100 Strangers... a work in progress

Well it seems like a bazillion years ago, but it was only around July 2011 I first saw a book by Neil Winch about his 100 strangers project.  I don't know where he found out about it or what got him started, but I was fascinated.   The object was to photograph 100 strangers.   So that's introduce yourself, explain the project, find out a bit about them, get the shot and say goodbye within minutes.  The aim is to get a well lit expressive portrait.  I thought it was way too hard for me to attempt, but I was hooked.   Roll on August and I still hadn't taken a shot, but I found myself at the Cessnock Regional Art Gallery for an exhibition.  I had my camera and there were people everywhere.... I spied Stephen James, one of the exhibiting artists.   I had to act. It was now or never!   To my absolute surprise he agreed and the shot was taken.  By September I had 14 in the bag and I met up with the adorable, talented, witty, charming and delightful Chris Belyea for a walk around Sydney.  He challenged me to a "first to 5",  portraits for the day and he won... but ever the gentleman said I had won, which was very much not the case!

By February 2012 I was up to Stranger 38 when I again went to Sydney to meet Neil Winch, who had flown up from Melbourne.  He, Peter Grifoni, Evan Robinson and another guy met up for a stranger shoot in Newtown.  The boys were prolific shooters, Peter even dragging cafe staff out into the street for his shots.  They produced some amazing work that day.  I bagged just 3.  On the trip down by train I began to feel very unwell.  In fact I had to leave early and got back to Central to wait for a train north when I was overwhelmed with sickness.  Upset, ill, crying I rang Chris Belyea.  I knew he would be a the voice of reason.  He offered to drive into Central,  pick me up and drive me home to Lake Macquarie.  I didn't accept. That journey would have taken him more than 5 hours,  but we talked. He offered options.  Travel as far as I could north and when I could travel no more he would come and get me.  Knowing I had an alternative to passing out on the train gave me the courage to go on and I made it initially to Hornsby, then Wyong and finally Morisset.  Chris ringing and reassuring me all the way.

Towards the end of March 2012 Chris and his wonderful wife Sally came up to Kurri Kurri for the Nostalgia Festival where Sally enjoyed the music and the mayhem and Chris and I shot Strangers.  I was struggling with no energy and feeling ill, but I bagged 3 great shots that day.   Less than a month later I was diagnosed with cancer.  My last shot was on ANZAC Day 2012, no. 50.  I knew I would be out of action for a time.  I began shooting sporadically after that.  For a long time I couldn't even carry my camera.  Shots came in slowly.  ANZAC Day 2013 I shot Chris. Just 10 Strangers over 12 months.  I began to think I wouldn't ever finish the project.   Chris is a member of the Galston Uniting Church Men's Choir and they travel to Rathmines to sing at every ANZAC Day.   I shot him and his wife that day.  Chris too suffered from cancer.  I was too ill to attend the 2014 service.  Roll on ANZAC Day 2015 and we met again at the Rathmines Service.  Chris had spent most of the last 12 months in hospital and I had only managed 5 Strangers in 2 years.   He encouraged me to keep going.

So now it is May 2015 and I picked up the camera again.  I bagged Stranger 66 yesterday at Maitland.  She looked so interesting and her story reflected her look.  Just 34 to go.  At my current rate that would take well over 5 years, so I need to lift my game and get it done!

Here are some of the players.  You can see them all here :

#1 Stephen James. Cessnock Regional Art Gallery.

#17 Kristen.  Shot in Sydney with Chris Belyea.

#41 Lee.  Shot in Newtown with Neil, Peter and Evan.

#46 Tony the Quiffer.  Shot at the Kurri Kurri Nostalgia Festival again with Chris Belyea.

#60 Chris of the Glaston Uniting Church Mens Choir.

#66 Kate.  Shot at Maitland yesterday.

64/100 strangers. Not quite enough!!!

My 100 stranger project has slowed.  Almost stalled.  The first 50 were a breeze time wise.  Then I got a bit sick so there was a break.  I've finished another 14 since since then and I am happy with them all.  For the next 36 I want a little more diversity in my imagery. I want to use some simple lighting techniques and venture out of my comfort zone, both photographically and geographically. I really need to apply myself to finding and photographing those remaining 36 strangers.

My first Stranger was probably the hardest.    Taking that first step, approaching that first stranger.  After the post 50 break I found it hard to start up again, hard to walk up to a complete stranger, introduce yourself and then ask them if you can take your portrait!   That is, of course part of the whole process.  Finding the subject, finding the right light and then taking a complimentary shot all in user a few minutes!

Of course the desire to finish the series is compounded by my desire to have the series exhibited.  I am working on a proposal to exhibit at a local gallery and am amazed at how much I need to do and, strangely, how little it will cost to do.   I already have the 100 frames necessary to show the work, printing costs will be manageable and there might even be a sponsor for that.  Catalogues, advertising and running expenses have been considered and the costings pull up quite reasonably.   With any luck I MIGHT be able to convince another sponsor to come on board.   If you want to get involved let me know.   In the meantime here are some of my favourites of the first 64...

Oh what a night in old Sydney town!

What a week it has been.  First I was going, then I wasn't going and at the last minute I was going again.  Going where?     Going to Sydney to meet a totally awesome man whose musical and film making career I have been following since 1995.

