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I met Darren and his dog Tweak whilst walking around Shoreditch. He was busy making something out of wire. He said that he tries to sell the items as he doesn't believe in claiming benefits. Three night at a hostel for the homeless for him and his dog costs him £35.00 ...
As you can see there was a clear bond between them ...
This picture is #13 in my 4th round of the 100 strangers project. Find out more about the project and see pictures taken by other photographers at the 100 Strangers Flickr Group page
Getting towards the end of the day, Pete and I were looking for somewhere to have a last drink or two before his train back to Nottingham. I saw Leva here sitting down relaxing and it was obvious she was on a break from work. I thought she looked cool and there was a great street nearby to use for a background. I knew straight away that if I asked her, what her objection would be. And I had a plan. So I asked her for a picture and her predictable response was... "but I have a cold sore" to which I replied "but I have Photoshop" to which she replied with "oK let's go then". I get the whole anti Photoshop sentiment because it IS overused, but I also have met a lot of people who don't argue when I offer to use it to help them out a little. Don't get me wrong, I don't change the shape of people, though I could. I don't change their structure but I do clean up a few non permanent bits here and there, like spots or a cold sore.
So Leva set about striking a pose for me and she did a great job. Thanks Leva, hope you enjoyed this as much as I did!
This is the last of my street portraits from the session with Peter. I'm looking forward to getting out again as soon as I can, but next time I want to play with lights, big lights!!
If you like my work, please take a look at my Facebook page and my website.
Pamela and a friend were sitting in a bar enjoying a quiet beer. She was on the phone in deep conversation so I waited a few minutes for her to finish her call before making my approach. I finished my blurb and after a long and awkward silence, she agreed but I did get the feeling that she thought I wasn't 100% genuine.
We moved out of the bar to a small lane way off the main street. Whilst Evan chatted to her friend (which I found out later was her brother) I fired off a few frames. The light was quite good in the lane and a reflector wasn't needed.
Pamela hails from Zimbabwe and has been living in Australia for 10 years.
I think the portrait shows an interesting mix of confidence with a slightly guarded attitude. I struggled with the conversation which caught me off guard, but it was obvious that I needed to let her go, so I passed her my card and thanked her for her time.
Thanks for being part of the 100 Strangers Project.
This photo is #224 in my 3rd round of The 100 Strangers Project.
You can see my 1st round of 100 Strangers photos here
Round 2 is here
Find out more about the project and see pictures taken by other photographers at the 100 Strangers Flickr Group page
Saw this chap walking near the Nomadic Community Gardens and he was happy to pose for a photograph ... I would like to do more of this type of photography and that will be one of my New Years resolutions to try and get at least one portrait of a stranger a week ... Watch this space ...
The blue in the background to the right is a rough sleeper ...
This picture is number 17 of 100 in my 100 Strangers Project. Find out more about the project and see pictures taken by other photographers at the flickr.com/groups/100strangers/ Flickr Group page
It was Damaris's quiet elegance that caught my eye as I cycled past. I quickly turned around to catch up with her, as I have finally got over my nerves about asking people. No hesitations, just ask, it really doesn't matter if they say no.
21 year old Damaris is Romanian born, but has lived here almost all her life. Her family are all here, and she works in domestic house keeping. She is a softly spoken, perhaps reserved person, and although friendly, the noisy place we were in didn't really do much to help us in conversation.
Damaris started out being a little uncomfortable in front of the camera. It took a little coaching to get a nice eye expression, and it was rewarding to see how this, combined with seeing where her beauty lies, produced better and better photos as we went.
Hi, I recently met Sophie at Darling Harbour as she was walking around. She recently came to Sydney from Perth on a short trip.
We talked about her trip, her experience in Sydney, about the project and many more.
If you are interested about the whole episode, please head over to my website following this link as it contains much more information and many more images.
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(Constructive) Criticism is welcome as usual
This picture is #52 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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For similar stories please click here
Follow us on instagram @blissfulpenguinofficial
I got to warped tour late and missed all the bands. I was back stage waiting for my friend (from production) to get off work, when I saw this dude sitting alone, next to a dilapidated tent rolling a cigarette. There were like 4 empty seats so I asked if I could join him.
