myron . 48 years old / memphis . tennessee
it is tough to find a stranger to photograph on days when i am traveling. i had to be at the airport in colorado springs too early in the day and then arrived in memphis under someone else's care. when i have to depend on other people to bring me to a location where i should be able to find some strangers, i tend to get significantly more stressed out than usual. it is such a drag to inconvenience other people for my project, but the day started closing down so i started putting the pressure on my buddy to bring me to a populated area.
we ended up in downtown memphis and walked down main street, alongside the memphis trolley cars. a few people said no and many more wanted more from me than i was willing to give them. the new environment and the new people made it difficult for me to judge people. you might think that the last thing i should be doing is judging people, but it takes quite a lot of perception and intuition and maybe 450+ days of practice to have some idea of who to approach and who to let be.
i eventually ended up on the famous beale street. across the street from b. b. king's venue, i saw a man standing on the sidewalk, talking to a couple of other guys. he was wearing a brown hat and was dressed in a cook's uniform. i approached the men and asked the one guy if he'd be willing to be today's stranger. myron agreed right away.
he said he was trying to raise some bus fair to get home, but he wasn't asking me for it. he just finished up a day of working at the blues city café - a restaurant just up the street that he's been cooking at for the last 18 years. he was born and raised here in memphis and said there was no other place he'd rather be. he has a couple of sons and a daughter and seemed to be satisfied with his life.
thanks a lot, myron. i appreciate the time you took to be today's stranger.
it is tough to find a stranger to photograph on days when i am traveling. i had to be at the airport in colorado springs too early in the day and then arrived in memphis under someone else's care. when i have to depend on other people to bring me to a location where i should be able to find some strangers, i tend to get significantly more stressed out than usual. it is such a drag to inconvenience other people for my project, but the day started closing down so i started putting the pressure on my buddy to bring me to a populated area.
we ended up in downtown memphis and walked down main street, alongside the memphis trolley cars. a few people said no and many more wanted more from me than i was willing to give them. the new environment and the new people made it difficult for me to judge people. you might think that the last thing i should be doing is judging people, but it takes quite a lot of perception and intuition and maybe 450+ days of practice to have some idea of who to approach and who to let be.
i eventually ended up on the famous beale street. across the street from b. b. king's venue, i saw a man standing on the sidewalk, talking to a couple of other guys. he was wearing a brown hat and was dressed in a cook's uniform. i approached the men and asked the one guy if he'd be willing to be today's stranger. myron agreed right away.
he said he was trying to raise some bus fair to get home, but he wasn't asking me for it. he just finished up a day of working at the blues city café - a restaurant just up the street that he's been cooking at for the last 18 years. he was born and raised here in memphis and said there was no other place he'd rather be. he has a couple of sons and a daughter and seemed to be satisfied with his life.
thanks a lot, myron. i appreciate the time you took to be today's stranger.
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