I wanted to go, but after last weekend and the garage sale sapping my limited energy reserves  I doubted I could follow it up with a long drive to Sydney and back on a school night!  I told him I'd be there, then I told him I wouldn't, but I knew this would probably be my one and only opportunity to meet him face to face.  Sure we are "facebook friends" and we have been using the chat function on there since about mid 2010, but face to face!!  How could I miss this rare opportunity?   The simple truth is he lives about 17,000kms away in cold old England and was out here on a tour promoting one of his movies and running a series of empowering workshops designed to help creatives get their ideas out of their heads and into the real world.  Hence, a trip to Sydney... for both of us!

What should have been a 1 hour 40 drive took substantially longer in the most hectic traffic I have ever seen, breakdowns on the toll roads and the eastern distributor compounded the usual end of the day rush of people just wanting to get home.   There might well be some tickets heading my way as a result.  Travelling in a Transit Lane for one, although I wasn't in there for more than about 500m.  There might be some speeding tickets too.  And although the car is registered on my etag, it wasn't in the windscreen.  Yes, I heard your giggle when I mentioned me getting a speeding ticket, but you see I wasn't in Larry Laser.  I was driving my sisters car and it is quite the mover!!!   I won't  even go into the debacle of trying to find my car in the Star City Casino carpark afterwards.  Pink C6 I remembered....  but what floor would you expect that to be on?  Well I can tell you it is parking level 3.  But it did take me some time to work that out!

It seemed Jamie was as pleased to see me as I him!  There were people everywhere, but when he approached me he was very excited that I had made it down.  There were hugs and kisses.   I had taken him a bag of jelly snakes as he likes treats!  He said they were his fave!  He had a good look at how my  my neck scar  had healed, he had seen photos of the gore after surgery.  I introduced him to my nephew Nic and they had a good old chinwag too.   Conversation flowed easily and time passed very quickly.  So with one thing left to do I got my gear ready for the Strange, NOT Stranger project photo.   Jamie had agreed to be photographed and I had the gear , albeit NOT may favourite 135 f2 lens.  I packed the 85 f1.8 cos I suspected we would be short on length.  The 85 is not my fave, but it is a good lens all the same.  So in one shot I captured him. More hugs and kisses followed and we disappearred in different directions out of the Maritime Museum where we had met.  The internet has made this world a very tiny place...and I am glad.

It is said that picture is worth a thousand words... so here is 1k of wordiness!

Strange, NOT Strangers

In my last post I talked about the 100 Strangers Project and how I was loving photographing total strangers.  What I didn't delve into was how sometimes approaching a complete stranger is just too daunting a process to undertake.  Some people are easy to approach and shoot, some aren't. Some exude a "leave me alone" presence and it does sap my confidence at times.  So to avoid totally pulling the pin and hiding under my doona I have a side project running where I photograph people I KNOW.  Not being strangers and often being a little strange that series is known as Strange, NOT Strangers!!!

One thing that has come to my attention is that is it often HARDER to convince a friend to participate in my project than it is to convince a stranger.

So if you are reading this and one day I ask you to be my "Strange, NOT Stranger" please give it some consideration.  It only ever takes about 3 minutes and I promise...it doesn't hurt!!!

The following pics are just some of the series......and all these people survived the experience!!

Don't talk to Strangers!

Don't talk to Strangers was a song made popular by Rick Springfield in the 80's..ahhh the good old days....  but his words aren't valid when, like me, you undertake a photographic project where you are tasked with taking a portrait of a stranger.  Well actually taking portraits of 100 strangers!

I lucked across a book by Melbourne man Neil Winch titled "100 Strangers". The book was portraits of 100 strangers and within those pages was a link to a flickr group.  Neil's images were compelling and being a bit of a flickrite  I followed the link and found myself on slapbang in the middle of a group of  nutbags who thought it was great fun to take portraits of complete strangers.  I immediately joined, but took up a spectator role (errr .... read lurker).  How do you start something like this?  On what day do you suddenly decide to walk up to a complete stranger and ask them for a photo?  

For me to opportunity arose on 13 August 2011 when I found myself at the Cessnock Regional Art Gallery.  It was opening night for an exhibition when I realised I was standing very near one of the artists.  Now or never came into my mind and I took the NOW option.  I walked up to the artist and introduced myself and asked if I could take his portrait.  He agreed.  HOW EASY WAS THAT!!!  1 down,  99 to go!!!  Flushed with success of stranger Number 1 it was a mere two days before strangers 2 and 3 were recorded on my sensor.  

So fast forward to March 2012 and I now have 43 strangers completed.....and what a mix they are!

I still have the nervous nellies before I approach someone, I still worry that I have missed focus on a  single shot and I still stumble over my words.  I have a couple of self imposed rules. No cropping and try to get it in a single shot. On the whole I think I am on track.  What I find now is that I spend a lot more time chatting to the subject  that I do pressing the shutter button!  And what amazing stories are coming my way.  I have always had a passion for Maritime History and William Bligh is a hero so how astounded was I when Stranger 9 confessed she is a 9th generation descendant of Fletcher Christian!!! Stranger 42 and I have a mutual friend and Strangers number 10, 14 and 21 all know each other!

So what will happen when I reach number 100???  Well I have bought 100 matching frames so I hope to find a wall big enough to exhibit them on.  

I still bottle it somedays.  I see someone I'd LOVE to photograph, but for a myriad of reasons don't. For those days I have another series.  Portraits of friends called "Strange, NOT Strangers" I'll tell you all about them another time.  So..........who wants to be my next stranger?

#1 Steven

#27 Jessie

#35 Ange

#38 Chris

#41 Lee

#43 Warwick

If you like what you see the whole 43 are visible at http://www.flickr.com/photos/nammo/sets/72157627426152748/ and, even more amazingly, I have since met and been on a shoot with Neil Winch.   I blamed him for this obsession!