31 march, 2010

ruby . 19 years old / denver . colorado

i hadn't even gone into strangers mode when i spotted a lone, young woman sitting on a bench, smoking a cigarette outside of the bus terminal just a short block away from where i work. i was still mentally decompressing and making that rough transition from work joshua to project joshua. i had over an hour to find today's stranger before an important meeting, so was actually quite surprised when ruby agreed to participate.

ruby was enjoying a cigarette before boarding the bus to go visit a friend in boulder. her friend was working on a belly-dancing project and was consulting ruby's expertise on the subject. ruby has never belly-danced, but she has spent about 7 months in egypt, so this, according to her friend, made her a valuable source. ruby went to egypt through a study abroad program and has a keen interest in the middle east and the rest of the muslim world. she seemed so casual as she explained her interest to me. meanwhile, i was quite surprised and impressed. when i was 19, i was probably still thinking i would be a high school teacher. i had yet to realize the size of the world and its beautiful diversity. oh the joys (pains) of a sheltered life...

ruby is pursuing a degree in international studies and arabic at metro state college, here in downtown denver. she hopes to one day work for the UN or another international aid organization. perhaps she will work in palestine or help iraqi refugees. she is, of course, not sure where she will end up, but i will sing her praises for having such a passion and taking the necessary steps to realize it.

a little while after ruby went on her way to boulder to share her belly-dancing experiences, i was talking with another stranger about the inspiration i often get from these daily interactions. i feel honored. and blessed. and while my schedule is quite full right now, i really do look forward to the daily adventure that is inevitably my experience with a stranger. truth be told, i still long for the day when i can hop on the bus with the someone like ruby and listen to more of their story. to walk and talk and make some really beautiful portraits and compile breathtaking stories is a dream i have not yet given up on.

thank you, ruby. both for your time and for what you've left me to dwell on.

30 march, 2010

janet . 58 years old / denver . colorado

i spent the day jealously watching people walk by the café as they were enjoying the premature summer weather. it would have been a bit easier to bear if they had stopped by to get iced beverages or smoothies or fresh salads, but they didn't. they just walked by, making for an epically slow day. when i was finally free and able to join the masses in the sun celebration, i realized that i was completely exhausted and my already small capacity for patience had nearly dissipated. as i walked with a friend, i realized that i was picking up on all of the wrong things. the things that irritate me. the things that should just be ignored. i figured i was in for a grueling stranger search, but i wasn't.

taking a left instead of a right turned out to be an excellent choice. i spotted a tall women with a bouquet of flowers walking in our direction. she was plugged into a set of headphones as she was walking down the street and she was looking like spring incarnate. she passed us by and shot my friend and me a charming smile. i decided she was far too good to pass up, so i turned around and called after her. she didn't respond, which surprised me. i wondered for a second if her smile had just been a facade and she was now choosing to ignore me, but i rejected that thought and continued after her. it turned out that she was just listening to her music (il divo, as we later found out) and couldn't hear me.

as soon as i started my spiel, janet exclaimed, "i just saw you on the news!" i momentarily wondered if that disqualified her, but quickly worked through it and decided it didn't (i am glad i didn't have to call a board meeting about it). janet asked if her hair looked ok and then had me give her a quick tooth inspection. when everything checked out, she agreed to being today's stranger. she was on her way to the bus and remarked that she would probably miss it, but admitted to not being too worried because another would soon follow. that meant the world to me. i came across a stranger who was willing to take another bus. a big part of me wants to celebrate that.

janet had just left her job (the specifics of which we decided to just leave out) and purchased a bouquet of yellow daisies for her husband. between her work and where we met her on the street, janet had encountered a hotel bus driver schlepping bags for a group of people who appeared to be taking the whole thing for granted. janet took a single daisy out of the bunch and gave it to the bus driver. in return, he gave her a big hug. then, a few blocks later, janet met us. she was still glowing from the experience. being friendly is contagious, folks. today's story is proof.

janet was very sweet - the kind of sweet that you don't run into every day. everything about her exuded kindness and love. the fact that she was bring flowers home to her retired husband made my heart so glad. it seems like they might have one of those true love stories that movies are made out of. the flowers and the il divo music and the summertime weather and janet's big smile... it was all pretty wonderful. she gave me a warm pat on the shoulder and complimented my friend on her beautiful smile. and then, as we were parting ways, she thanked me for doing this project. funny... because i thought i had her to thank.

29 march, 2010

katie . 26 years old / denver . colorado

i left work and made a short walk to the bank. after crossing that errand off my list, i began the search for today's stranger. some days, it takes me many hours to even find a person to ask. other days, days like today, i just start asking. i have to focus my energy on this task on my work days or else i won't find someone. and i really don't want to not find someone.

i asked an older woman to be today's stranger, but she declined on account of not wanting to be photographed. i wished her a good day and continued on my way. half a block later, i spotted katie. she was looking at her phone, probably reading an email or texting. i walked by her and then stopped a few steps later, turned around, and excused myself. i explained the project and asked her to be today's stranger. she laughed, asked me how long it would take, then agreed.

she just got out of work and was waiting for her ride to come pick her up. katie works as a data processor for a credit card company and has been there for a few years. when i asked her if she liked her job, she said that she enjoyed it because she liked her co-workers. i learned that katie was born in seoul, south korea, but was adopted and moved to colorado when she was only 11 months old. since then, she made her way to boulder, to attend university, and then down to denver for work. she studied speech, language, and hearing while at school, but didn't pursue work in that field. i studied something other than photography in college, too. it's a funny system we have here in the states: so much importance on "going to school and getting an education". i guess i don't understand why we don't wait and get "the" education that is right for us. i guess this isn't meant to get too political, though...

katie was a little embarrassed by the picture taking process. i haven't figured out how to make all of my subjects comfortable while staring directly into a rather intimidating lens. i hadn't realized that her ride had arrived, either, so that may have contributed to her discomfort. i noticed that the driver was a young man and assumed that the two of them were in a romantic relationship. to be proactive, i apologized for making him wait as katie climbed into the car.

thanks for being a part of this, katie.