Some one came up to him and handed him a guitar and he just started playing so I asked if I could take his picture because he looked cool. After two hours of hanging out with him and a couple of other guys talking about Jersey, New York, traveling and all sorts of random things. People kept coming up and asking to take pictures of them and with them and some people even took some candid shots. I finally asked them who they were. It turns out they are in the band Reel Big Fish. This is Scott Klopfenstein and Dan Regan is standing on the right.
I'm not going to get into detail about what we all discussed, Scott was a little stand-offish at first and he seems like a private guy. Also, I didn't take any other pictures because I didn't want to bombard them with my camera and fan like behavior. Any way, they were all cool, chill and I had fun hanging with them.
This picture is #22 in my 100 strangers project. Find out more about the project and see pictures taken by other photographers at www.100strangers.com
“Excuse me, would it be alright if I took your photo?”
“Who? Me?” .... Beth has a look of astonishment and bewilderment .... “I never look good in photos”
“Yes, please … I am doing a project to take pictures of people that I don't know … you have to be at least 18”
Beth tells me her age, confirming that she qualifies and I give her a card, which she examines. Beth makes a favourable comment about Britney's hair and I tell her a little of each of the people on my contact card and my project. Beth seems very interested and comments on other photos on my card, including Lizzie's eyes.
Beth wonders where I would like to take the photo. I ask if she wouldn't mind walking down the street a little, to the nearby alley.
Does this sound dodgy? I could probably have phrased it a bit better but it didn't matter because Beth agreed and walked with me.
When we arrive, I ask Beth what brought her to Glastonbury today and she told me that she is working. Beth is trying to get support for Guide dogs. I asked if she had signed anybody up yet. “Not yet” she told me but they had only arrived an hour earlier and the people that had stopped showed lots of interest. Beth seemed very positive and agreed that raising awareness was an important part of what she was doing.
Beth told me that she enjoys sketching and painting. She works in watercolour and likes to paint all kinds of subjects but particularly animals. I think that Beth had recently painted a tiger's head and was surprised and pleased with the picture when she finished it.
Beth also enjoys going on adventures with her boyfriend in his camper van. They throw some stuff in and off they go. When I asked about where they like to go, Beth remembered that they like to go to festivals. She had a job painting the bins at the Glastonbury festival – so she didn't need to buy a ticket. Her boyfriend also gets tickets to festivals when he performs as a DJ.
As I took Beth's photo, I asked whether she had been stopped before. She said only at festivals because of her outfit. As I had my 17-50 lens with me today, I took a few wider shots – in addition to my preferred close portraits (which I took with my 85mm Sony lens).
As we parted Beth said that she couldn't wait to get back and take a look at my project – how encouraging!
Thank you Beth for agreeing to be part of my project. It was good to meet you. Best wishes.
This is my eighth submission to the group The Human Family
Leonard Cohen: The Stranger Song
Created for 19th MMM Challenge
tree with thanks to Anosmia
and own resources
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
This is Batul, a college student. She is a student of Psychology in a prominent college in Mumbai , but has an interest in Political Studies. I noticed her because of her lovely hair and since it was one of those rare sunny days, thought of doing a nice backlit portrait.She was very cooperative and we had a nice session.
This picture is #11 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 fist time asking a complete stranger if you can take their photo is pretty scary, because you start thinking stuff like 'what if they say no' 'what if they think I'm weird.' etc.
While today In the city I saw that there was a massive crowd, so I went over to see what it was, turns out, they were all watching this guy doing freestyle basketball, And man, he was good! After he was finished doing his act, I waited for everyone to leave, them I went up to him and and said something along the lines of "hey, you were really good, I'm a photographer, do you mind if i can take you portrait" He immediately said 'Sure".
Didn't get much from him other than that he's from New York, USA. He was a really nice guy. So this is probably my favorite shot from the couple I took of him. Let me know what you think?
Meet Allan.
Another portrait from my day trip to Manchester. We were walking around the Northern Quarter when I spotted Allan coming out of a clothes store. His bright and vibrant style instantly stood out, and I ran across the street to say hello.
