Photography
From my 100 Strangers Project - Hippie Mike was hustling t-shirts at the flea market and had no problem having his portrait taken or giving me a free shirt so I could use it and the picture to remember the experience.
From my 100 Strangers Project - Bethany was playing a Neil Young song I could hear before I saw her. She didn’t even have an open guitar case for people to throw money into. She was pretty good too.
From my 100 Strangers Project - Leon, the fish whisperer, taken on North Carolina’s Outer Banks in the fishing village of Buxton. I like to take pictures of people working as long as there is no need to hassle them to ask a couple of questions.
From my 100 Strangers Project - Bobby from New Jersey (with the accent to prove it), who I met while he was in the city for the day on unspecified business. The backwards baseball cap is part of the Jersey Shore uniform.
From my 100 Strangers Project - Kenny, manager of a skateboard park, lover of haters
From my 100 Strangers Project - This gentleman’s name is Thor. He repeatedly cautioned me to stay safe “out here”.
From my 100 Strangers Project - Officer McGuire, taken right after he made a big show of scolding a woman for taking two steps away from her suitcase. She didn’t even speak English. He could have handled it differently.
From my 100 Strangers Project - Doug, the old-time rock and roller. I took some pictures of him and his friends jamming at a local park (Steppenwolf covers were tops!) and then talked with him later. He’s been playing guitar for nearly 50 years. He looks the part.
From my 100 Strangers Project - Larry - This is the difference you can make in someone’s attitude in just a few seconds if you smile at them, say “thank you” and give them a thumbs up. Shortly after I took this is when I started talking first and photographing second.
From my 100 Strangers Project - Brandon gladly pulled off his headphones to talk when I asked him what he was listening to (The Fugees) on a Charlotte side street. He was surprised that I knew them, and I was surprised he was listening to something that old. We agreed that Lauryn Hill is a genius.
From my 100 Strangers Project - This is Amayra, her mom and auntie at the India Festival held yearly at the NC state fairgrounds in Raleigh. There were groups of kids putting on cultural performances and it seemed like they all had one or two stressed out parents in tow.
From my 100 strangers project - Tonya from Raleigh was in the coastal town of Beaufort, NC to attend the annual Pirate Festival held there because it’s the final resting place of the Queen Anne’s Revenge, Blackbeard’s ship.
From my 100 Strangers Project - Al was starting to feel a little anxious. He’d gotten separated from his wife at the flea market and was getting ready to go look for her. He declined my offer to help and told me that he was sorry for not smiling.
From my 100 Strangers Project - In Charleston, SC, it seems that many of the working-class people are in the service industry. I found Joquandre and a companion having a smoke behind the brew/pub where they work. I don’t think I have ever photographed a friendlier person.
From my 100 Strangers Project - Eric and Lisa were hanging out with the other Drama Club kids outside the Arts Center downtown when I asked them to pose, which they did in totally appropriate fashion.
From my 100 Strangers Project - Her name is Isabella. She is from Ghana in West Africa. I had a bowl of spicy peanut butter soup she prepared and brought to me in her restaurant.
From my 100 Strangers Project - Sarah, a history teacher, dressed in antebellum clothing
From my 100 Strangers Project - I asked, “What’s your name, young man” and he said “Bobby, sir” and every time I see this photo, I think “There’s Bobby, sir.” That’s his sister with him. They were at a park down by the Congaree River in Columbia, SC.
From my 100 Strangers Project - Lydia - The very first street portrait I ever took. It was totally spontaneous. This woman walked by my wife and I on the sidewalk with our cameras and spoke to us. I instantly asked he if she let me take her photo. She told me she’d modeled some before tattoos.
From my 100 Strangers Project - I didn’t even ask Bob and Sherry about the beer cans they were wearing around their necks. I’ve always loved the fun look in her eyes in this photo though.