28 march, 2010

nacho . 23 years old / boulder . colorado

it's rare that i make it out of denver, so i was very glad for the opportunity to open up the strangers horizon a little bit by making a short trip to boulder. getting out of town was already nice, but the weather being as gorgeous as it was helped make the day a real treat. walking around "the hill" (an area near the university of colorado campus) with a friend and her dog, i spotted two guys talking to each other in their front yard. i approached the duo and directed my spiel towards the one who was standing up.

he asked me if i was going to pay him. i told him i wouldn't and asked if he was going to pay me. that made him a little concerned, so i explained that i was kidding and told him that there wasn't any money involved with this project. he agreed to participate and we started exchanging information.

nacho is from madrid, spain, and is attending school here in colorado. i asked him what he was studying and he jokingly told me he was studying blonde-haired, blue-eyed girls. then he confessed that he is actually studying business finance and will be graduating soon. nacho doesn't want to work in the business finance world. actually, he doesn't want to work for anybody else. he wants to own his own business and already has some experience under his belt. back at home, he organizes and guides hunting trips and he also owns a company that has something to do with solar panels. he said his next endeavor will be to open an airport in a special part of spain.

nacho wasn't sure if he would return home directly after graduating. he didn't seem to be too concerned with time, which i thought was refreshing. he pointed to his friend, joel, and said that he was lucky to have a millionaire friend. joel adamantly denied being a millionaire, so i think nacho will have to keep working hard before he makes the big time.

my encounter with nacho and joel was short, but i enjoyed it because it was so lighthearted. thanks so much for your time today, guys. and thanks for being today's stranger, nacho.

27 march, 2010

james . 47 years old / denver . colorado

taking full advantage of another beautiful day (the beauty due to a combination of weather and my having the day "off"), i went for a long walk. the hunting for strangers process has recently become a bit easier as i have acquired a new camera bag. for many, a new bag might not be something worth writing about, but it means a lot to me because i carry my camera around for several hours at a time. comfort is a must. and now i have it!

leisurely walking from one café towards my work (to retrieve my telephone charger), i ended up near the denver art museum and soon spotted james coming my way. i approached him with my usual introduction and asked him if he would be today's stranger. he agreed to it right away! i was so glad.

james was on his way home from the library, where he had just picked up some new reading material. he has always lived in this area. while originally from boulder, he lives in denver now. i asked him if he liked it here and james said that he did, but admitted to having some curious thoughts about what it might be like to live in other locations.

james currently does community outreach for the government. he told me that he educates the public on how the government works. but his job will soon be changing and he won't be working for the government soon. he doesn't know where this change will take him, but he said it was necessary and he seemed to be looking forward to it. i was glad to know that james was making this decision on his own and not being asked to make some new plans by his bosses. i imagine the job search in this economy is probably quite a bit more exciting if you are choosing to participate in it of your own accord.

james was very friendly. he kept a warm smile on his face for the whole time we chatted. he said he wasn't expecting to become a model today and asked "what will tyra think?" i told him that tyra banks is a follower of this project, so we would soon find out. i don't actually know whether or not she is, but i suppose it is possible. later when she googles herself, she will probably find this post. i kid.

thanks so much for your time today, james. it was great meeting you.

we are on the news!

i heart strangers made its television debut! channel 7, denver's ABC affiliate, made a lovely story and ran it on thursday night's 10.00 news. if you would like to take a look at it, please click here

thank you for your continued support. i hope you enjoy the video.

26 march, 2010

clinton . 62 years old / denver . colorado

after another day at the café, i headed out into what was forecasted to be another snow storm. it was cold and grey and looked threatening, so i decided to immediately look for today's stranger. i walked towards the tattered cover bookstore but hadn't found anybody, so i turned around to walk back up 16th. that's when i noticed a man stepping out of the bookstore. i approached him and told him what i was working on. he asked me a few polite but precautionary questions about my intentions and then introduced himself.

clinton was born in japan as his father was stationed to help reconstruct what we had obliterated with our nifty little atomic weapon. clinton was already speaking some japanese by the age of three, when he and his family moved to ann arbor, michigan. on the G.I. Bill, his father went to school and studied until he received his doctorate. i asked clinton why he made the move out to denver and he responded with, "john denve!r" and then chuckled. he said he knew what was out here and had wanted to come sooner, but life got in the way. he said getting married and buying a house and things like that kept him in michigan. he eventually came to denver in his late 30s. clinton told me that i must have a higher IQ than he because i managed to find denver at a much younger age. i am not convinced that is necessarily true, but i appreciated the humor.

clinton said that he is a professional networker and spends his time connecting people. he told me he has a business called "silver mountain views", but i couldn't find any information about it online. he was a really friendly guy, but seemed ready to split from our short conversation on the street. i don't like pressing people for more time, so i let him go.

i received a significant number of emails and other electronic messages yesterday. the news story was a success and people were very complimentary and encouraging after seeing it. someone even recognized me on the street and we had a lovely chat together. i came home and started poking around on the internet and discovered another website that had come across this project and then many of its viewers had posted their opinions about it. they had a lot to say: mostly that they thought it was amateur and elementary and poorly executed. i read through a number of comments and have to admit that i felt pretty lousy when i reached the last. it seems that many of the viewers have a pretty significant problem with my unconventional use of the lowercase letter. well, i think it is quite silly that we need to be doubly reminded that a new sentence has started. we already have punctuation, which i know how to use. i am not sure if i have defended my lowercase usage on here before, so i thought i'd mention it now. i also happen to think lowercase letters are much more attractive. beside, if i wrote in "correct" form, what would people have to talk about?

it was a pretty thought provoking day. thanks for a being a part of it, clinton.

