I graduated from college, I wasn't sure what I was gonna do. Wasn't working in photography. And one of my friends had traveled in Southeast Asia mm-hmm <affirmative> at the time and this was in the late nineties and he said, you know what? You should travel to Southeast Asia. You could spend a year there and work, just do photography and work on a whole body of work. And at first I was like, ah, I don't know. And then it just resonated with me. And then I talked my best friend into going my girlfriend at the time and literally sold everything that we owned and we left and went to landed in Bangkok with no itinerary <laugh> and stayed for almost a year and that wow.

Harry Williams (17:04):
And that right there started my love of travel, you know? And we went, we went everywhere and I had, I had a Nikon F two. Yeah. So I was shooting film. One, I had two lenses, one D millimeter lens and 1 28 millimeter lens. No, that was it. I figured the wide angle would be if I wanted to shoot a temple or a landscape. And then the 50 is what I carried all the time. So and it was great, but cause you know, there's a lot of stuff that I didn't shoot with the 50 just because it wouldn't look right. Right. So I that's where I had kind of started to do some portraits and kind of get into sort of, of my, my kind of style stuff that I like to take.

Ant Pruitt (17:52):
Oh man. I, I love the, the, the whole free spirit of it all and just say, you know what? I'm Hm. I got nothing to lose. Let's just go out here and just start shooting and just making a go of it. I totally respect that. Anyway, what I would like to do is take a look at the, the website SF gate and some of the images there that shows off some of your work and just ask you about a couple of those. Is that okay?

Harry Williams (18:18):
Yeah. Yeah, of course.

Ant Pruitt (18:19):
All right. So here, here's the article this San Francisco photographer takes the most vivid portraits of everyday residents. And, you know, I think I was on my Flipboard. I love Flipboard flipboard.com. Just for being able to see amazing content throughout, throughout my day, where there's tech news or just, you know, beautiful art from photographers around the world. And this one come up and black and white, it just, oh man, I love black and white photography because you have to, there's no hiding behind color. That's the, I guess that's the best way I can put it when it comes to black and white photography, there's no hiding behind color. You get to see the true story of the image, in my opinion. And you, you just got some amazing stuff going on here. As I scroll down like this, you headline image, number one with the, the smoke coming out of his nose, just absolutely beautiful. And again, these are all just portraits of just everyday people quote, as they said here. And this is using your 50 mill lens on your neon body, correct? Mm-Hmm

Harry Williams (19:28):
<Affirmative> yeah.

Ant Pruitt (19:29):
Yep. Okay. So when you see he, someone out and about as you're just sort of walking around and, and you're off in the distance and you're like, huh, this person looks interesting and you just sort of walk up, how, how does it, the approach go when it comes to grabbing shots like this one here of this man that's he has a mask cuz that, you know, we're in COVID times, pandemic time mask is down below his chin on his neck and he is enjoying a cigarette and he is, and the, the contrast in this black and white image where the blacks are like just super dark blacks. And it's really making him pop off from the background and it's making that smoke, just sort of stand out even more. And it's just, oh then the kiss of the highlight on his fingers, just man, I, I Dred over this image just <laugh> but how do you walk up to, to him and say, Hey what, what's the conversation? What's the icebreaker, if you will,

Harry Williams (20:25):
It, you, you know what? It usually just depends on every person. If like for, for example, put like this guy, he was sitting down having a cigarette, having some food and he, he, I was walking by and he said, Hey, do you have any money? And I said, oh, I don't. And then that's it. That's mm-hmm <affirmative> I'm I'm in. And then I, I, the difference is though, I, I sat down, I sit down on the street, I sit down next to him and I just, we just start talking. I'm like, oh no, I don't have any money, but where are you from? And, and he is like, oh, I'm from here. And, and then you just have a conversation and then, you know I said, Hey, do you mind if I photograph you when you're smoking? He said, no, go ahead. And then, you know, it's really, really a nice, and then he'll say, oh, then he'll get excited and oh, let me see the picture. And then I'll show him. And he is like, oh wow, it's, that's great. And then he'll say, Hey, if you ever this particular guy was really funny. He said, if you ever sell the photo or make any money, can you donate it to a shelter or to a food bank or something like that? And I said, oh, I said, yeah, dude, that, that would, you know, and to be honest, that

Ant Pruitt (21:28):
Is awesome.

