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This picture is #86 in my second 100 strangers project. Find out more about the project and see pictures taken by other photographers at the 100 Strangers Flickr Group page
See my first set here: Bomvu's 100 Strangers"
Originally I planned a triptych in my head when I saw Mandy walking towards me. I have attached said trip in the comments but once I pulled the pictures off of the camera it was obvious that she has a strong enough look to carry a close portrait without any help from her cool style or her rad tattoo's. I wish I'd asked her what she was listening to when I walked up and stopped her listening and I hope it was something along the lines of Placebo which I was listening to when I processed this picture.
Constructive criticism gratefully received
Explored Dec 7 2010
This picture is #12 in my 100 strangers project. Find out more about the project and see pictures taken by other photographers at www.100Strangers.com
This is Alan. When I first saw Alan he was playing around with a rope and some trees with some friends down by the waterfront in Queenstown. I was intrigued by what they were doing and when we came back a couple of hours later we saw that they had strung the rope up and were tightrope walking across it!
This fascinated me so I started chatting to them about what they were doing. It turns out that they are all rockclimbers and they do this to build strength and balance which helps out in their sport.
Alan is in New Zealand from Brazil and he and his wife are living in beautiful Queenstown. They had just recently moved there from Auckland and are loving the smaller town and it's lifestyle.
He told me he was also interested in meditation and in fact had just been up near my home town doing a meditation course, around 2000kms away. Such a coincidence.
He talked me into having a go on the rope and it was a lot of fun, I didn't even fall off onto my head like I thought I would!
Stranger #99 – Christina – I met her in the centre of Wrocław, Poland. She was taking pictures with her phone, when I approached her and asked for a photo. This offer took her by surprise, but she agreed after I explained the project. As she had some time to spare I was able to take a lot of pictures in different lighting conditions. Afterwards, we chatted a bit and she told me she’s from Greece. This was the reason why she laughed so much during the shoot, she explained. She added that they're all very cheerful and thanks to her and Elli (stranger #72) that’s exactly how I see Greek people - they show great attitude towards life, I guess :) As you can see, it was a very nice encounter and I hope you like the result!
This picture is #99 in my 100 strangers project. Find out more about the project and see pictures taken by other photographers at the 100 Strangers Flickr Group page
The place where I took Fabio's picture is my favorite bridge in Rome (Ponte Sisto) where quite often you can find people from Senegal selling African handicraft. All these activities (including playing music) are not completely legal and when I met Fabio a couple of policeman were sending away these African guys. I stopped him and talked about the 100 Strangers as he was waiting the policemen going away.
Fabio comes from Salerno (south of Italy, near Naples) even if he's been living in Rome since some years. He plays guitar in some live music bars, and in the street from time to time. Fabio would like to live with music but he admitted it's almost impossible.
He looked very happy with the project, he likes photography too and, funny enough, when I was ready to take his picture he looked at himself in the mirror of a parked car to check if he was ok for the shot!
Thanks a lot Fabio for participating in my project!
This picture is #39 in my 100 strangers project. Find out more about the project and see pictures taken by other photographers at the 100 Strangers Flickr Group page
Due to the busyness of my new job, I have not taken a stranger’s picture in quite some time. I was invited to a wedding this afternoon and decided to perhaps jump-start my photo project in that venue.
At the wedding reception I was talking with a friend of mine whom I haven’t seen in over a year. During our conversation I noticed that another person was standing next to us the whole time. I introduced myself to her. After a few minutes of chitchatting, I asked if I could take her portrait. I gave her my card and explained the strangers project to her. She may have hesitated a bit, but she was willing to participate.
Meet Jessica. She is a relative of the bride – and a friend of whom I was talking with prior to meeting her. She was born and raised in Portland and now lives in San Francisco. She got her undergraduate degree from UC Davis and her MBA degree from Pepperdine. She is currently working for a start-up software company. She went on to explain what she does in detail, but if truth be told I was a bit lost in trying to understand her job. In her leisure Jessica enjoys hiking and eating out with her friends.
Jessica seemed fascinated by my project. I explained that Humans of New York was one of the reasons for my taking on this challenge. She really enjoys HONY and thinks it lends itself to human connection – that regardless of background and struggle, we are more or less the same.
In this picture you can see the reflection of the sister of the bride from her sunglasses. I wished I had noticed this earlier or I would have asked her remove her sunglasses. At any rate, thank you Jessica for participating in my project. I hope you enjoy the rest of your stay in Maryland.