25 march, 2010

charles . 30 years old / denver . colorado

well. tonight is the night. doug, the journalist from denver's channel 7 news, came by the café to pick up a disc of images that he will incorporate into tonight's story. i heart strangers is scheduled to make an appearance on the 10.00pm news! seeing doug set the mood for a pretty good day, which i spent looking forward to seeing the story. now it is only two hours away.

after work i had a medium-length conversation with a dear friend. the subject matter was difficult and i walked away feeling rather low. fortunately there was quite a bit of daylight left. matching my mood, my pace was slow as surveyed the passersby. i wandered a lot and ended up in brand new places, but didn't come up with much. somehow the idea that i needed to photograph a man worked its way into my brain, so i spent about an hour seeking one out. i don't keep a careful count of the rejections anymore, but i think i received 5 of them today. i was frustrated by that, as usual, but maybe a little more so because of the added pressure of the television debut.

one man asked me if he could pass. i laughed. of course you can pass. no! i will shackle your hands and feet together and you will enjoy this photographic experience! another man, smoking a pipe while walking away from his hummer (which he had just remotely locked), said he wasn't interested but thanked me for asking. another man said he was a "visiter". that argument didn't hold, so i pressed him. he said no. then, as if in attempt to not crush my soul, he shouted to me that it did sound like a good idea.

i walked on. and on. until i eventually spotted a youngish man walking across the street by himself. i think what caught my eye was a combination of his layers and his long hair. i told him what i was doing and asked him to participate. he said yes. i have a tendency of being very surprised by the "yes" after hearing "no" so many times. today was no different. i reached out my hand and introduced myself and started the ritual.

charles is a denver native. i asked him if he liked it out here. he snickered (in a friendly way) a little bit and said, "well, i wouldn't still be here if i didn't". i took that opportunity to remind charles that the world is full of people who are not happy with where they are. charles made a sound that suggested he hadn't thought of it like that. but, i later realized that charles' response spoke to his character. it seems that charles is the kind of guy to get up and go if he doesn't like where he is. i like that. i guess there is something to be said for riding out the waves and looking for treasures wherever you happen to be, but i have an itch for adventure and new places that seems to constantly need scratching.

charles holds a degree in graphic design and multimedia. he is well-versed in both the PC and MAC platforms. he worked for himself for sometime, but is now working in a mail room. he told me that he sorts and processes the mail and, while he doesn't mind his job, he is constantly on the lookout for the next step. he said he would be fine with working for himself again, but he didn't say it in a way that implied he was hoping for that.

we didn't talk long, but i got a nice feeling from charles. there is, almost without fail, a nice feeling attached to the people who agree to participate in this project. thank you, charles.

24 march, 2010

jill . "29" years old / denver . colorado

last night's storm left a pile of snow on the streets this morning, creating a rather formidable obstacle for my morning bike ride. eliminating the very probable chance of a rather grotesque spill, i decided to make my way to work via a combination of walking and bus riding. i wore my winter boots to make the trip more comfortable but realized, as the day went on, that those boots were going to be rather unnecessary for the walk back home. denver is blessed with sun. very blessed. i was glad for its presence, but it left me with the choice of wearing my other shoes and carrying my heavy boots or wearing my heavy boots and carrying the lighter shoes. i wore the boots.

as i tromped my way down the street, i caught site of a woman walking into a restaurant. i made a double-take because the woman looked like one that had come into the café earlier. i realized it wasn't her and continued on my way. a block or so later, i noticed the same woman ahead of me. i couldn't (and still can't) figure out how she went into that restaurant and also made her way in front of me, but i let it go. after a short time, i ended up walking beside her. we kept the same pace and walked beside each other for a little while.

eventually this woman started chatting with me. she made a comment about the weather. i retorted with a comment about my boots and my current lack of a bike. she said something about biking. i commented on the challenges of biking with a roller bag. i asked what she did for work. she asked me the same. while all of this was going on, i was caught up in a three part dilemma. i was trying to figure out if her glasses were prescription or not because if they were prescription, i did not want to ask her to be the day's stranger because they were difficult to see through. then i was trying to figure out if had already met her at some point. and, finally, i was skeptical because i thought maybe she knew who i was and only being chatty to be a part of the project. so silly. anyway... i came to california street, where i was to turn off to make a stop at a camera shop, and parted ways with this friendly woman. i walked about five paces before deciding that i was completely ridiculous. i stopped, turned around, and presented my project to the woman...

jill was receptive to the idea, which is remarkable considering how long it took me to bring it up. we exchanged some information and took some photos and then chatted for a little while longer. jill is currently a very busy woman. she is a paralegal, she is about to complete her final semester of studying philosophy, and she runs her own business. she is from colorado, but is looking forward to moving east to washington d.c. - she wants to play the law game with the big dogs, i guess.

i was curious about jill's business, so i asked about it. she told me that she helps people who are very sick (dying from HIV, for example) to get their affairs in order and file for bankruptcy so that their loved ones are not left with a trail of carnage. i was shocked on two counts. for one thing, it must be an emotionally challenging job. for another, i can't imagine having a terminal disease and choosing to spend any of my time worrying about what might happen after i die. i don't know if that speaks to my character or to my desire to live in the moment...

jill certainly has more motivation than the average bear. she works a lot right now. i would like to know what her driving force is. what makes her tick. and why. i parted ways with her contemplating something... some brand new territory for this project. jill and i had had a very real "strangers" interaction: two people, unknown to each other, walking down the street, chatting. i walked away wondering if i ruined or enhanced that by asking her to be a part of this project. i guess i only mention that here because it is the first time in 563 days that i have entertained the idea.

thank you for your time today, jill.

23 march, 2010

erin . 31 years old / denver . colorado

i watched the weather worsen by the hour through the large windows in the café. had i been busy, i might not have noticed, but i wasn't. the slow pace coupled with the comments coming from the few customers gave me ample time to conjure up a disheartening story for my stranger hunt later in the day. those premonitions looked as if they might come true when i left work at a few minutes after 3. i stepped outside into a downpour. if we lived near the coast, or near any water of any kind, i would have been sure it was a monsoon. but, no, it was just an early spring rain shower in downtown denver. i pedaled home and managed to get completely soaked. almost as soaked as if i had taken a shower with all of my clothes on.

i was in a rush to get home because i had to change my clothes and then walk to a different part of town to make it to an event i had promised to attend. on the way there, i was going to look for a stranger. finding strangers in the snow is one thing, but the pouring rain... people aren't up for that. i flew through my doors and changed my clothes and gathered my gear and headed out into a calm afternoon. the rain had dwindled to just the slightest drizzle and the sun was making a very late encore. i was relieved.

i walked approximately two blocks down the street and passed a woman who flashed me a big smile and a warm hello. it took a second to register, but when it did, i turned around and called after her. i explained what i was doing and asked her to participate. after she finished laughing, she agreed to be today's stranger.

