Visited the island of Burano in Venice last summer. I wandered into a small courtyard while doing some street photography and I noticed an old lady sitting by her window just watching people come and go.

Even though she looked stern, I decided to ask her if I could take her portrait. Once I approached her and asked (I don't know any Italian, I just did my best to signal that I wanted to take her picture), she started laughing and kept waving her hands, and said something like 'I'm just an old lady, you probably don't want to take a picture of me'. After some back and forth, I convinced her that she looked fine after and that I really did want to take her portrait, so I did.

Afterwards, despite the language barrier (and from what I can gather with my limited Spanish knowledge), she told me about her sons (she has three I think), asked me if I smoke and to stay away from it.

I had to leave after that and I still regret not asking for an email address or some way to send her her portrait. Despite being camera shy at first, she seemed really flattered and happy that I wanted to take her picture. I think about her every time I go through my pictures from that trip, still wish I could show her hers.