Harry Williams (21:29):
I, a lot of people, they will ask me, like, what do you, they, they wanna know like how their photos are gonna be used or what are you gonna do with them? Mm-Hmm <affirmative> and and why? And I say, well, I, if I see somebody in beautiful light, I IM just really drawn to that and I wanna photograph them. And I'm like, I have a, it made any money in really in the last four years doing street photography because people don't normally buy portraits of people that they don't know, you know, it's weird. So you know, and, and they appreciate that. They're like, okay, right. That's, you know, that's cool. I, I see, you know, and then, you know, and some people, if some people I run into a few times and I'll bring them prints if I, if they live in a neighborhood or something, so, yeah.

Harry Williams (22:14):
But yeah, it just kind of depends on the situation of where this particular shot, this was with a zoom, but I wanted to kind of capture the emptiness. And this was literally the day after city went on complete lockdown. And I, I drove down to the area around like seven in the morning, right. When the light was coming up. And I just kind of wanted to see what the city was looking like at that moment in time. And this was one of the shots from there that it J I was just kind of like, it just kind of blew me away, you know this woman kinda struggling, there's nobody on the streets, you know, it was a really weird time in San Francisco. And it's nice to like, to be able to look back on this photograph and I can, it, it was just kind of, I always know that, like that time when I took this, what the city was going through.

Ant Pruitt (23:09):
Yeah. That at that moment, at least for me, you know, we were, again, I'm, I'm here in Sonoma county, so it's just not quite the same from a yeah. Metro standpoint, if you will. And I remember going out for the first time when it, when all of this stuff happened and <laugh> the first thing that comes to my mine was that movie, bird box. You remember that movie?

Harry Williams (23:33):
Mm-Hmm <affirmative>

Ant Pruitt (23:34):
<Laugh> well, I think it was Sandra Bullock and it was a popular Netflix binge at the time. And the people were afraid to go outside and they all had these bandanas or wraps over their eyes because they didn't want to see what was happening outside because whatever it was was something sinister, but I'm walking out there and every now and then when I saw a person, I saw a mask and that was the first time me just sort of understanding that the normalcy of face was about to hit us. Yeah. And it was just so surreal and so eerie. And, and I had my camera in my hand and I didn't even want to take a picture. Its, cuz it sort of weirded me out a little bit and yeah, it just burned this weird sensation in my head and I'll never, I'll never, ever forget that time and image right here. Just sort of reminds me of exactly what I saw, just the emptiness and then the moment of seeing someone just walking around and they got a mask on, I'm like, oh crap, this is the new normal now.

Harry Williams (24:38):
Yeah. You know? Yeah, sure.

Ant Pruitt (24:40):
Goodness. All right. Let me go back to your images here. There was a couple more I wanted pull up. Let's scroll down. Here we go. This one right here. I love the fact that you got in nice and tight because not only we have the story of their eyes, but there's the story of the tattoo there and <laugh> again, you, you just walk up and say, wow, this is, this is awesome. Hey yeah, this cool tattoo on your face. Could I take your photo? I'm sure. That's not what you said, right?

Harry Williams (25:13):
<Laugh> it did you know, what's funny, is this the interaction I have with every person? Again? I, this, I think this person had, was selling something. I can't remember what they had in their hand. And I, I think they were homeless and she, she was like, Hey, do you wanna, I think it was a pair of shoes that she found and she's like, do you wanna buy this pair of shoes from me? And I was, and I said, oh, I said, you know, I said, you know, I just started laughing. Like, no, I, I, I already have a pair. I can't remember what mm-hmm <affirmative> and then I might have I might have said something about what she was wearing or so, and to have a conversation and then we start talking and then I, then I'm just like, Hey you know, do you mind, could I get a, you know, portrait?

Harry Williams (25:55):
Or could I get a shot? And she's like, oh yeah. You know usually a lot of my interactions are kind of like that. If they're genuine too, like if I see somebody that I want to photograph it's I eye contact, right? Yeah. And it's like, if they make eye contact, when they smile, then I'll immediately go over to them and, and say, Hey, how's it going? You're where are you from? And we'll start a conversation. If I make eye contact with somebody and they look the other way, there's no, no way they'll let me photograph them. They're just already, I can already tell, but it's the confidence too, that I have that if I make eye contact with somebody look away and then look at at 'em again, again, they won't let me, so there's a very, very quick spontaneous. And you have to approach it super fast.