erin grew up in colorado, but "went to college and became an adult" in iowa. she considers iowa to be where she is from. she had lovely things to say about it, too. she said that the people here in denver tend to do a lot of things with their friends, but people in iowa just spend time together. she said it was a very community oriented place. i liked that description.

erin is a flight attendant. i thought that was just lovely. i can't recall if i have photographed another flight attendant. something tells me i have, but i would have to look through the entries and i don't have the energy for that right now. we chatted about flying and movies about flying and erin explained what her schedule looked like. i have always thought that being a flight attendant would be a lot of fun... for a while. erin said she enjoys her job and is looking forward to the years to come when she works her way up the ranks and into a good schedule. she said the job was good for her now because she didn't have a spouse or children.

we had a lovely conversation. it was very easy. erin wasn't freaked out by me at all. she said she spends a lot of time talking to strangers. i guess that explains it. i had just revised my model release and debuted it today, which made me proud and more confident than normal. this is its 3rd edition. i loosen up with each revision and now i am just hoping that it is still a sound legal document.

because i was still so close to my home, i decided to head back there to get rid of my baggage before continuing on to the event. i opened the first door, walked through my entryway, and then inserted my key into my apartment door when i promptly noticed that my golf bag (complete with clubs and various golfing equipment) was gone. it had been in the same place for about 6 months. stolen. just like that. i didn't really have time to deal with the matter... i had so much other stuff to take care of... but i spent a few minutes looking around. i asked a passerby if he had seen anyone with a golf bag. i chased down a police officer and asked him what i should do. then i dejectedly made my way into my apartment, took some notes about my experience with erin, and started again on my route downtown.

i checked my email on my phone as i walked and read through a rather heartwarming message from a woman in denver who would like to nominate me for an award. so... it rains, it pours, i get utterly soaked, i change, i step outside into a lovely afternoon, i meet a surprisingly kind stranger surprisingly close to my home, i return home to realize i have been robbed, i make some calls, i write, i walk, i check my mail, and i discover that someone has been paying attention to this project. and that was only one full hour of this day.

thanks so much for being today's stranger, erin.

22 march, 2010

amy . 23 years old / denver . colorado

to my great surprise, i woke up today. i felt so terrible last night that i was actually counting on dying. maybe i am being a little dramatic, but i really did feel horrendous. i was afraid that i wouldn't be able to work, but i didn't know what to do about it. i am one of two employees. should i call and say i won't be able to make it? but what if i feel fine in the morning? or, should i not call and take the chance? but then, what if i don't feel fine in the morning? i decided to take the latter option. well... apparently my efforts at lying low yesterday paid off, because i woke up with nothing but a very sore lower back. i don't know how coughing and cold lungs and head throbbing are connected, but i decided not to freak out about it. i stretched and showered and took an aleve and then rode my bike downtown to begin what would turn out to be the slowest day on record.

i jetted out of work at 4.30 this afternoon feeling 100% better. the sun was out. it was warm. people were out and about. i wanted nothing more than a frozen yogurt from a place a few blocks away. i made my way there to share a tasty treat with a friend, but decided to find a stranger first. work first, reward later.

i asked an older woman who i had noticed was curiously peering into the windows of an empty store front. she declined. out of curiosity, i asked her why. she laughed and told me she hadn't done her hair. i didn't know if that was true or if she was witty enough to come up with a good lie on the spot, but i laughed and let her off the hook. several blocks later i asked an elderly man in a nifty hat, a lovely jacket, and thick glasses with bi-focal lines, but he said no. i didn't ask why. shortly after that, i spotted a flash of green (the same green as the shoes i was wearing) on a woman's shoes across the street. i watched to see if she was going to board the bus that had just stopped in front of her. when she didn't, i made my way to her.

amy was immediately up for it. she was so nice. in fact, she was so friendly that i was surprised. she was the kind of friendly that, if contagious, could solve the world's problems. she had just gotten off work at the great divide brewing company - a lovely brewery here in denver. i have met a few of the folks that work there and every one of them has been that kind of nice. they brew great beer and they are all very nice - which makes me wonder if they just might be trying to solve the world's problems. a little beer, a little nice, a smile here, a beer there. and voila! world peace.

i was surprised that amy had landed a job at great divide being that she is quite young. these colorado breweries have phenomenal reputations and are reported to have extremely competitive hiring processes. amy confirmed the theories by saying that 300 people applied for her job. she said she does a variety of jobs for them: it was a long list of things that i couldn't remember. she said she loves it. and she was being honest. she must be a pretty amazing person!

it is so refreshing to run into people who are high on life. thanks so much for your inspiration today, amy.

21 march, 2010

sarah . 32 years old / denver . colorado

from the second that i opened my eyes this morning, i felt sick. i woke up with a forced cough that irritated my chest. that graduated into a very cold feeling in my lungs when i took a deep breath, which soon turned into a severe throbbing in my head, and eventually led to an achey body. it is very rare that i get sick. in fact, i can't remember the last time i was sick. maybe it is because i so rarely feel under the weather that i felt like i was dying today. i gave it my best effort, though. i went out for some breakfast before i felt too sick, but that didn't help. i spent the entire day lying on a couch, watching silly things on a friend's television and trying to sleep. i drank tea. i stayed under blankets. and i complained when i had to get up to go to the bathroom. i contemplated what would happen if i ended up being diagnosed with tuberculosis or pneumonia. i came up with acronyms for a list of disease i was sure i had. i envisioned being in the hospital for weeks and relying on the doctors and nurses to not only keep me alive, but also rally a different doctor or nurse every day that i could photograph for this project.

i waited as long as i thought was safe and then eventually gathered myself and my gear and headed out the door in search of today's stranger. because i felt so poorly, i was fully expecting the stranger search to be nightmarish. but, of course, the stranger gods proved me wrong. i spotted a woman across the street from me. she had just separated from a friend and was about to walk towards me. i called to her as we neared each other and then, when she confirmed that she was coming my way, i waited for her. i told her what i was doing and she agreed to be stranger number 560. i was delighted.

