The text as I prepared it: May I? Yes, Thank!

May I? Yes. Thank you,
Thank you ? For what ?

May I take your picture ?
Thank you for letting me taking your picture!

Mister Toastmaster, Fellow Toastmasters and most welcome guests. May I tell you my story?

Yes!
Thank you. Thank you for listening to me.

Thank you for accepting me.

Each photographer takes different kind of pictures. Lonely, I like to approach unknown people, and ask them if I can take their portrait. "May I?"

"You take pictures of unkown people? (Announ) are they your cousins", told me someone,

Another, young photographer told me "of course, they are not fearing you, an old lady, if it was ME..."

"Why not YOU", I answered him?

More and more I am convinced, it is not my age or white hair, nor my sex makes the chosen ones telling me "Yes, you may", but my BODY Language.

My eyes, my face, my whole body telling them
YOU ARE interesting, You are great! You are special.

My body language speaks for me, my body language speaks even before I do.

(This part I forgot to tell, I regret, it was good)
Sometimes, all passes through our body language.

'May I?'
'Yes'.
'Thank you.'
'Welcome.'

No words are necessary then. The communication passes, an understanding. More than anything, most of the time it is the body language that gives me the "Yes, you may" I desire.

(I did not forget the following:)
But even after more than 2000 "yes, you may", sometimes I still hesitate to ask and sometimes, when I dare, the "Yes of course", takes me by surprise.

Trembling, I then forgot to look from where the light comes, or the background. It is not good to let a tree grow from somebody's hair!

I still hesitate sometimes to ask, even if I do know, there are so rare and so different "no" For example, "no I am not photogenic" or a no yes but why you want to take it, I can overcome. And even if I do not take the picture, we part being no more strangers to each other.

From time to time I succeed to catch what I observed and get it into and through the picture, so it can be seen long time after our exchange took part. To take home that warm expression and looking it day by day telling me "I understand you"

(this part I forget to tell, and I jumped to the last part)
Lately, a Thank YOU, comes also from those I take the portrait, and I realized, that I gave them also something. Not only emailing their pictures or talking about the encounter in my blog, but mostly by making them feel more confident about themselves, more appreciated, less alone.

Mister Toastmaster, fellow toastmasters and most welcome guests, may I? Thanks.

Thank all of you,
thank each of you!