99 Strangers
Victoria Park used to be home to a skate park before progress moved in and cleared the way for a motorway. I was lucky enough to spend one summer afternoon of my holiday there, hanging around the sidelines, hoping no one found my presence creepy. There were boys too young to buy beers drinking beers, too young to buy smokes chuffing on smokes. Golden girls with long beachy hair in summer dresses taking in the action. Late-twenties guys with BMXs absconding from the office for an hour or two to get in some jumps, dress jeans rolled up their calves. Eighteen year olds enjoying their last summer before embarking on university, exemplifying their youth with high fives and grazed elbows.
This is Sam. I’d probably say he’s living the dream spending down here at the skate park, where he says he’s spent most of his summer afternoons. I told him after watching them I was keen to try my hand at jumping. He reckons I’ll get the hang of it, but probably on someone else’s bike.
I lost your email address Sam, send me a message if you want a copy of the pics.
Snapped at Campus a Low Hum earlier this year after giving this guy props for bringing his BMX to camp. I wish I had taken mine down.
There’s nothing like getting out of Auckland to help you appreciate Kiwiland. Gareth and I set off on a road trip to soak in some of the charm of the smaller townships in Northland.
These two lovely ladies from the Kauri Coast Cafe sated us with chips, a burger and a toasted sandwich. After telling us of their 5am start and their long, busy day at the cafe, they granted this Aucklander a photo and a little info on the area and some cool places to see and stay.
I was pretty happy with my snap and was gearing up to leave when they implored us to meet their neighbour Gordon from Dormavilla Productions. Gordon runs a souvenir enterprise and specialises in kauri products and photographs of the region.
Gordon happily showed us his workshop and explained the process of making his kauri clocks and crafts. When I explained to him my motivation behind the project he said “I like that sort of thing, that’s neat”. He steers away from people photos himself, “too controversial”, but can be found racing up a hill at dawn, trying to snap a sunrise before it eludes him. Check out www.kauricoast.co.nz to spot some of Gordon’s photos and a little more about the region.
After hearing my introduction and inspecting my 99 Stranges card, Tom asked me why I approached him for his photo.
“So, do you think I’m interesting?”
“Yeah, well I tend to approach people who look happy and relaxed.”
“Oh true? So you don’t think I look like a criminal?”
My friend Bronwyn likes to think she is an advocate for heavily inked people. After a chance conversation with an older lady in a store, Bronwyn managed to demonstate that she was both incredibly lovely and incredibly intelligent and thus changed this woman’s perception of tattooed folk forever. Keep up the good work Bronnie. Tom, it was nice to meet you.I hope you had a great New Years.
I quite like this pic. It came out better after cropping and converting to black and white. This nice gentleman is a stall holder at La Cigale market and politely removed his glasses for the photo. I wish I could remember what he was selling at his stall, maybe olives? He had a European accent and now I’m feeling guilty for knowing so little about him. I think another trip to the market is instore.
I couldn’t resist taking a pic of this Queen Street busker after Jonny and I bopped along to his crooning and chuffled at his jokes about John Denver being a bad pilot. I tried to put some of my recent knowledge about creating leading lines in the shot to use. I preset my aperture and shutter well before taking the pic so I could concentrate on getting a good moment. Years of bumbling my way through gig photos has taught me that you only get about 3 good facials in about a hundred pics when people are singing.
I was amazed to find how receptive people can be to an unusual request. I expected the worst when it came to asking strangers for their photograph, but instead found happy people who were happy to oblige a girl on such a nice day.
I have set myself an additional challenge amongst the the challenge of photographing people I don’t know and that is to teach myself to use the manual setting of my SLR properly. While I spent last weekend trying to get my head around learning how to shoot on all manual settings, this weekend was my first try on the unsuspecting public.
I am certainly pleased with the photos but critical old me is also aware that I get a little flustered in front of the subject. I kept apologising for taking too long to take the photo while I set the settings and I was also a little rushed to get the photo over and done with quickly so I could let the poor victims get on with their business! I want to consider the framing and composition a little better, I worry too much about the settings of the camera and feel a little uncomfortable ‘fluffing around’ trying to get a good shot. I’m hoping that the settings will become second nature and soon the composition and catching the right moment will take mental precidence. This is only my third round of taking ‘stranger pics’ so I’m looking forward to improving as I go.
I am blown away at how obliging and sweet everyone was to me today, so if you’re reading this, thanks for making the world a little warmer!
What is it?
99 strangers is a personal challenge to take 99 portraits of people I don’t know.
The idea
To give myself a photographic kick-up-the-arse and get out with my camera (OK, cameras) and take some photos. I’m hoping it will push me out of my comfort zone enough to meet some new, exciting people; find and tell stories and try and develop my photographic techniques further.
Why 99?
99 is a better number than 100 in terms of both looks and my inherent laziness. My challenge is adapted from the 100 Strangers challenge on Flickr.
When will you be starting?
Soon! I just have to pluck up the courage…