This picture is #26 in my 100 Strangers Project. Find out more about the project and see pictures taken by other photographers at the www.flickr.com/groups/100strangers/
This picture is #73 in my 100 strangers project. Find out more about the project and see pictures taken by other photographers at www.100Strangers.com
Her name is Jaine and she is another of the Cirque du Soleil angels sent out to promote the production "Corteo" playing in Portland. She bills herself as a fire performer and object manipulator, and she also teaches these techniques. She moved to Portland from Fairbanks, Alaska to attend Reed College in 2004.
She sent me this brief description of who she is, and what she does, by email:
Weapons of Mass Distraction is the name of the fire/circus troupe that I manage out of Reed College. When I'm not doing random streets stunts like the one that helped I5prof find me, I tend to be locked in my office in Reed's Psychology building, muddling through my senior thesis. I'm really involved in the Portland and world juggling scene. I teach poi and contact juggling at the Portland Juggling Club (which is open to all comers, for free). I can be found onstage at Dante's Sinferno every once in a while, doing burlesque-ish fire performance. I love teaching juggling and performing for the same reason: the way that people light up when they see something that inspires them. When they finally land that trick or when they see me appear to defy gravity with an ordinary ball, their smiles remind me of what's missing in most day to day interaction. I love that feeling myself, of learning and being challenged. My latest projects are dance trapeze, aerial silk, and partner acrobatics. The circus is my backup plan, just in case grad school doesn't work out.
This picture is #70 in my second 100 strangers project. Find out more about the project and see pictures taken by other photographers at the 100 Strangers Flickr Group page
See my first set here: Bomvu's 100 Strangers"
I'd seen Jessica earlier and had instantly wanted to ask her for a portrait. The bright red hair, her radiant smile, what's not to like! But I lost her in the crowds. Without mowing down a number of people I knew I wouldn't get to her and I'm pretty sure that mowing down a bunch of people would dent my chances anyway.
The Stranger Gods can be kind though and I've often had second chances at people I've missed before or not had the right conditions in the first location where I've spotted them. Such was the case here. I was right up at the far end of the northern market, I think it's called The Stables, when I saw her walking out of a tunnel right at the end and into a good spot for my purposes. Well I got in there fast without pause for thought and she was really happy to pose for a picture.
I took another few pictures from further back because she had a lovely white top on with some cool understated jewelery. Those pictures are nice but this close up just has to stand alone I'm really happy with how it turned out. The smile she gave me is so genuine and warm that it makes me feel happy whenever I look at it.
Thanks so much Jessica for agreeing to pose for my project.
Constructive criticism gratefully received
As always, any kind of constructive criticism is highly appreciated.
See strobist info in first comment.
Stranger 100, what shall I say? Where shall I start?
Maybe with the encounter, just because that's the shortest to start with. The light was fading, and I headed to the more illuminated areas of the market to find my last stranger (I wanted someone special, and I don't get to go to Camden that often). I've already enjoyed the lighting earlier, but stayed outside because it was so crowded. Not long and I spotted this girl. She allowed me to take two shots, but all my attempts at further conversation failed. Tried to give her my card, but she wasn't interested, so I thanked her and let her be on her way...
It's in colour!
Starting with my stranger n# 90, I decided to try myself on some consistency and to take the remaining 10 shots in B&W, landscape format. But with this one I just couldn't bear to remove the colour, and while I was at it I also went for a square format drop to get rid of some distracting guy in the background. I still think I should investigate B&W photography a bit further to develop my eye for textures and differences in brightness, but I'm pretty sure that I will not restrain myself to B&W should I go for another round...
What have I learned about photography?
That there's always oh so much more to learn? Definitely! But I think my photography has also made some progress during the course of the last year, not only but in a large part due to the friendly help and feedback from the great fellow at the 100 strangers group. Thank you guys!
What have I learned about human interaction?
Quite a lot. Most importantly that people are normally much more friendly and welcoming than I would have initially expected. Many of them are actually happy when somebody tells them that they want to take a photo of them because they look good, and I had some wonderful chats with quite of the few of them. The project would have been worth it for that realization alone...
Some statistics:
They have become completely irrelevant for me a while ago already, but I decided to finish them anyways. The numbers for my last 25 strangers are more like rough estimates though, might have forgotten some or marked some twice. Anyway, here they are:
Men agreed: 20 out of 28 (71 %)
Women agreed: 9 out of 14 (64 %)
I think they have not changed much during my journey (see strangers n# 25, n# 50, and n# 75). Yes, they add up to 28.
In total:
Men: 74 out of 110 (67 %)
Women: 39 out of 64 (61 %)
Also, off all the strangers I approached, 63 % were men, and I ended up with 65 men in my final set (if I counted correctly).