Allan was more than happy to have his picture taken and when I asked him about himself he told me about a documentary he had made about his life. Allan is or has been in recovery and it's about his acceptance with that and how he accepted himself after a lifetime of fear.
It's called, 'Appy Allan'.
I couldn't find a link to the whole thing but there is a trailer which gives you a sense of him here.
...
This picture is #057 in my third round of the 100 strangers project. Find out more about the project and see pictures taken by other photographers at the 100 Strangers Flickr Group page
Hi, I recenty met Seika while she was waiting to catch the train. I was there on the station to get to the city. After introducing myself and sharing the details when I asked her to join she happily came along. She is here for the last four months. We talked about her new settlement in Sydney and also some places to visit. She likes going to the beach and I gave her info about some of the beautiful beaches that I happen to visit in the past.
If you are interested about the whole episode, please head over to my website following this link as it contains much more information and many more images.
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(Constructive) Criticism is welcome as usual
This picture is #53 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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For similar stories please click here
Follow us on instagram @blissfulpenguinofficial
Meet Cristina.
I was just heading home after a couple of hours of strolling late afternoon- when I saw Cristina just starting lunch on a outdoor bench and I instinctively knew she would make a great stranger portrait. Elegant and sharp with a "focused" look about her she could very well be a martial arts instructor (my wife said that and I agree). But as she looked young I was a little hesitant but then decided to at least ask. As has happened many a times, Cristina was not only open to doing these pictures but actually very friendly. I sat by chatting to know her a little better while she finished lunch - honestly it almost felt like I knew her for a while.
Cristina is from Texas where she works with Universities - obtaining and ensuring federal funds are distributed as appropriate (a Lobbyist for lack of a better term). She loves the outdoors - trekking and being with nature which is one of the reason she loves Maryland due to amount of green spaces even in urban settings. She loves visiting the museums as well as reading. A very confident person I was especially impressed with her ability to express herself and the ease of conversation, even with a person she had just met - a real pleasure. A family oriented individual her favorite memory is of a family cookout a few months ago in Washington DC.
Her favorite quality of herself was her compassion- which I learned was in large part to her life experiences and challenges that she encountered which molded her. She had experienced Spinal fusion in her childhood when she was 9 and for 3 years she was pretty much immobile, in a cast from neck to knees, struggling through the basic functions of life. As much of a painful struggle it was, she was not deterred or bitter, In fact she wouldn't change a thing since it taught her a lot and gave her the ability to empathize with others. Besides her work, she does want to do more to help people and society instead of being absorbed with herself. I was truly blown away by her thinking - humbled really and really glad to make her acquaintance. She also mentioned she didn't really do a lot of pictures but said yes to me to try something different since it was a unique experience - just another facet of her personality I felt. Of course she was just great on camera - she knew exactly what to do and pretty much rocked the pictures.
It was wonderful making your acquaintance Cristina - and hearing your thoughts. Wish you all the very best for your future
Find out more about the project and see pictures taken by other photographers at the 100 Strangers Flickr Group page
For my other pictures on this project: 100 Strangers - Round 2.
For pictures from my prior attempt at 100 Strangers: 100 Strangers - Round 1.
One of my first strangers - shot in 2010. Did a re-edit on this one because of the 30-seconds-exhibition next year ;-)
A Stranger - 30 Seconds Project
All about the idea of this project can be read here:
Carl Zeiss Interview - English
f5 − 1/50 - ISO200 - No Flash - Nikon D300
Charlotte was sitting on a low wall near the Oxo Tower, reading Nietzsche. Nietzsche! Like stranger #54! If that isn't a sign to ask someone to be part of the project I don't know what is. Luckily, Charlotte agreed to a portrait but warned that she didn't usually like how she looked in photographs. So, no pressure. And then she put everything into helping me make a great photograph. Low evening sun was difficult and we tried a few different angles. This one, Into the sun, seemed to work best.
