Ryan H. Zhang
Stranger Four.
“It’s not a parakeet, it’s a parrot. And yes, you can take pictures of it.”
Whoops.
Yesterday I took my car to the repair shop (a friend’s mother had dented it) and, after handing the car guy my keys, I turned to the right and laid eyes on a breathtakingly beautiful bird sitting on a log in a repair shop garage. It was so surreal and still that I had to walk right up to it to confirm if it was alive or not. After seeing it blink and turn its head and ruffle its feathers, I was confident that the creature was real and not some sort of taxidermized thing.
A man walked by it, and I assumed him to be the owner. He looked like a fascinating person by himself, with unruly hair, a scarlet bandana, and piercing eyes. I asked him if I could photograph his “parakeet” (a complete slip of tongue; I know the difference between a parrot and parakeet), which led to him lightly chastising me for mistaking his majestic beast for a scrawny bird (“It’s like if I called your camera thingy a polaroid,” He said with a laugh).
Regardless, he let me take a couple pictures of his parrot. Afterwards, the bizarreness of the man and his pet made me unashamedly ask for his photo in my Stranger Project, and he happily agreed.
While posing, he started scratching the bird’s neck, and the parrot began to coo in delight and looked as if it was almost grinning (it was adorable).
Right after I took the photo of the stranger, another man approached him and they both walked back into the shop. I never got his name, nor the name of the parrot. However, I was somewhat okay with that, since anonymity just added to the mysteriousness of the duo.
Thank you, stranger, for letting me take photos of your “parakeet,” and thank you for contributing to my Strangers Project!
(I know I said I'd find a female stranger but c'mon this dude had a parrot.)
Check out other 100 Stranger Project stuff at www.flickr.com/groups/100strangers
Stranger Four.
“It’s not a parakeet, it’s a parrot. And yes, you can take pictures of it.”
Whoops.
Yesterday I took my car to the repair shop (a friend’s mother had dented it) and, after handing the car guy my keys, I turned to the right and laid eyes on a breathtakingly beautiful bird sitting on a log in a repair shop garage. It was so surreal and still that I had to walk right up to it to confirm if it was alive or not. After seeing it blink and turn its head and ruffle its feathers, I was confident that the creature was real and not some sort of taxidermized thing.
A man walked by it, and I assumed him to be the owner. He looked like a fascinating person by himself, with unruly hair, a scarlet bandana, and piercing eyes. I asked him if I could photograph his “parakeet” (a complete slip of tongue; I know the difference between a parrot and parakeet), which led to him lightly chastising me for mistaking his majestic beast for a scrawny bird (“It’s like if I called your camera thingy a polaroid,” He said with a laugh).
Regardless, he let me take a couple pictures of his parrot. Afterwards, the bizarreness of the man and his pet made me unashamedly ask for his photo in my Stranger Project, and he happily agreed.
While posing, he started scratching the bird’s neck, and the parrot began to coo in delight and looked as if it was almost grinning (it was adorable).
Right after I took the photo of the stranger, another man approached him and they both walked back into the shop. I never got his name, nor the name of the parrot. However, I was somewhat okay with that, since anonymity just added to the mysteriousness of the duo.
Thank you, stranger, for letting me take photos of your “parakeet,” and thank you for contributing to my Strangers Project!
(I know I said I'd find a female stranger but c'mon this dude had a parrot.)
Check out other 100 Stranger Project stuff at www.flickr.com/groups/100strangers