There have been some discussions about short writeups lately. This one is probably more a case of tl;dr ("too long; didn't read"). For all of you who made it to the end: Thanks for reading ;)
This picture is #100 in my 100 strangers project.
You can view the whole set here.
Find out more about the project and see pictures taken by other photographers at the 100 Strangers Flickr Group page.
Every summer thousands of young people from Europe flock over to the east coast of the United States to find temporary jobs. That is how I met Monika. Monika works on the beach in Ocean City, MD, renting out boogie boards, beach umbrellas and chairs. Then when she is finished at the beach, she heads over to her evening job working in a store just down the street. She can earn in two months here what it would take her six months to earn back home in Bulgaria.
This is Monika’s first visit to America. She is attending a university in Bulgaria, studying Library of Information Science. I told her that her English is very good and I understood everything she was saying. During the summer she lives in an apartment with some other people, including her boyfriend.
Monika, thanks for participating in my photo project. I hope your summer here is productive and fruitful.
This picture is #34 in my 100 Strangers Project. Find out more about the project and see pictures taken by other photographers at the www.flickr.com/groups/100strangers/
Matt is a new member of the Mounted Color Guard for the Army base in town. He and his group were taking part in the St. Patrick's Day Parade and this was Matt's first parade. The Sergeant in charge of the group saw my daughter from quite a ways off and said "She wants to pet a horse doesn't she?" I told him he was reading her mind and we went over and spoke with him and Matt. Matt actually got off the horse they let my daughter climb up on ol' Easy. My daughter got down, received a few lessons about horses and I got this picture of Matt. Matt is a soldier in the Army and does this on the side. I've seen this group lead many a parade in town. I thanked him and his Sergeant for their service and the pictures and let them finish up with their preparations.
This picture is #71 in my 100 strangers project. Find out more about the project and see pictures taken by other photographers at the 100 Strangers Flickr Group page.
This is Dave.
I've recently returned from a 1146 mile bicycle ride. With my son, we cycled from one end of the United Kingdom to the other. Before setting off I decided that it would be a brilliant opportunity to take lots and lots of photos for the 100 Strangers project. I was excited. I thought that I would probably be able to take thirty photos.
I took three. Yes, three.
It's not that I didn't have plenty of opportunities. We met a lot of lovely people. Interesting people. Weird people. Crazy people. What's my excuse then? I know that whenever we met people my teenage son looked embarrassed as soon as I reached for my camera. I could hear him telepathically insisting, 'No, no, no! Please, no. Not this time.' I don't want to blame him though. I enjoyed meeting people and I enjoyed not taking their photos. Leaving the camera in my saddlebag let me concentrate on conversations, without the nagging '100 Strangers voice' in my own head saying, 'Do it, do it! Ask them!' In the end, it was a relief when I decided not to take any photos for the project.
Anyway, here's the first of the three. Dave, along with his wife Mandy, runs Chy-An-Eglos Bed & Breakfast, a great place to stay if you're ever in Cornwall. Dave's a lovely, chatty man who'd also cycled the route we were taking, albeit in the opposite direction. We liked Dave a lot.
This picture is #25 in my 100 strangers project. See the rest of my 100 strangers pictures here. Find out more about the project and see pictures taken by other photographers at the 100 Strangers Flickr Group page.
Taken in St Newlyn East, Cornwall, UK on 09/07/2012
the wire car cruise was part of the artx detroit events this weekend. i had never heard of this before and was so thrilled to see it up close and personal--and meet the big mover and shaker for it: Chido.
and be sure to check out strangers around the world at www.100strangers.com
six more strangers to go!! yippee!!
This picture is #9 in my 100 strangers project. Find out more about the project and see pictures taken by other photographers at the 100 Strangers Flickr Group page
I bumped into a really nice couple in Mall of Dubai yesterday. He was taking pictures of his wife and waited until he was done before I approached them. I asked if I could take their photos and they agreed. Then we started talking and I found out they were British but living in Kuwait due to their business. They were on a vacation in Dubai and were liking the place.
Thank you for letting me take your photos :)
Check out my Facebook page here
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I'd got my exercise today. I had two hours of table tennis in the morning, walked to Glastonbury and been up and down the tor. I hadn't photographed anyone on the tor and decided to walk down the high street and around the abbey grounds. I met a young woman who politely declined my request to photograph her, saying she was not up for it.
I had brought my Kobo and found a nice spot to read for a while; looking up from time to time, to see if there was anyone interesting around. It appeared that I would not be adding to my project today. Nevertheless, I was enjoying a taste of summer.