Harry Williams (26:45):
Like you, it's just a confidence thing and you have to be willing, like I'll have a conversation with somebody for 10 or 15 minutes and then I'll ask, Hey, you know the light's so great. Can I take your photo? And they'll be like, no, <laugh> I don't want you to do that. And I'm like, that's cool. You know? And then you're just like, well, the, you know, that's cool maybe next time. And they're like, yeah. Right. And sometimes that'll happen is I'll see them again on the street at some point. And I'll say, Hey, how's it going? And they're like, Hey. And then, then they'll be like, oh yeah, you can take my photo. So, you know, sometimes it's not always 

Ant Pruitt (27:17):
Definitely a connection. There is what you're saying. It's definitely a connect.

Harry Williams (27:21):
You have to have a connection cuz I, I, I want people to feel, not posed comfortable and you know, okay. With me taking their picture. And a lot of the people there's, there's quite a few, especially on this, the very first one that comes up on the article. His name was Al and he's lived in my neighborhood. He forever and he's homeless. The first time I photographed him, he, I think he might be a little schizophrenic mm-hmm <affirmative> and he would not, he just didn't let me photograph him. He didn't want me to take his picture or whatever. And I said, okay. And I kept seeing him. And then eventually he kind of started sleeping the street from where I live mm-hmm <affirmative> so me and my kids would bring him coffee every morning. Oh. And then I would, and then, and then I might take a picture or two of him, but every, and then, and my kids, they made them feel proud and everybody, and then he really opened up and warmed up and, and then he expected me to take a picture of him every day.

Harry Williams (28:26):
I saw him, you know <laugh> and so these pictures of him are the most intimate, closest. I am super close to him. Probably. I don't know, this is, this might have been the macro six inches away at, and this is like seven in the morning when he's having his coffee and his cigarette, the first thing it's freezing out. And I have a lot of photographs of him like that. And you know, you kind of have to build that relationship to get that close to somebody, to be able to photograph them this, this intimate, you know? Right. And you look the look in his eyes, you know, he's, it is just like, he had just probably woke up from like sleeping on the bench. So he didn't sleep. He didn't have a bed. He was the his, but you know, it's it. And it's you, people just always surprise you too.

Harry Williams (29:16):
Like this guy didn't have anything. And my, like I said, my kids would bring him coffee, you know, try to bring him every morning and, and we bring up food or whatever. And then mm-hmm <affirmative> one day my daughter was bringing them. I would pull the car up sometimes and she'd jump out and give 'em coffee. And he gave her all these bags of candy and <laugh> I was just kind of like blown away and, and, you know, the importance of that, I was trying to explain to her, I'm like, you have to understand this. Like he has nothing and the little that he has, he went and bought you. He, yeah. And I was like, that's amazing. That's I'm like, you know, that's. Yeah. So It's like the little things, you know, it was a really good lesson for, for my kids, not just my kids, but just for anybody to learn. It's just like, and you know, what I notice is that more people started actually helping him out and giving him things. And so I think when people see that, you're, it doesn't take much. You see somebody just ask him you okay. Or you want a cup of coffee, just a little thing like that can change their whole day, you know,

Ant Pruitt (30:27):
Outstanding, such a, such a great story, sir. It, and just the story of, of humanism.

Harry Williams (30:35):
Yeah.

Ant Pruitt (30:35):
You know, humanism and, and just sharing some warmth and love. And Lord knows we need more of it today. Yeah,

Harry Williams (30:43):
Yeah.

Ant Pruitt (30:43):
Around the world. Not just here in the bay area, but around the world. So yeah, this is wow. Very heartwarming, Mr. Williams. I don't wanna take up too much of your time, but this has just been an amazing, <laugh> sit down and chat with you. I really do appreciate you walking us through this and, and sharing, you know, just your workflow, if you will, but just your approach to this street photography and, and being able to get such beautiful images and, and, and help us to open our eyes and say, Hey, you know, this is, this can be a very, very intimate touching moment. It's not just about the, the photography it's so also about the warmth and the love. And I really do appreciate you hanging out with me. Is there anything that you'd like to share or, or, or plug, or let us know that you're working on or something like that? That even if you can share that is

Harry Williams (31:35):
Yeah. Yeah. Actually I'm, I'm having a show May 6th in the foreign lens gallery in north beach. Okay. So it opens Friday May 6th. It's gonna be like I was saying, I like to pivot. And so this is a body of work. It's not for street photography, but I like to always think that all my photography would sit well next to each other as it's a street photograph or something else I do. But these are, are all abstract kind of images little pieces of like drip wood and things like that, that I find on the beach. And I bring back to my studio and I photograph them. And so this whole show is gonna be about all these little interesting kind of things that I, I find. And I have kind of a, a connection to, or maybe a thought process at that point, when I find them, makes me want to pick that piece up and bring it home and photograph it maybe.