the weather was extraordinary. so beautiful. people were out in flip-flops and t-shirts, worshiping the soon coming summer. but, i was in a wool cardigan and a winter cap, trying my hardest to beat whatever was ailing me. i explained my wardrobe to sarah so she didn't think i was a complete weirdo and she seemed to understand.

we crossed the street into the shade and i fired off a few frames. sarah told me she was on her way home to spend the rest of the day with her husband and child. she had just finished a late lunch with a friend. coincidentally, she ate lunch were i ate breakfast and we had both ordered the same thing: eggs benedict. and, we felt similarly about them: not great.

sarah told me she works a variety of odd jobs. she will be doing some work for the u.s. census as an enumerator. and she does some things for her church. and she said she did something else, too, but i can't remember what it was. i am sure her hands are full with being a mom and wife, too. i asked sarah about her church. interestingly enough, i have not encountered as many people who advertise their church as i figured i would. i spent a lot of time (understatement) in the church. i probably spent more years in the church than many clergy have. sarah told me she attended a place called "pathways". she said it was non-denominational and invited me to come. i told her i had some issues with the church and was taking some time away, letting things sort themselves out. she told me that pathways was a good place to be during that time. i thanked her for the invite...

sarah was very nice. i reached out to shake her hand and she clasped my hand in both of hers to give me a warm goodbye. i thought that was nice. there is something to this contact with strangers thing. really. try to pat someone on the shoulder or give a hi-five. do it. maybe you will notice what i am talking about.

thanks for your time today, sarah.

20 march, 2010

angela . 24 years old / denver . colorado

yesterday's snow was no match for today's sunshine. the temperature didn't get too high, but the sun lifted my spirits. i left my apartment around 11.30 this morning ready to enjoy the day away from work. i walked to a variety of different shops and cafés. figuring i would meet and photograph a stranger along the way, i toted my camera gear. i prefer to meet people spontaneously, so i was looking forward to who i might encounter today (when i didn't have a list of other responsibilities), but it didn't quite work out that way. as the hours of the day continued on and evening started making its grand entrance, i still had not found a stranger. i walked several miles over the course of the entire day and was surprised that it had been so difficult to just happen upon someone. eventually, i gave up on chance and began the pursuit of strangers.

i found myself on colfax and spotted a woman standing at the corner of a building at the end of an alley. i gave her the spiel and asked her to participate. she agreed. i asked if she was waiting for someone. she responded with, "ray davies. do you know him?" i had asked if she was waiting for a ride or something, so i thought it was peculiar that she asked if i knew who that was. i told her i didn't. she told me that ray davies was one of the members of the band "the kinks". i know who the kinks are, but did not know their names. then i was totally confused. why was she waiting for ray davies on the corner? why was ray davies in town? why did she know him? well, she rudely answered those questions by pointing out that she didn't know him at all, she wasn't waiting for a ride, and she, in fact. was just waiting outside the ogden theater where ray davies was going to be performing later. needless to say, i felt awkward. i recorded her name and age and then asked her to sign the model release. but... she did not wish to give me a phone number or an email address. i told her it was simply to inform her of the happenings of the project. she informed me that she did not care to be notified. she was quite rude about that, too. so... i decided to just let her go. i thanked her and wished her a good concert and continued on my way.

i continued walking for a while and eventually a car pulled up beside me and a guy leaned out the passenger window and said, "do you know where stupid's is?" i laughed, thinking i was being set up for a practical joke, and then confessed that i didn't. when it was clear that he was just confused, i told him that i did know of a restaurant/bar called "steuben's". i directed him towards it and then he, the driver, and i shared a laugh about the situation. i followed the car for a little while, hoping to catch up to it to invited the guy to be the day's stranger, but i couldn't keep up. a bit later, a bald man with sharp eyes and an intense black beard told me he wasn't interested. then a tall australian (guessing) man told me that he "was in a bit of a love, er, in a bit of a rush". i thought that was an interesting misspeak. at this point i was very tired. and getting quite frustrated. and, of course, nervous.

i finally spotted a young woman walking by herself up 16th street (i was down there for the second time today). i approached her and gave her the usual speech. she agreed to participate, but seemed reluctant. we worked through it and angela turned out to be quite nice. she is just a little over a year away from getting her doctorate of pharmacy. she graduated high school early and then spent every summer taking classes throughout college. now, at 24, she is almost a doctor. i admire that kind of focus and determination. i was surprised to hear that angela didn't have any fast plans for her career. she seemed indecisive and a little apathetic about the specifics of where her work brought her. that is fine, but i guess i was expecting her to have a 10-point plan.

we chatted for just a couple of minutes, then angela continued on her walk towards a place called "comedy works" where she was going to see the comedian, dave attell, and i continued on my way to a bookstore called "tattered cover", where i sat down to write about the day. i carry a moleskine notebook with me and take my notes in it. sometimes i wish it was connected to the internet. the writing would be a bit more raw, but that would save me some time.

thanks for being today's stranger, angela.

19 march, 2010

mark . 50 years old / denver . colorado

i road my bike to work in the snow and, through the entire wall of windows at the café, watched the snow continue to fall all day long. i was sad to see the weather worsening by the minute, making for a more difficult ride home, but it was cozy inside. we lacked a fireplace and some drinks a little more potent than coffee, but we made it work. i figured we would be even slower than usual, but it turned out to be the busiest day yet. it wasn't until just before my shift was over that i started worrying about finding a stranger in the cold, windy snowstorm. i couldn't help but remember a very cold and snowy day in october of last year that 14 people said no to participating in the project. i was really hoping to not beat that number today.

i walked with a friend towards a lovely eatery called "the market". just before our destination, i spotted a man tucked under a sheltered corner of a building. his bag and a cup of coffee were placed on a high brick wall and he looked like he was reading a newspaper. i approached him and told my friend, hillary, that i would meet up with her shortly. i told him what i was doing and he agreed to be today's stranger, but he confessed that he was waiting for his bus. i thought about letting him go so i wouldn't have to rush, but then i thought of how wonderful it was that he had agreed to participate and how unlikely it was that another person would be so willing on such a stormy day.

i gave mark my information and recorded some of his. i struggled with composing a nice photograph and had him turn this way and that. then i moved my bike out of the way. i didn't get a shot that i really liked, but i suppose it is healthy to exhibit my flaws. it turned out that mark and i had more time than i thought as his bus still had not arrived when i gathered my belongings and left scene.

mark is originally from illinois, but he has set up a home for himself here in denver. he said he has family here, but no spouse and no kids. he told me he has been in the catering business for many years and chuckled a little bit when he said, "and let me tell you, there is no light at the end of that tunnel!" we chatted about the project and mark asked a few questions about what i did for work. i told him about the café and then he promptly warned me to not get sucked in.

i left mark to continue working on his crossword puzzle and watch for his bus and made my way into the bitter elements via bicycle. i wish we had talked more, but i don't always know how to gently push for that. i think i might need to participate in some journalism workshops. if anyone would like to sponsor such an endeavor, please let me know.

thank you for your time today, mark.