It was only as I was leaving the abbey grounds that I saw a couple that called to be photographed. I knew that it would take the best part of an hour to walk home, with regret, I let them pass me. As I walked toward the exit, I thought, it wouldn't matter if I was home a little later than I had planned and I turned around to look for the couple.
A few minutes later I found them and asked if they would be willing to be in my project. They both agreed. I shook their hands, giving my name. I forgot their names immediately and had to ask them again. I asked if they would be OK sitting on the grass and we chatted a while before I began taking photos.
April told me that she doesn't like being photographed. She is a photographer so had empathy for me and my project. This was why she said yes She will be finishing her degree in a couple of weeks. Her subject matter at Uni has been themed and tends to be dark.
I remembered that my daughter generated a lot of artwork when she was at college and asked April if she had a lot of stuff around their flat. She said that there wasn't too much as a lot of it was held digitally. For example she had photographed some bands and they always wanted the results sent electronically.
I wondered if she used friends as models. Many students seem to do this, as it is convenient and inexpensive. April nodded. She said it is tricky because she likes the photos to look candid and not give too much direction but her subjects found it difficult at times to know what to do.
April almost did some stranger photography while visiting New York but maybe felt a bit uncomfortable. April has a number of tattoos. I asked if that is where her money goes. She said yes... and on gigs.
Although April said that she found it difficult being photographed, she gave no evidence of this while I pointed the camera toward her and made portraits.
Thank you April for agreeing to be in my project. It was good to meet you and Nathan.
You can view more portraits and stories by visiting The Human Family
As I was headed home I saw the hang gliders and thought what a good opportunity to get some pictures and meet a stranger. There were four powered hang gliders. Daniel pulled up just after I did and when the gliders noticed they had a audiene with cameras it was trick time. Daniel and I watched and talked about cameras. I asked him if he was a snow bird?
( a term used to describe people that live up North in the summer and come down here in the winter). He said no at first, but later changed his answer. I told Daniel about the project and he agreed to have his picture taken. I didn't know hang gliders can stay in the air for up to three hours.
This picture is #16 in my 100 strangers project. Find out more about the project and see pictures taken by other photographers at the 100 Strangers Flickr Group page
When my new stranger walked into my nephew’s house, I immediately sensed a calm and relaxed demeanor about him. Maurice’s smile was so easy and warm. I shook his hand and we chatted a bit. He asked me about my camera next to me and we talked photography for a minute or two.
He asked, “What do you like to photograph?”
“Anything interesting,” I told him, “But mostly nature, architecture, and people.” He wanted to know a little more about people so I told him about the Stranger Project.
“I want to participate,” he told me.
I thought about it for a second and thought, “he qualifies. It was my first time meeting him.”
Within a minute or two, I took this photo of Maurice and I think he still has that same calm demeanor in this photo.
He shared a little about himself with me so that you could get to know Maurice too. He is originally from Queens in New York City. He is totally passionate about any kind of music, spirituality and self-awareness. I asked Maurice what gives him a side-splitting laugh.
He thought for a moment and said, “The truth. Things that are glaringly honest… in your face… true.” I asked him to give me an example but he couldn’t think of anything at the moment.
This time, I didn’t even have to ask and a found a most wonderful stranger. It’s wonderful meeting you Maurice.
This picture is #71 in my 100 strangers project. Find out more about the project and see pictures taken by other photographers at www.flickr.com/groups/100strangers/
Matea is the third and last stranger of this Sto.Nino series. I wanted to capture the people that earns their living outside the Basilica del Sto.Nino in Cebu and i think i have most of them represented in this series, between Victor the photographer, the balloon/toy vendor Benjamina, and lastly the Candle Vendor Matea - my 25th stranger.
If you have not been to Cebu and to the Sto.Nino church in Cebu, then let me tell you that these candles vendors are not your ordinary vendors that sits on stalls. They do more than just sell you candles. You buy the candles for offering, and then they pray to the Sto.Nino in your behalf, and they do this dancing.. a prayer dance and chant offering if you will.
Matea explained that there are different colors of candles that you can choose from, depending on the type of situation and prayer petition that you would like offered. Now i might have gotten this all mixed up, but i think i remember her telling me that green-colored candles are for prayers for success in money and career/employment, blue is for a safe travel or a life journey, red is for matters of the heart, love and relationships, and white is for the well being of ones family (alright, now i'm certain that i got all the colors mixed up and i'm made them all up, lol).
