Kiki - Stranger # 604 / 700 - Explored
Sometimes, all it takes for a most fascinating encounter with a stranger to unfold, is simply a hat.
It's like sitting in a theater, waiting in the dark for the curtain to part and for the characters to appear onstage. Not really knowing what will come next, you wait in suspense as the story presents itself.
This is what I often feel when I am about to discover who is my present Stranger.
And this is exactly what happened to me this afternoon while I was leisurely strolling downtown with my camera hanging on my breast.
I suddenly saw her hat. We were walking in opposite directions, facing each other. I rejoiced at her sight, there was a feeling of harmony and serenity in her peaceful walk.
"Hello, may I make a picture of you. I really like your hat, your face, your hair...", I said in Finnish.
She looked at me with a kind smile and asked what it was for. And as I started to tell her about my photographic project, I had hardly said more than a couple of words, she said: " Sure, go ahead. I am working on a photo project for my thesis in Sibelius Academy."
"Are you a musician? I wondered.
"No," she said and explained about Arts Management and what she was doing.
As we continued our conversation--I detected a slight Swedish dialect in her accent, I switched to Swedish, and then to English--I discovered that this beautiful, young woman, 28 y/o, has been involved in a variety of interesting projects.
We were talking about Creative Fear and her plan to travel to Copenhagen and do her photo project there.
I wish I had recorded our conversation! I would have loved to recall every word we exchanged between us. I didn't even write down any notes, except for her email address.
It was overwhelming in a wonderful way. Luckily I had asked her for some extra information online and received these two links:
As we were about to part, we shook hands. Kiki held onto my hands and said: " I am so happy we met. You have inspired me immensely. Thank you for the inspiration."
"Kiki Ylimutka is chairwoman and founder of Super Sisters, a not-for-profit organisation empowering girls and young women to realise their true potential by helping them to discover their passion, creativity and innovation skills. After obtaining her B.Sc. (Econ.) at Hanken School of Economics, Ylimutka is completing her Master’s degree in Arts Management at the Sibelius Academy and writing her thesis on Creative Fear. During her studies at Scandinavia’s leading Music University she co-founded the digital music service CLERKD that combines all the best sides of social media services into modern music listening. Passionate about creativity, music and photography, Ylimutka documents what she sees and the people she meets with her Contax analogue camera on black and white film."
www.flickr.com/groups/100strangers/discuss/72157633469671...
Kiki - Stranger # 604 / 700 - Explored
Sometimes, all it takes for a most fascinating encounter with a stranger to unfold, is simply a hat.
It's like sitting in a theater, waiting in the dark for the curtain to part and for the characters to appear onstage. Not really knowing what will come next, you wait in suspense as the story presents itself.
This is what I often feel when I am about to discover who is my present Stranger.
And this is exactly what happened to me this afternoon while I was leisurely strolling downtown with my camera hanging on my breast.
I suddenly saw her hat. We were walking in opposite directions, facing each other. I rejoiced at her sight, there was a feeling of harmony and serenity in her peaceful walk.
"Hello, may I make a picture of you. I really like your hat, your face, your hair...", I said in Finnish.
She looked at me with a kind smile and asked what it was for. And as I started to tell her about my photographic project, I had hardly said more than a couple of words, she said: " Sure, go ahead. I am working on a photo project for my thesis in Sibelius Academy."
"Are you a musician? I wondered.
"No," she said and explained about Arts Management and what she was doing.
As we continued our conversation--I detected a slight Swedish dialect in her accent, I switched to Swedish, and then to English--I discovered that this beautiful, young woman, 28 y/o, has been involved in a variety of interesting projects.
We were talking about Creative Fear and her plan to travel to Copenhagen and do her photo project there.
I wish I had recorded our conversation! I would have loved to recall every word we exchanged between us. I didn't even write down any notes, except for her email address.
It was overwhelming in a wonderful way. Luckily I had asked her for some extra information online and received these two links:
As we were about to part, we shook hands. Kiki held onto my hands and said: " I am so happy we met. You have inspired me immensely. Thank you for the inspiration."
"Kiki Ylimutka is chairwoman and founder of Super Sisters, a not-for-profit organisation empowering girls and young women to realise their true potential by helping them to discover their passion, creativity and innovation skills. After obtaining her B.Sc. (Econ.) at Hanken School of Economics, Ylimutka is completing her Master’s degree in Arts Management at the Sibelius Academy and writing her thesis on Creative Fear. During her studies at Scandinavia’s leading Music University she co-founded the digital music service CLERKD that combines all the best sides of social media services into modern music listening. Passionate about creativity, music and photography, Ylimutka documents what she sees and the people she meets with her Contax analogue camera on black and white film."
www.flickr.com/groups/100strangers/discuss/72157633469671...