18 march, 2010

shannon . 25 years old / denver . colorado

repeating yesterday's post work routine, i ate at the same restaurant for a late lunch and then walked the same course up 16th street. again, i had my bike in tow, but today, instead of carrying my extra layers, i was wearing them. it was another beautiful day, but as evening approached, the wind picked up. rumor has it that this wind is ushering in a nasty winter storm. wintery weather is hard to deal with after a few days of bright sunshine and warmth. grey skies and wind always bring to my mind the storm scene from the wizard of oz.

i am so exhausted after work. every day. i think it's the punishment for doing less than i should be doing. or maybe that is just my guilt-ridden background shining through. regardless, i was tired as i walked down the street. i was nearing the end of 16th street, which meant that i was nearing a decision-making point. i would soon have to decide what to do with my bike and in which direction to walk. for some, that might not be a big deal, but, for me, it is crucial because where i go is where i will find my stranger. hopefully. there is always the worry that i might have gone the wrong way...

before i came to that uncomfortable decision-making place, i spotted a young woman sitting on a stone wall. as i walked by her, i noticed her unique hairstyle. something about that detail, in combination with her posture, made me want to approach her. so, i did. i told her what i was up to and asked her to participate. she asked how long it would take, then, pleased with my response, agreed to go along with it.

shannon just finished her shift at starbucks. she said she has been working there for 8 years. that is a remarkable amount of time to do anything, right? 8 years of finding strangers... imagine that. we exchanged some information and when i wrote down her email address on my model release, i noticed that part of it resembled a date. i asked shannon about the significance and she responded very casually that it was the date of her sobriety. we didn't start chatting about that right away, but we made our way back to the subject.

shannon was on her way to some serious destruction in the hands of alcohol. she recognized the damage it was doing to her and the damage it had done to different members of her family. and she recalled a singular conversation she had had with someone years ago. that conversation is what helped shannon decided to get some help and kick the habit. she commented on how significant an interaction with another person can be. even years later.

shannon said she is working hard to "get out of debt, so i can go to school and go into more debt." she has decided that she would like to study human services, but doesn't have a desire to work for the government. she said she wants to help people. and i can only imagine that her desire to help others comes from her having some experience in needing help.

i think i will end there. thanks so much, shannon.

17 march, 2010

tammera . 47 years old / denver . colorado

it is saint patrick's day. i looked up some information on ol' saint paddy because some of the festivities that take place on his special day confuse me. here's a brief lesson for you. about 1600 years ago, irish raiders kidnapped a boy named patrick from his home in britain. he eventually escaped, fled to the coast, and boarded a boat back home where he immediately began studying to become a priest. instead of begrudging the irish for stealing him, he decided to love them and spent the rest of his life as a missionary to them. rumor has it that he used the shamrock to help explain the holy trinity to the inhabitants of the emerald island.

there are few things not explained by this story: bars opening at 7 a.m., the ensuing excessive alcohol consumption, mardi gras beads, leprechauns, pots of gold, other charms, and even the color green (blue was the color originally associated with st. patrick). i am not sure how being loud and unruly honors the guy either. anyway... it sounds like patrick was a pretty decent guy. but, i don't much like his holiday.

nevertheless, after a quick bite to eat after another long (and slow) day at the café, i walked into the gauntlet that was 16th street in search of today's stranger. as i was walking, i remembered who i photographed one year ago. you may find it interesting to know that it took place on the same street. at the time, 16th street was a brand new place to me. today, it wasn't so new. i was burdened with the long sleeve layers i began the day wearing and my bicycle, which takes up a little too much space on an already crowded street. as i was trudging down the street, i spotted a threesome coming my way. the woman closest to me was talking and walking without looking where she was going. i hoped she would turn and move aside, but she didn't. i had no where to go, so i just braced myself. her shoulder slammed into the center of my chest and her arm ran into the rest of me. it was uncomfortable. and so annoying. i did not heart her at the moment, but it might have made for a super interesting stranger interaction.

a few blocks later, i still had not completely ruled out photographing a st. patrick fanatic, but i wasn't leaning in that direction either. then, i spotted a tall woman with very blue, very bright eyes. i immediately excused myself and went into a quick explanation of what i was doing. she did not want to stop walking, but she wasn't extreme enough in her delay to stop me. i turned around (a notable feat, considering my load) and walked with her. a few steps into my talk, she finally stopped.

"right here?" yes. "well, if you can make it 2 minutes instead of 5, because i am trying to make it to the light rail." i explained that it took a few minutes to deal with the paperwork and she goaded me to hurry up. so, i did. i gave her my card. i wrote down her information. i asked her to sign the model release. she wanted a copy. i told her i didn't have a copy, but i would be happy to email her a copy. she gave up on the idea and agreed to it.

i snapped a few shots and tried to get some information out of her in the process. she is a director of surgery and lives in oregon. she is here in denver for a convention. she mentioned needing to get to her sister, so i assume her sister lives in colorado. when i asked for her email address, she gave me her husband's, but said he would probably delete the email without reading it. hmm... i don't have much to write about there.

it's difficult (maybe impossible) to know if i should just let the people who are in a hurry go on their way. i have done that before and then moved on to find another willing person, but i was tired today. i didn't feel like searching for another stranger. and, of course, i usually convince myself that the person actually has more time than they admit to and will be so enthralled by this experience with me that they will give me more time. then, i think about what i would do. i am probably not the best person to be compared to, but i would postpone the bus or the train ride. i would make a quick call and let someone know that i would be late. i might even offer to invite the photographer for a cup of coffee.

i am grateful to tammera for her time. i am actually shocked that she went along with it. she seemed to legitimately be in a hurry. it's unfair to expect people to put their lives on hold. this is a study. an experiment. it is mine. and i can only be thankful for everyone contributing to make it what it is.