Everyday, these vendors roam the grounds of the basilica and on Fridays they're clad in bright red and orange dresses that are such a sight to see. I'm not exactly sure why i picked Matea from among the many that were there that day. It was perhaps that she reminded me a little bit of my late grandmother, the way she keeps and ties her hair at the back and the way she smiles at everyone that comes to her to buy candles.
Matea is my 25th stranger for the 100 Strangers Project.
See the rest of my "strangers" here.
See the 100 Strangers Group here on Flickr
Or checkout: www.100strangers.com
I took a break from my normal routine and photographed some strangers. She was amused that I was able to change her camera settings even though the interface was Japanese (she had been shooting in ISO 3200 and I switched her to Auto). Never did catch their names.
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Dear viewers, today I am going to tell you a really long story. It’s long but interesting. Interesting the way we meet, interesting what we discussed, and interesting the person himself whom I am going to write about.
The world around us evolves so fast and hence it’s rather very ambitious for me to ask someone to read this totally boring, lifeless, bland and uninteresting writing prepared by my poor skills spending some five minutes or so. However, I am on the optimistic side!
First of all, how we met: the answer is we met online. Meeting someone on the street is amazing but meeting someone online and being invited by him for a dinner and having a two hour long conversation in the guise of getting to know each other is, I don’t know but, close to something like bolt from the blue in some cases! I asked him one question: please tell me who you are. His answer was I am Martien. I then requested him to elaborate the word “Martien”. He smiled and then the real conversation began. Well, if you guys are still not utterly and completely bored then I would suggest you finish the whole!
The person in question is called Martien Van Asseldonk. Due to restriction on birth control by the then catholic church, he was born in Holland in 1954 as the seventh son of his parents out of a total of nine offspring. From 1977 to 1980 he worked for Philips as a researcher in chip design. Feeling an urge to do something for the society he left his job and went to Kenya in September, 1980 to work as general manager in a village poly-technique institute along with his wife whom he married in 1980. Her name is Yoke who started to work in the same village as a nurse.
As his contract was over, he came back in March 1985. Until 1986 he remained there in Holland when he built his own house as well. By July 1986 he moved to Sri Lanka as a project manager to work for a charity organization which was funded mainly by Belgium and Holland govt. The goal of the project was to build one hundred “Catamaran” (big canoe) by the villagers in one year spending nearly one million EURO provided by several donor countries. But only one such canoe was build in three years which is why he was asked to go and investigate the reason for such discrepancy and find a solution to resolve it. Later he found that, before the canoe was to be built, there was a dispute among those villagers to find the person who should own that canoe as it would be built. This took nearly one year to settle down by those villagers. Due to his counseling they all started to build those canoes themselves. The project started to run in its full pace as well.
Things started to take a different turn while the manager of the other wing who was an active worker of the rebellion group JVP started to gather ammunition to uproot the then govt. in the guise of building canoes along with those workers of Boatyard. Boatyard is the name of the organization which was responsible for building those canoes. It had several wings and Martien was responsible for managing one such wing.
It appeared that JVP killed nearly five thousand govt. officials and the secret mission was operated from Boatyard. The govt. also took its retaliation on the separatist group killing almost sixty thousand of them. During that time, as Martien mentioned, corpses were found in the river torn apart by crocodiles which he took photos of. Even he made some video documentary of those unfortunate happenings as well.
The interesting thing is, Martien was totally unaware of the fact that Boatyard had connection to all those activities until govt. officials told him about that. During that period many workers flew away from Bozart. The manager of the other wing who was operating all those covert activities also managed to escape as military officials raided that place. But those officials could not find any explosive materials in Boatyard because Martien cleared all those stuff prior to that raid which was obviously a very great decision at that moment. He packed all those bomb making stuffs and rode his bike crossing three check points all the way to the river and drowned all those stuffs prior to that raid as soon as he reckoned such actions. I asked him why he did not leave Sri Lanka at that time. He mentioned he was safe by support from local security forces.
As the govt. took stern action against the separatist group (JVP ) many were arrested and taken to the concentration camp and were tortured ruthlessly to death. As we were taking diner together Martien told he would like to avoid those horrific descriptions. I agreed. During that time his job role changed from the manager of Bozart to the translator of ICRC in 1991. Due to this new role he had to talk with different family members of those prisoners telling them that their children are dead. It’s worth noting that those family members were told earlier that their children were safe and doing fine inside the camp even after their death. So Martien had to talk to their parents explaining the true fact as their parents keep coming to the camps on a regular basis wanting to know about their sons and daughters. It was very shocking to see how people started to react hearing such news of the loss of their children. With utter dismay Martien resigned in 1992.