Harry Williams (32:37):
And, and the more I look at these little things, it might be something that has happened in a relationship or how I feel about my kids or, and and the more I'm like, oh, that makes sense. Why I pick that up? You know, there's certain little things and some of the times they're all over the place, but they're beautiful. They're I have one sitting, I just framed all my work. So here's one that's sitting here that's this is a piece of driftwood that I, I found, but at the time it looks like two twisted bodies together to me, you know, that are kinda coming together. So so

Ant Pruitt (33:13):
There, I could see that. Hold on, hold that up again. I could see that.

Harry Williams (33:17):
Yeah.

Ant Pruitt (33:18):
Oh, do

Harry Williams (33:19):
It depends how you look at it, you know, you get it like two forms, but yeah, so it's oh,

Ant Pruitt (33:26):
Wow.

Harry Williams (33:28):
<Laugh> the, the thing that I, I always try to tell people about my work is that first and foremost, I like consider myself an artist and, and, but photography is just the tool. And I like to be able to kind of, if I wasn't doing photography, I would be doing something else. And I have in, in certain parts of my life, different types of artwork. But so this is, I'm gonna just kind of show the breadth of like my work and stuff with this whole body. So it's gonna be fun. It's gonna, it is a really, I, I just, literally, I just framed it all this morning. <Laugh>

Ant Pruitt (34:04):
So

Harry Williams (34:05):
I'm looking at it. I'm like, okay, this all came together the way that I wanted it too. So I'm really excited.

Ant Pruitt (34:09):
I love it when that happens. Gotta love when that happens. <Laugh> well, Mr. Harry, thank you so much for hanging out with me. I really do appreciate your time. And thank you. I hope to be able to have you back on the show again in the future, just to talk about some more stuff with your photography anytime.

Harry Williams (34:27):
Yeah. Excellent. Anytime.

Ant Pruitt (34:28):
Excellent. Thank you so much, sir.

Harry Williams (34:30):
You're welcome.

Ant Pruitt (34:32):
All right, everybody that was Mr. Harry Williams and pan. Again, every time I sit down and talk to photographers it just me up, and I start to sweat a little bit. It's never nerves. I promise you, dad. It's just, I get excited. And yet again, I feel the exact same emotions and really, really grateful for Mr. Harry, hanging out with us today and sharing these tips and sharing this, this insight on, you know, what's happening just before he's clicking that shutter and thirties clicking the shutter. Such a great story. Hey, if you have any questions, comments, feedback for me, or even for Mr. Harry, shoot me a message. Good old fashioned email that is just send the email to hop twi.tv again, that hop twi.tv for any of your comments and feedback regarding the show, or if you just like to send over some images with me and do an image critique, or just wanna share some of your images with the other Hands-On Photography, folks, watching the show, just send 'em on over there.

Ant Pruitt (35:32):
And if you are cool with them being on the show, feel free to mention inset email that I have your consent to share those images. Cuz I won't share 'em on the show without your consent. That's just not how I roll. But yeah, feel free to reach out to me and give me a follow over on the social medias. Follow me on Instagram. I am aunt underscore Pruit over there. I have a lot of fun shooting things and similar to miss to Harry. I I'm, I'm a digital content creator. I'm not just a photographer, so I'm going to shoot photos, but I'm also shooting videos too. And just having a lot of fun with that content over there on Instagram. And again yeah, just, just hit me up if you have any questions, comments, feedback on the socials as well, just as you would with email.

Ant Pruitt (36:17):
And before we get outta here, I'd like to say thank you to my man, Mr. Victor for making me look and sound good each and every week. And I promise you, I, I, I know I work pretty hard and I try my best to say thank you to him each and every week. All right, folks, appreciate all of the love and support. Keep sharing out the show. Keep telling everybody about Hands-On Photography. And I look forward to talking to you all very, very soon, but until then safely create and dominate. And I'll see you next time.

Rod Pyle (36:47):
Hey, I'm Rod Pyle Editor of Ad Astra magazine and each week I'm joined by Tariq Malik, the editor in chief over at Space.com in our This Week in Space podcast. Every Friday, Tariq and I take a deep dive into the stories that define the new space age what's NASA up to when will Americans once again set foot on the moon. And how about those samples from the perseverance Rover? When are those coming home? What the heck has Elon must done now in addition to all the latest and greatest and space exploration, we'll take an occasional look at bits of space flight history that you probably never heard of and all with an eye towards having a good time along the way. Check us out in your favorite podcast. Catcher.