Charlotte is from France and is studying in London - philosophy, politics and economics. End of year exams are approaching and Charlotte said she had a lot of work to do. Thanks for being a fantastic model and taking time out from your reading, Charlotte, good luck with your studies.
this is #70 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
Stranger #60 – Patryk – I met him in the centre of Wrocław, Poland. I asked for a photo, briefly explained the project and Patryk agreed. Then I had to wait a few minutes because he wanted to use an ATM first. Actually, I was very happy that he didn’t run away and came back to me :) After explaining everything once again, Patryk quickly checked out my Facebook page in case I was some kind of fraud. Well, I can’t really blame him because you can bump into various freaks nowadays ;) As usual, I took a few shots to be absolutely sure that everything is perfect. During shooting we had a small and unexpected interruption: two girls passing by started to giggle and told Patryk that maybe I should take a picture of them instead of him. As you can see, it was a nice encounter and I’m quite happy with the final result :)
This picture is #60 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
« Rock Strangers », l’oeuvre de l'artiste belge Arne Quinze, exposée à Ostende, sur la digue autour du monument dédié aux marins disparus en mer.
Notre site :
Saw this stranger on our way to a nearby waterfalls in Kerala, he saw me and smiled. The warmth and gratitude in his eyes radiate around him, which made me take the pic
Please share your thoughts on the any improvements i could have done, composition etc.
Nikon d5600, 85mm 1.8
I retouched the image in PS, added a bit of dodge and burn, sharpened a bit, then finally black and white
Check out - www.instagram.com/photosbyarvind/
I've been working on this coffee since 1986, my name is Abdelah El Ouahabi, I worked four years outside this place and I always back to it, and I have stayed here since 1999. I only serve here, I still remember when this coffee was a post office, then transformed it into a coffee without a door. The famous writer Mohamad Choukri was used to come here, I remember him very well, I used to prepare a coffee for him, Choukri was good financially at this time, but his friends helped him until he meets a foreign who live outside the country. I also met him in the rooftop coffee, which is gone now, he was used to coming to these two coffees. The majority of consumers who used to come here are dead now, he still only one who came from time to another. A Coffee next to us is full of foreigners, Dancer coffee is a local coffee, it visited by Moroccans. People in Tangis coffee, Manara and Central are used to receive foreigners and visitors. This coffee was big, and they started small it until it became like this., 2 meters in the weight and 10 meters in the tales. There is another choice and I don't think about anything else. I'm well-known in this area and all the neighbors know me because I'm old here.
I always had the power of seeing something different in people. I had the idea of creating this project in 2014 when I realize I’m shooting a lot of portraits for my friends, clients, people on the street… So I transformed this passion into an artistic project where my goal wasn’t take just average pictures of strangers, but make portraits of them that reveals something.
It’s an on-going project which I want to take 100 portraits stories.
The world inside him is beautiful as this moment,
The world inside him is empty as this land of nowhere,
The world inside him is fragile as this sand,
deep as this sea,
quiete as this air...
The world inside him is a kingdom where he has no place,
In this world inside him,
he'll ever be a stranger.
My first 'stranger'. It takes some courage and confidence to approach a complete stranger and ask to take their picture. So in the spirit of improving my photography AND social skills I've decided to take up the challenge.
Stranger 104 : Matt
The moment I saw Stranger #104’s eyes, there was no question in my mind that I had to have his portrait. His name was Matt, and he was from New Orleans visiting family over the holiday. On this day after Thanksgiving, Matt was headed toward the local casino to play some poker.
I had a preplanned location / background picked out only a few steps away, but in the short time we made our introductions, a car had parked in the exact spot where we needed to stand. I expressed frustration about this turn of events, and then I suggested we walk together to his destination with the hope of finding a new background along the way (and he agreed). However, we only had to walk a half block and across the street to get to the door of the casino, and before I knew it we were there. Matt suggested he just stand up against the building, but I did not like the grey and dingy façade. I didn’t want to keep Matt away from his cards any longer, so I simply chose to shoot him with his back facing the street so that the backdrop would just be a blurry city scene. I guess it really didn’t matter though….after all, it was Matt’s eyes that I was after.
Check out the rest of the stranger street portraits in my project at Paco's 100 Strangers Project and find out more about the project and see pictures taken by other photographers at the 100 Strangers Flickr Group page.
Stranger #118’s portrait was a pane….literally (spelling correct).