During the year 1991 Martien published a paper based on some research which stated there is a castle in a certain village in the south Holland but nobody ever believed so because the location of that castle was unknown. As he left for Kenya back in 1980 he took with him nearly 20 kilograms of medieval texts with him to study. Later reading those texts he found there was a landlord who sent his horseman periodically throughout the year to collect tax from the farmers. So the question remains as if someone sends the horseman to collect tax then the horseman is also responsible to return those taxes to his master. This lead to a general conclusion that if such a master ever existed then he should be very powerful and as a symbol of aristocracy he might have build such a castle. Many professors applauded him for this finding and asked him to pursue more on it. However, he had other issues to deal with and hence could not involve himself on a regular degree.
In 1992 he started a project of vegetables plantation along with one of his friend in Sri Lanka. Finally, in 1995 he joined MDF as a consultant. Ever since he is continuing his job under the same employer. He started his regular studies in 1997 and in the year 2002 he got his PhD. From 2001 to late 2004 he had been in Afghanistan until Al- Quada demanded his friends' life for ransom. One other event he mentioned me is his visit to Sudan to support the hungry humanity on an UN mission which made him stay in the desert almost food and waterless whole night until UN airplane rescued him from there.
His wife’s name is Yoke. His son is named Alexander and his three daughters are named Marieke, Elles, and Marleen.
In short, all I can say personality like Martien with numerous stories of his own life made me so glad to get him as part of my project. All my best wishes to him and his family and Martien I really hope you like this photo and thank you so much for telling me about you.
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(Constructive) Criticism is welcome as usual.
This picture is #9 in my 100 strangers project. Find out more about the project and see pictures taken by other photographers at the 100 Strangers Flickr Group page
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287/365 14th Oct Lauryn (100 strangers #28) Meet this amazing lady Lauryn Ava at today’s Beyond Events Burton Bradstock marathon, she was doing her 78th marathon or distance event in 78 weeks all in aid of Macmillian Cancer Support uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-display/showROFundrai... it was a wet cold autumnal morning and she still finished in a respectable time with a broad smile on her face. (she is stranger #28 in my Flickr 100 strangers project) www.flickr.com/groups/100strangers/
from the grave of Ann Marion Johnston (1778-1817)
--within Bonaventure Cemetery (1846) on the Wilmington River, Savannah, Georgia
Full Text:
Fair Stranger
Whose feet have wandered
to this land of silence
Contemplate this Stone.
Near it is interred Dust
Which once a lovely Form
inhabited by a Mind,
Superior in Intelligence
worth and Amiableness,
to most of her sex.
As a Daughter, Sister and Friend
as a Wife and Mother,
few whom she left behind
can boast
so bright an example.
This picture is #87 in my second 100 strangers project. Find out more about the project and see pictures taken by other photographers at the 100 Strangers Flickr Group page
See my first set here: Bomvu's 100 Strangers"
I'd just said goodbye to Many when I spotted Lucy walking towards me. I really loved her light blue dress and massive handbag and decided that this time a diptych would have to be in order. Ideally I'd have liked to have been able to exclude her lunch from the picture but I certainly wouldn't put down MY food anywhere on the streets in London so didn't suggest it here.
I moved her to a reasonable spot and posed her the way I wanted and then snapped off a couple of frames. It was enormously difficult on this glorious sunny day to find a spot where the light was decent and there were no blown out backgrounds. I think I managed to make do here under difficult circumstances.
Most of the stranger shooting that I do these days is during my lunch hour or straight after work, when I'm on my way home. I find that my subjects, while happy to pose, are not keen to spend their time chatting and are anxious to get on. Mandy was no exception and the hot food in her hand was the most likely reason. So I explained when the picture would be posted and where, gave her my card said cheers.
If you see this Mandy, thanks so much for being my 87th stranger!
Constructive criticism gratefully received
Here’s Sarah, my 17th stranger. Ain’t she pretty ?
She was standing on the corner of the street with her boyfriend trying to find her way to Mont-Royal Avenue when she captured my attention with her bright eyes and her peachy lips.
I went directly to her and asked if she was in a hurry; she wasn’t. I told her about the project to which she reacted with enthusiasm.
Unlike the day I’ve taken the picture of Seneca, the lighting was perfect. I’ve took like 7 or 8 shots and I knew right there that I had what I was looking for. We chatted a little after our quick session and then, we both went our ways.