16 march, 2010

dayna . 22 years old / denver . colorado

after another long and slow day at the café, i pedaled myself home to change out of my grimy clothes and gather my gear. then, with camera in tow, i decided to take care of some banking. i walked through downtown, looking for strangers. then i walked up 16th avenue and spotted an older man with a wonderful face. he had piercing blue eyes and deep wrinkles. he stopped when i approached him, but stammered through a rejection based on commuting home and making appointments and not having time. i thought maybe i could sway him with a good natured, "really? are you sure?", but it didn't work. he was sure.

so, i walked on. i walked over to colfax and then walked east a few blocks. the sun was out with the cavalry, making it feel an awful lot like summer. it's nice to walk in the sunshine, but it is almost always a nerve racking experience looking for strangers late in the day. i don't know what i am afraid of. maybe it is multiple rejections. after a long day at work, standing on my feet, serving coffee to strangers, it would be a real shame to not find someone to participate. irrational? maybe. probably. sure.

from about a block away, i spotted a young woman looking very summery in her red dress, white tights and sunglasses, and blue shoes. she had a dog, too, which i took to mean that she probably had a few minutes. she was waiting to cross the street, and i was a good distance from her, so i didn't think i would reach her in time. but, i did!

i gave her the spiel. i asked her to be the day's stranger (number 555!) and she agreed. she said, "as long as i don't have to go anywhere." that would be a challenging project to undertake: not only photographing strangers every day, but getting them to go somewhere with me. "hey there. i am a photographer. i'd like to photograph you. but... i'd like to take you to dinner." or... "to get a beer." or... "would you mind jumping into my super shady van and putting this blindfold on?" i've got my hands full already, so i will keep on shooting wherever i happen to find a willing soul.

dayna moved out to denver from michigan in october. she was studying at the art institute out there, but needed a better school in a bigger environment, so she came out here. she is currently studying interior design and plans on pursuing a master's degree in architecture once she has this first degree under her belt. she said she likes to snowboard, so that was another great reason to move out here.

there is a movie called "aspen extreme", which has been a favorite of mine for many years. it is not an award winner or anything to write home about, but it is the perfect representation of the very boyish dream of leaving home and living in a van and scraping every cent together so you can spend every day skiing in the rocky mountains. anyway, the characters in the movie are from a little ski town in michigan. well... it turns out that dayna is from that very town - brighton. she said she has never seen the movie because she doesn't know how to get it. i probably have one of the only copies! funny, considering it is the first of 3 DVD's that i own.

dayna was out with her dog, princess. princess is a flat-coated retriever and is a "country dog". dayna adopted her for $29 and is a little worried about her not adjusting to city life. i told dayna that i thought princess would do just fine. the three of us didn't spend a lot of time together, but we had a nice exchange.

thanks, dayna!

15 march, 2010

jordan . 20 years old / denver . colorado

* the following story contains information that may not be suitable for all audiences.

i left work after an impressively slow day feeling much more tired than usual. it seems that the slow days consume more than their fair share of energy. i thought that meeting cindy yesterday would have taken care of my funk, but as i trudged through the streets in search of today's stranger, it became clear that it was only temporary. i walked for a while and heard a couple rejections and felt discouraged. i think i have finally come to the realization that it is not the rejections that bother me, but rather the way in which they are presented. i don't consider myself a paranoid person in general, but i am getting a little suspicious of the repeated skepticism.

i ended up on a section of 15th street that i rarely visit and walked by a young man sitting at a table outside a café. he was by himself, reading or writing, or maybe both. as i walked by him i noticed a sizable scar on his neck and it sparked my curiosity. i don't tend to approach people based on their deformities, actually most of the time i am hyper aware of taking care to avoid them at the risk of exploitation. i walked by the young man and was determined to continue on my way, but something stopped me. that familiar check that i can't explain...

i turned around and told him what i was up to and asked him to be today's stranger. he looked at the time and then agreed to it as long as it would be quick. disappointed with the time constraint, but determined, i pulled out my notebook and started writing down his information. jordan told me he is an artist and he grew up here in colorado. i found out he was in school, studying both art and math. and he told me he is particularly fond of using chalk pastels when making his art. interestingly enough, a few hours earlier in the day, a friend of mine redefined the word "pastels" for me. i thought that was a funny little coincidence as pastels rarely make their way into my periphery.

doing my best to work quickly and feeling that i couldn't be as chatty as i wanted to be, i started photographing jordan. i hadn't made up my mind as to whether or not i would ask him about the scar, but after i took a few frames of his face, he presented his profile and said, "you should photograph my scar!" i took that as an opportunity to ask him what happened.

jordan told me that it was a result of his attempted suicide just last year. he explained that he has schizophrenia. he said that he had been in a "galactic battle" and he thought he was jesus christ and it was his responsibility to save the world from a nuclear armageddon. then that suddenly changed and he was convinced that he was actually the devil and responsible for terrible evils. he was sure that he had hurt many people and murdered more and committed a variety of other atrocities. he decided that the only thing for him to do was to rid the world of himself.

