19 Strangers

It has taken me quite a while to get to 19. Clearly, I tend to do this project in fits and starts and I do much better when I leave town. Because the Universe has a sense of humor, I will be in Las Vegas for BlackBoard World and I’m hoping that will result in some interesting opportunities.

Despite the practice, it still isn’t an easy thing for me to do. I’m always fairly awkward asking although I think I recover better than I did initially.

It is interesting to look at the gender, age, and race of the subjects. It probably says quite a bit about me. I’ve only been turned down three times. 86% is a pretty decent success rate. One of the rejections was from a police officer who “got in the habit” of refusing to have his picture taken when he was in an elite military unit1.

In any case, I’m glad I started this project. I intend to finish all 100.

Clerk


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5 thoughts on “19 Strangers

  1. I think you’ll have more interesting opportunities taking shots of the Blackboard employees rather than the slots players….or perhaps that’s just my cynicism speaking about how the odd look of snake oil salesmen.

  2. Nice work. It’s funny, I started following your blog a couple years ago because of the educational content, but I’m also really interested in the photography. If anyone finds the shift to photography a bit random, give this a go. I went to college (go Rutgers!) declared as a computer science major, shifted to history/education, currently teach history in East Orange, NJ,and I advise the yearbook club (photography/graphic design) and tutor a few kids for the math section of the SATs.

    Anyhow, best of luck with the project. I, too, find the racial breakdown of the subjects interesting… You might want to try zooming out a bit at times. My favorite shot would be the dude in the green Aero hoody, but it’s out of focus. I think that leaves #12 as my favorite shot (the white guy with the red/stone background). The off-centeredness makes it interesting for some reason.

    I take a lot of pictures of kids that I barely know, but I don’t know how I’d do taking pictures of perfect strangers off the street. Keep up the good work; it’s clearly getting better… =)

  3. Are they/did they let you into Blackboard World? Do they know who your friends are?
    As always, I am amazed by your photographs. I am looking forward to the next 81.

    1. Not only that, I was a speaker on the K12 panel. People don’t read stuff on the Internet.

      I struck out 3 times in Vegas and then gave up. I’ll have to build my courage back up to try some more.

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