Thank you Sarah for being part of my project. I hope you like your portrait as much as I do and that you’re aware of your beauty. Don’t hesitate to contact me so I can hand you the original :)
This picture is #17 in my 100 strangers project. Find out more about the project and see pictures taken by other photographers at the 100 Strangers Flickr Group page.
For all strangers unfamiliar with flickr: You can easily see yourself and all my other strangers in my 100 Strangers set.
I was in Wells sitting on a bench about 10 yards from the National Trust shop. I saw Antonia go in the shop and thought that I might catch her on her way out. Several people went into and came out of the shop. I was beginning to wonder if she worked there, when the shop door opened and off she went. I intercepted her and asked if I could take her photo. She immediately agreed but asked that I be quick as she was on her way back to work. I asked if she had time to sit in the Penniless Porch and she said yes.
As we walked I asked Antonia where she worked and she told me the name of a solicitors. I told her that I had used the Street branch of this firm to do some conveyancing. She said that this was the kind of work that she does.
After taking the photos I walked with Antonia as she went back to work. I asked about her interests and if there was anything she would like to share with the world. She said that she likes going to the cinema and that she would like to train to be a lawyer in London – so if anyone looking at this has an opening at their firm please email me and I will let Antonia know.
I asked what Antonia had been doing in the National Trust shop. She had been buying thank you cards for Christmas presents. She told me that there had been a problem with the pricing, they had been marked as 50p but came up as £1 on the till and the woman in the shop got annoyed.
Thank you Antonia for agreeing to be in my project. It was good to meet you today. Best wishes for your career.
This picture is #093 in my 100 strangers project. Find out more about the project and see pictures taken by other photographers at the 100 Strangers Flickr Group page
| Nikon D300s | Nikkor 50 mm @ ƒ/2.2 | 1/800 sec | ISO 200 | No Flash | No Tripod | Natural light |
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Becoming assertive...
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All rights reserved © Félix Casals
met this family of mom, dad and daughter who had started their journey earlier than us, it was about noon then when we met and we had just started our journey. they however decided to turn back half way through their journey, worried it will took them so long to reach the falls we are heading...dazed and confused their decision made us wonder is the trekking so bad to get there?
minolta srt 100 + ADOX color implosion
I was at Lexington Ave and 77th. I was crossing the street rushing to pick my daughter up from her Basketball clinic at the new high school she will be attending this fall. As I made my way down the block I heard this cheerful voice say "hey man keep your head up" when I turned I saw this gentleman smiling at me. I connected with his eye's and a smile came to my face instantly. He asked me if I could spare something . He said "man Im turning 45 on August 11th and that's a blessing to still be here" I agreed. I gave him a couple of bucks and asked if I could take his picture he said yes. This is Roncarlo Gonzoles he is a Leo, and Latino born and raised in New York.
Thanks Roncarlo for posing for my project, it was great meeting you and we gonna keep our heads up my brother!
Find out more about the project and see pictures taken by other photographers from around the world, in the Flickr group 100 Strangers.
This is Chang hoh Song.
Chang is the only stranger photo I've taken since 1st September this year. The path stops at Chang. Well, only for now as I'm determined to reach 100.
This was another one of my, should I, shouldn't I, can I, can't I, strangers. Too good to miss though. I briefly mumbled my spiel about my reason for wanting to take his photo, then asked for his name. No chit chat for Chang. I took a leaflet and with a 'bless you' (from Chang) I was on my way.
This is the last photograph I took with my Holga before it died and went to Holga heaven. Actually, it's in the top drawer of the plan chest in the front room. The shutter is shagged. I don't think it'll ever be resurrected.
This picture is #34 in my 100 strangers project. See the rest of my 100 strangers pictures here. Find out more about the project and see pictures taken by other photographers at the 100 Strangers Flickr Group page.
Taken at the Oxford, Uk, on 1/09/2012
It's been a while since my last stranger so I felt rather nervous jumping back in today. Lucky for me, Ben here was just the guy to help me break the ice. When I first saw him, I thought that he looked way too cool for me and almost decided not approach him. I quickly changed my mind and decided that it couldn't hurt. He turned out to be very friendly and down-to-earth, letting me ask a couple of questions about himself.
Ben is a mechanical engineer from Colorado. He moved to Davis where he currently works at a solar company that engineers solar equipment and helps businesses implement solar technology. While Ben is a very hard worker, he also likes to hang out with his friends and play sports, one of them being kickball. Recently, his kick ball team in Colorado won the championships.
Thanks Ben! You've become stranger #73 in my on-going stranger project.