I was at the Cleveland Museum of Art walking through a glass encased corridor from one section of the building to another. Looking out the window, I saw Stranger #118 across a small courtyard and herself inside of a glass encased gallery of sculptures. It was her hat that initially grabbed my attention, but through the multiple glass barriers I thought she looked like a potentially compelling subject. The first challenge was to find her. I had to make my way through a maze of an ancient Asian gallery before I finally found the entrance to the secret sculpture gallery.
Along with my potential model, there was one other woman in the room (who I thought might be with her although I was not certain) and a museum worker. The museum worker concerned me as there was no discreet way to approach a stranger in this relatively small echo chamber. I feared he might take issue with turning the gallery into an impromptu portrait studio, so I decided to bide my time and hope that the worker exited the room before my stranger. It was my lucky day. About two minutes later he casually strolled out leaving me alone with the ladies.
I wasted no time and made my approach. My inclination was correct…the two ladies were together. The other woman was my stranger’s mother. This made for a little bit of a new (and slightly awkward) situation for me, but it turned out that I think the mother was more intrigued by my project than my model. Her name was Maya, and although I had eyed her up through the refraction of several layers of glass, now that I was face to face with her I could see that as a stranger model she was all that I could have hoped for. Everyone was on board for the portrait and we still had this unique room to ourselves, so we got straight to work.
There was a slight temptation to incorporate the sculptures into the portrait (they were ancient Indian works). If I had time to think about a composition I am sure I could have dreamed up something cool and unique, but working on the fly I was concerned that a sculpture might appear to be a forced and out-of-place prop. So instead, I decided to simply incorporate all of the glass walls that were already integral to this encounter. We went to the corner of the gallery, and I positioned Maya so that not only was she backed by the glass walls of our gallery, but also behind that was the glass corridor from which I had initially spied her. I thought the vertical lines from the seams between the myriad of glass panels would make for a decent backdrop. What I did not anticipate was the fantastic turquoise color. It did not appear particularly blue when we were standing there. I did do some minor tweaking of the cyan levels in pp, but clearly my camera sensor was picking up color through all of that refracted glass that we could not see with our eyes. What a pleasant surprise.
Check out the rest of the stranger street portraits in my project at Paco's 100 Strangers Project and find out more about the project and see pictures taken by other photographers at the 100 Strangers Flickr Group page.
I met Rose, along with her cousin Laurel (see my previous stranger), in Nottingham. Both of them were celebrating Rose finishing her three-year university course in sociology. Rose said she’d like to get a job where she would be helping people perhaps as a social worker but Rose’s immediate plans were to go travelling with Thailand, Bali, Vietnam and Malaysia being the places she most wanted to visit.
Rose told me her hobbies included fitness; going to the gym, swimming and running. Rose also enjoys reading crime fiction.
I asked Rose to describe herself in one word and she said outgoing. The word Laurel used to describe Rose was funny.
Rose said her guilty pleasure was listening to One Direction.
If I could grant Rose a wish, what would it be for? “To be happy,” she said.
Thank-you Rose for saying yes to being photographed for my stranger project. I hope you like your portrait.
This picture is number 439 in my 100 Strangers project, yes, I’ve decided to do a fifth round. Find out more about the project and see pictures taken by other photographers at the 100 Strangers Flickr Group page
This is my 401st submission to the Human Family Group. To view more street portraits and stories visit www.flickr.com/groups/thehumanfamily/
Stranger Portrait - Ben stopped me as I walked by him and asked me if I was enjoying the milder weather. He also asked what I was taking photos of (a common question I'm asked). I explained that I was a street photographer at which point he asked if I'd take his photo. More than happy too I said.....
The four of us were hanging around the steps of the old GPO building located on the corner of Melbourne’s famous Bourke Street Mall, surveying the people-scape and lurking in the shadows just waiting for someone to take our fancy.
I noticed Kayla who was working as a waitress in a small café located in the building and she almost ran into me with 2 plates of food as she darted out of the café serving customers. Immediately I was taken by her beautiful face which was full of freckles (yes I have “thing” for freckles) and her 50's style glasses that sat most of the time on the end of her nose due to her rapid movements in and out. Her beanie and apron just made the whole package irresistible and I hung around for a couple of minutes waiting, watching and admiring her skills, conjuring up in my mind the personality that I hoped I might find. Unfortunately, the café was very busy and I soon resigned myself to the fact that there would be next to no chance of asking her to be in the project let alone having the time to make her portrait.
