Greg - Stranger #4/100

Greg - Hunt Valley, MD. I walked into my local coffee shop to get some work done out of the office, and as I was getting my laptop situated Greg, sitting in a nearby chair by the fireplace, introduced himself. He asked if I was the photographer who shot a friend of his for my strangers project a week earlier! He said he saw the image on Flickr, and although he commented on it in my stream, I didn't put the pieces together and catch that he was local and knew Ken. Turns out that although Greg doesn't shoot much, he's a great admirer of photography. We talked at length about photography, not gear per se, but more about vision. A professional magician and writer, Greg, has thought deeply about vision and craft, and clearly appreciates the long and twisting path to internalizing mechanics to better express vision. I told him I was looking to photograph Stranger #2 that day, and after mentioning that he knew him, offered to introduce us. He asked if he could linger to watch me shoot, and while we waited for an opportunity, I asked if I could photograph him. Greg is so lively and animated, with bright and welcoming expressions. I wanted to draw attention to his face as a whole, rather than any one part, so I put him in a chair bathed in warm afternoon window light from over my left shoulder and nice fill from half-height windows to my right. Contrasting him with a dimly lit and out of focus background provides strong separation and gives you a taste of his inviting personality. I treated him with a slightly warm black & white in post to highlight his openness and apparent lack of pretense. A kinder gentleman you won't meet. Thanks, Greg, for the great conversation and for being Stranger #4 in my 100 Strangers project.

 

Find out more about the project and see pictures taken by other photographers at the 100 Strangers Project group.

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