Just ask random people. Say “Hey I’m learning portrait photography and I thought you are really interesting because of XYZ” offer to send them the picture. Everybody won’t say yes but a pretty high percentage will.

I was at city park in New Orleans a few months ago, late afternoon. If you’ve been, you know how heavenly that afternoon light can get. I was photographing people as they crossed over that stone arch bridge behind the Cafe Du Monde, kinda hanging out waiting for something or someone interesting to happen. A couple walks onto the bridge and the next thing I know dude’s on one knee. I got an amazing shot and was able to talk to them after and send it to them. Nice to think they’ll treasure that photo for the rest of their lives. Hopefully. 🤞

Assuming your 24-70 is a 2.8… you don’t need 2.8 for scenery. So get a 24-105. More range and f4 should be fine for scenery. You’ll be stopping down most of the time anyway. And lose the 70-300.

Imagine if, since the dawn of photography people had been so worried about this that they either never photographed people in public spaces or never shared such photographs. How much the poorer would we be in history and in art? It’s kind of unthinkable. As photographers we need to exercise a degree of discretion, but… we also must fight to protect the right to photograph in public. There already exist rules about commercial use and that sort of thing.

And don’t assume people don’t want to be photographed. You actually have no idea. Most are either ambivalent about it or even flattered by it. People see me photographing all the time, a lot of people ask me to photograph them. Not all even want the photo. They just wanted to be seen. People who really have a problem will let you know. Then it’s up to you if you want to delete or make certain assurances or whatever.

I’m a guy, first of all… and I don’t have access to any statistics or anything. In the world of online tutorials… I think you’re right. For whatever reason there do seem to be a lot more men doing that type of stuff. But when it comes to actual photography, there are a lot of excellent women photographers out there, and I think that’s been true for a long time.

It’s absolutely possible to be a successful photographer as an older woman. But it’s an uphill battle for anyone who is just getting started, regardless of gender.