10 minutes later I was back down there again with the hope that she may be free for a minute or 2 and luckily this time my patience paid off. Her reaction to my request to make her portrait was delightful, exclaiming loudly in a tone of part disbelief and part excitement “You want to take a photo of me? Really?” I reassured her that she was my “find of the day” and that she looked amazing not to mention that I adore freckles. She agreed without too much convincing and as I handed her my card I suggested that she first check with her boss if it was OK to spare 2 minutes away. As they talked I overheard her boss asking if she knew where the photo would be used and if I had given her my details etc, sounding more like a protective father than a boss. Just as he said yes Evan turned up and the 3 of us quickly moved to a better spot with less foot traffic. Whilst Evan held the reflector I shot a few frames with the 25mm and then switched to the 45mm to find the shot I wanted. Soon we were done and Kayla headed back to work with no time to talk.
I was feeling quite chuffed with myself for not letting her slip away and headed for the café to thank her generous and understanding boss. Job done!
Thank you Kayla (and your boss) for being part of the project.
This picture is #259 in my 3rd round of The 100 Strangers Project.
You can see my 1st round of 100 Strangers photos here
Round 2 is here
Find out more about the project and see pictures taken by other photographers at the 100 Strangers Flickr Group page
A Stranger - 30 Seconds Project
All about the idea of this project can be read here:
Carl Zeiss Interview - English
Carl Zeiss Interview - German
f5.6 − 1/125 - ISO100 - No Flash - Nikon D850 - Nikon 105mm F2 D DC
A Stranger - 30 Seconds Project
All about the idea of this project can be read here:
Carl Zeiss Interview - English
f5.6 − 1/80 - ISO100 - No Flash - Nikon D800 - Nikon 105mm F2 D DC
Discover Kiné, a beautiful French girl I met in Brussels at the end of my trip in Europe.
On last Sunday, she came to Grand Place to shoot a little promo clip for another artist and also enjoy spending time with her girlfriends.
As she was taking selfies with her friend, I quickly noticed her high prestance and her ability to vary poses in a very nice fashion.
I only had to wait for a few minutes for them to finish their selfie shots before asking for my chance to take her photos - which she kindly obliged. :-)
Notes:
- Taken in Grand Place, Brussels.
- If I had given more thoughts about it, I would have noticed that the little staircase where we took the photos was very small and I should have used my 14mm lens instead of 20mm.
- I'm unfortunately not used to shoot black skin tones so it took many attempts before I could get some decent light balance. To be improved!
This picture is stranger #6 in my "100 Strangers Project".
Find out more about the project and see pictures taken by other photographers at www.flickr.com/groups/100strangers/
Ulrich Müther (1934-2007), Binz, Rügen
A german engineer, he lived and worked on Rügen
(en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R%C3%BCgen)
www.muether-archiv.org/de/bauten/detail/d/rettungsturm_1_...
Went to Camden and Shoreditch with Joe O'Malley ...
Saw this gentleman walking down the street and asked if I could take his photo. He kindly agreed ...
“What do I do with my spare time? I don't have any spare time.”
I met this woman while waiting on some friends. She was on her way back from a day of work as a corporate law intern. She hasn't started this semester of college quite yet and she currently spends all of her time at her internship. I didn't catch her name but I gave her a card with a link to this Flickr set. If you see this post; thanks again for helping me out!
Find out more about the project and see pictures taken by other photographers at the 100 Strangers Flickr Group page
Camera Specs
ISO:640 Shutter: 1/250 fStop2.8 Focal Length: 70mm
This was a way for me to shoot a portrait on a 70-200 while I had the lens out on a rental for a video job. It's a beast but it's a beautiful lens. I was chasing some of that dappled sunlight that bounces off of skyscrapers in Manhattan. I think this is the first frame I clicked too. I kept on trying to get an authentic smile out of her but I think she doesn't dish out too many smiles. Which it totally fine in my book. There are too many Kodak moment smiles out there.