France, Toulouse - Smiling Pizza Man

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To me, one of the most interesting photo opportunities when traveling is to be able to take photos of the local culture and people. This can be tricky because certain cultural and local sensitivities may mean that folks do get offended when they noticed their pictures being taken unsolicited. I usually solved this by first chatting up my potential subject and when he/she gets comfortable with me, I will ask politely if I can take pictures of them going about their daily lives. The answer is most often than not, a "yes". 

Chatting with people has that priceless reward of making new friends, learning about new cultures and having a chance to share with those we met on our travels, something about ourselves. A great part of traveling is the experience itself. So go forth and make friends with the locals when you travel. You will be surprised to find out how rewarding that can be!

Here is a photo of a pizza man whom I met in Toulouse, France while I was there to attend a conference on System Engineering way back in June 2004. We had a nice chat, I bought pizza from him and he posed for many photographs for and with me. This is one of the pictures I took of the friendly pizza man.

Smiling Pizza Man, Toulouse, France (2004)

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