Clearly, I hadn’t taken the “Are You a Superhero?” quiz, because that might never have led to this result:

You are The Flash

The Flash 80% Spider-Man 70% Hulk 70% Green Lantern 65% Robin 60% Wonder Woman 60% Supergirl 60% Catwoman 60% Iron Man 55% Superman 45% Batman 35%

Fast, athletic and flirtatious.

Click here to take the Superhero Personality Test

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It just occurred to me that the deadline for a photo exhibition I’m participating in is nearing, and I mean nearing, so I went out today to shoot. From the time I slipped my wrist strap on, I kept repeating in my head all those things I’ve been reading for years on street photography: be friendly, smile, make eye contact, be bold, be bold, be bold, ask for permission to shoot, sound sincere, be bold…be bold.

But I chickened out pretty soon after. I just let people think I was a tourist. It’s easy nodding with a glazed, wide-eyed look on. People pretty much let you snap everything—and everyone. The only downside to that is that you have to do everything short of beating the vendors off with a stick; they’re convinced you’re going to want their inscriptions of Chinese names, Merlion statuettes, t-shirts, cameras, ice-cream in wafers, trishaw rides…

Obviously, I was in Chinatown, shooting a tired, tired subject from hopefully a fresher angle. And the people there are well used to unofficial photographers trawling the streets, which is lucky for me because at least I didn’t get yelled at. (Not that I have been before, but I hear so many stories from other photogs that I’ve developed some sort of a pre-phobia. Yeah, like I need another one…)

And yet the tourist thing really works sometimes, because when you’re really “in it”, you start looking at your home, your familiar setting through new eyes. It’s harder sometimes to turn this on, but when you do, it makes such a huge difference; everything just jumps out at you all of the sudden. It’s fantastic. It reminds me of why I started street shooting in the first place.

It’s been awhile since I’ve gone out taking pictures just for the sake of shooting. I don’t know why I stopped, but I’m sure glad I found it again.