Today’s Friday photo is late, because it took me all day to get it.
Tyree Wilburn (left) and Sebrand Warren practice slacklining.
At the beginning of the year, I resolved to photograph more people. I’m generally a social person, but I’m terrible about introducing myself to new people. The idea of approaching strangers to photograph them has been in my head for months. More than once I’ve set out planning to ask the next person I met for permission to photograph him or her, only to chicken out. I decided I needed to make this a project, and for the next 30 days, I plan to make my photo of the day of a stranger. I made cards and everything (home-made — paper glued on the back of an old photo and laminated).
I chose today as the start of the Stranger a Day project, because I had the cards ready and today’s as good as any. I took my camera out several times on errands and had multiple chickening-out episodes. Finally, I asked an older woman who looked like she was heading to the grocery store if I could take her photo. She paused, then refused, saying, “No… I look horrible.” So I went home, bringing my camera with me every time I switched laundry, because asking your neighbor if you can take her picture while she’s loading her underwear into the washer isn’t awkward at all.
At 4:00, I decided to try one more time. And I saw these guys, who are apparently also my neighbors, practicing slacklining. I walked around the block (or triangle, really) before I got the nerve to approach them and ask to take their pictures (the rest are on my Flickr page). Today was Tyree and Sebrand’s first day on the slackline. And they are my first strangers. Thanks, guys! (Sebrand also offered to help me with a better website. Still considering.)
I’m hoping to improve my portrait-making skills with this project (I did not get as in-your-face today as I’d imagined). If I can become a little less-shy around new people, that would also be a bonus.
I googled “stranger a day louisville” because Tyree has your card and I couldn’t remember the name of your website. I was excited to see my name in the search results. You didn’t tell us that we were your first strangers! This is really cool.
I’ll see you around the neighborhood.
I think I might have mentioned that you guys were the first, but I was probably babbling. Glad you like it, and thanks again for participating.
I like the pictures and your blog. It reminds me of a blog one of my friends has where he climbs a tree every day. http://www.dailyclimb.org
What an interesting goal. I like climbing trees, too, but not enough to find one every day. Maybe like, once a month.
Pingback: Linda Golden’s “Stranger Project”
Amazing. The internet IS sometimes worthwhile, just when I feel I want to get right out of all this sort of thing and just write. You see LJ , I blame it, not me, for “keeping me” from writing , if you follow my drift here!
You can see why I react to your chickeing-out disease; it has dogged me for over forty years. I blame my Scottish origin (Dunkeld): I can never walk into a new store without checking it out from the other side of the street. Familiar?
What you are finding, as I do with words, is that your pictures are starting to reflect your passion to produce them. Ride on and good luck.
Neil
Thanks, Neil! Yes… I’ve been doing lots more “checking out” strangers than photographing them this last week. Hope to get back into it over the weekend. Glad you found something you liked (and that it was my project!) while the internet was keeping you from writing.