Check out my other work at edju.org
Check out more of other's stranger photos at www.flickr.com/groups/100strangers
This picture is #80 in my second 100 strangers project. Find out more about the project and see pictures taken by other photographers at the 100 Strangers Flickr Group page
See my first set here: Bomvu's 100 Strangers"
I spotted this lovely looking lass and decided to brave the crowds for another street style diptych. This was in almost the exact same spot where I photographed number 73, Katy, and it was no less crowded.
Using my now accustomed style of going for a full length shot and then coming in close, I waited for a gap in the crowd and rattled off a few quick shots. There was one which I prefer where she was looking upward to her right but there were people behind on each side of her which really messed up the background. But I am still really happy with this one. I came in for a close shot but sensed that she wasn't that comfortable with the camera so close so only got the one shot before thanking her, handing her my card and explaining that it would be quite a while before I'd be able to publish the picture here in the group.
She told me her name and I repeated it to myself a few times as I do to try to prevent myself forgetting. I was about to write it in my notebook when a security guard standing nearby nodded to me so I said hi. He was friendly and polite but wanted to know what we where doing here. Mark was busy photographing someone nearby at the same time and Peter was lurking in the vicinity too. I explained about the project and said that we were having a meet up which is why there were a few of us about.
He told me that photography is allowed in the market (NO! Really??) but that photographers weren't allowed to cause an obstruction or use tripods. Fair enough, we weren't. Then he sums up by saying "so I'll allow you to carry on" like he had a choice. That really annoyed me. He'd already agreed that we weren't causing an obstruction so why try to make like he's got some sort of power over me. Pratt!
Anyway, I used my customer service face and laughed, thanked him and walked off. By the time I got my notebook out I'd forgotten her name. I spend the next 10 minutes racking my brain trying to remember and it finally came to me. So thanks Jade (at least I think it was Jade) for being a part of this.
Constructive criticism gratefully received
I already saw her this evening. I liked her woman style with short dress, dark tights and high heels. Then I crossed her path a second time. She was waiting for something. After hesitating, I asked her. She was quite surprised and asked lot of questions. She wondered if I was really serious. I shown her the previous photos and she recognized Marine also !! Actually, she is real estate agent, and she had worked with the dad of Marine in the past years ! Such a small world ! So she accepted I take her portrait.
Then we talked a bit. It was funny because I explained I was looking for a flat to buy. And she has an offer that could match my criteria. She will send me the details in the coming days. It would be so incredible that I could find my new house thanks to my project !!! :D
Thank you Carole !
Find out more about the project and see pictures taken by other photographers at the 100 Strangers Flickr Group page.
This picture is #52 in my second 100 strangers project. Find out more about the project and see pictures taken by other photographers at the 100 Strangers Flickr Group page
See my first set here: Bomvu's 100 Strangers"
On my way home on Friday evening I spotted this chap and stopped him to ask for a portrait before I'd had time to think about it. He looked quite surprised but like so many people I've met doing this was happy to help. I got him to head back the way he'd come to find a decent spot, then noticed a drain cover and moved him a little further back to get that out of the shot. I've made that mistake before. I went for the style and close up diptych straight off because he carries himself with effortless style and I really wanted a close up too. It's funny, sometimes when I walk around with Mrs Bomvu I point out guys and ask if she thinks they are good looking, because I honestly can't tell what is and isn't attractive to women. Usually I get it wrong. But I thought he looked great so I hope that you viewers who prefer guys agree!
I've taken to recording notes on my phone which is easier than trying to write notes in a notebook but annoyingly there must have been a hummer driving past or something because for the life of me I cannot hear his name in the recording. I got everything else, the location and so on, but not the name. Learning point: Say the name twice, once at the beginning and again at the end of the note!
But thank you anyway and sorry I didn't remember your name!
-Update: he got in touch, his name is Rob!-
Constructive criticism gratefully received
If you're anywhere near London check out the 100 Strangers London Meetup discussion thread here.
Highly recommended.
Take a look at pictures from the last one here.
I met Darren on Yonge Street in Toronto. It was early morning and he was busy working on his notebook computer having his morning coffee. When I approached him and explained my project, he gladly accepted to pose for me. When I handed him my business card he said that he had heard of me. I was pleasantly surprised and it confirmed that I was legit. He said he wanted to be himself and grabbed his sun glasses from the table.
Darren is 39 years old and lives in Mississauga, west of Toronto. He is an account executive for a large well known company. During his spare time he loves boating on Lake Ontario. He loves Toronto because of the atmosphere and the fact that there is always something to do.
This picture is #5 in my 100 Strangers Project. Find out more about the project and see pictures taken by other photographers at the 100 Strangers Flickr Group page