As the weather was so nice today I decided to go for a walk and get some fresh air. It's kind of a Canadian thing that when winter loosens its grip, people pour out onto the streets and soak up the sun. Invariably the combination of fresh air, sun and exercise puts my brain into overdrive. I tend to do my best thinking while walking.

I live downtown Calgary. I love the energy of having people around and lots of places one can walk to. There's plenty of unique shops and restaurants all along 17th Avenue, 4th Street and recently 1st Street too. As summer arrives it's great people watching! If you're a photographer, this makes for ample opportunities to shoot candid shots of the many unique faces that grace our city. That said, most candids are taken from afar. But as I was walking down 4th street I realized what I needed was a good excuse to stop people along the street so that I could take a posed photo. A street portrait.

It occurred to me that beautiful people everywhere might be willing to pose for a photo if there was an easy way they could later see the photo. I decided that I'd print up some business cards with the slogan "Beautiful is Everywhere" and have a link back to a Model Republic group pool where I'd post all the photos. If a person wanted a high resolution digital file, they could then contact me and I'd send it to them via email.

So I've decided to give it a go! Of course, if anyone else is interested in the idea and wants to join in the fun, let me know. I'm more than willing to print off a nice sized run of cards and give them to other photogs that might want to do some street shooting this spring/summer.