* another warning: this next paragraph will be quite graphic.

he walked off by himself to an area near the train tracks and cut off his genitalia. then he proceeded to cut his throat. he told me that he then had a hallucination in which someone told him that he was going to be ok. he managed to pick himself up from the ground and walk to a road where he eventually passed out. some strangers eventually found him and called for an ambulance.

jordan told me he had no idea why he was telling me this stuff. i made sure to ask him if he wanted me to leave any of this information out, but he said, "if people recognize me from this project and want to judge me for it, then f*ck 'em."

our conversation was quite casual despite how candid jordan was with me. i was definitely surprised by his story, but have become adept at listening. this kind of story is challenging to hear, but i figure that jordan told me for a reason and now i am sharing it with you because maybe somebody else needs to hear it. i do apologize to any of the readers who did not heed my warnings and are now wishing they had not been so curious.

he told me that he spent his entire childhood feeling very guilty. he wasn't a bad child, but he always felt guilt for things. even things he had never done. i asked jordan if he grew up in a religious home. he understood why i asked, but explained that his family members were atheists and he some theories about a link between religions and mental disorders. i had a lot of questions for him, but he answered many of them by saying that he is able to live a normal life now. and i do think he considers that a tremendous gift.

he was obviously patched up in the hospital and went through some reconstructive surgery that has allowed him to have a close to normal existence. and, obviously, he was able to get some help to straighten out some things in his head. he is now taking medication that allows him to enjoy the mundane. he explained that he is basically trading his schizophrenia for something like parkinson's - that his medicine is not without consequence - and he is gaining weight, but he said that it is all worth it. i asked him if he is ever tempted to not take his medicine and he told me a very definitive no. jordan said that he is reminded every day of what might happen if he doesn't take it and he is very happy with his ability to carry on a normal life.

jordan had to go meet his sister, so we parted ways. i walked a few feet down the street and was confront by a man (john) who asked me if i was the guy taking the portraits on the street. after some clarification, we decided that i was. we exchanged a few words and then i walked until i found some sunlight to sit in. i soaked it in while i wrote some notes about my talk with jordan.

like i was saying, these encounters are especially heavy. when i went up to cindy yesterday, i had no idea she suffered from severe head injuries during an assault. when i saw jordan, i could not have guessed his story. i am so captivated by people and their stories. maybe enslaved is a better descriptor because i don't feel like this is something i can walk away from.

thanks for your time today, jordan.

14 march, 2010

cindy . 47 years old / denver . colorado

i went to colorado springs last night with my dear friend, brandon. he came to denver to take care of his eye-glasses then i went back to his home, planning on returning to denver today on the bus. i looked at the schedule before making this assumption, but failed to search for a weekend specific schedule. at lunch i discovered that the weekend schedule is quite simple: the buses operate monday though friday. so... brandon drove me all the way back to denver on a very busy highway on a very rainy, very grey day.

i gathered my gear and headed out to look for today's stranger. it was misting lightly, but it looked like the storm might subside. just when today's stranger decided to participate, a downpour of rain and sleet fell upon us. we hustled to get around a corner to find some relief and then started talking.

i asked cindy what she did for work and she explained that she was "medically retired" - a polite way of saying she was disabled due to a severe head injury. she explained that she was assaulted 20 years ago and has been disabled since. saying that i was surprised to hear that would be an understatement. i was floored. i guess i was shocked by the story in the first place, but then i was even more surprised by her willingness to participate in my project.

cindy told me that she was doing very well now, though. she was out picking up snacks with sue, her service dog. sue is an 8-year old border collie. she has no tail and some unique brown markings and has been cindy's companion for the last seven years. normally sue wears a service dog vest, but cindy had just taken it off. they looked like they had a wonderful relationship and cindy proudly told me that sue takes care of her when she suffers from seizures.

on my walk downtown i realized that i was in another slump. i wasn't super thrilled to be out looking for strangers today. i wasn't dreading it, but i was definitely looking at it as a chore. normally these slumps last a few days, but meeting cindy pulled me out of it immediately. she seemed like such a wonderful woman. and what a story!

thank you cindy. and sue!

13 march, 2010

dan . 30 years old / denver . colorado

it felt like summer today. mostly because of the weather, but also because after helping my co-worker open the café early this morning, i had the day off. sort of. i have another job that required some pretty serious attention, but still, it felt so very good to be able to take some time to enjoy the beautiful weather. the streets were so busy, which added to the summertime feeling. it was the saint patrick's day parade that brought out the masses and nearly everyone was wearing green to some extent. and funny glasses. and plastic hats. and mardi gras beads. i don't understand the beads.

hoards of people stress me out a little bit. but hoards of people being loud and drunk stress me out a lot. to face my demons, i decided to walk with my bike directly through the thick of the crowd, searching for today's stranger. i figured it would take me a little while to pick somebody out, but maybe one block into the process, i spotted a young asian woman. she was one of the very few people not walking in a group and one of the few not tricked out in green paraphernalia.

dan is from china. i think she said that she lives in shanghai. she did not speak very much english and i don't speak any (just three words, thanks to a friend who lived over there) chinese, so we took it very slowly. dan works for an indian company and they sent her here to work on an IT project for a company called "wellpoint". she has been here since november and isn't sure how long she will stay. she said when the project is over, she and her co-workers will go back home.

dan was shy in front of the camera and embarrassed that i was so close, but we managed to make it work. she was very sweet and had a lovely smile. the kind of smile that is difficult to ignore. we didn't talk very long, which is too bad. my friend who lived in china and speaks mandarin was on his way to visit me, so i couldn't help but wonder how different my interaction with dan would have been if we could have communicated more.

it must be a tremendous adjustment moving from shanghai to denver. i like that kind of change because it forces you to learn and make mistakes and experience so many new things. denver is feeling very comfortable these days...

thank you for your time today, dan.

12 march, 2010

don . 61 years old / denver . colorado

i have managed to put off writing this story for a couple of days. this was partly circumstantial, but partly intentional, too. i haven't been sure of where to start or how to begin and, truthfully, i am still in the dark over it. i figured i would start writing and just see what comes from it.

i left work and went directly into my stranger search. the weather was nice and i was happy to be away from the café. i walked for a long time and was turned down by many people. a young woman with platinum blonde hair, wearing what was basically just a corset as a top and very tall boots with heels that were maybe 4 inches high told me that she was out looking for a job and didn't feel like she had the time. some other people said no, including another young woman who told me that she belonged to a modeling agency and was strictly forbidden to let anyone else photograph her. that story particularly bothered me because i know the industry and know that to not be true. i don't love being lied to. i would much rather have someone tell me that they just don't want to do it.

i was getting quite tired of walking around and the weight of my gear was annoying me when i walked through a crosswalk and passed don. i turned around and called after him to ask him to be today's stranger. he asked me if i was associated with the media. i confessed that i wasn't and, even though he was disappointed by that, he agreed. he told me he had some experience with taking pictures, too, and then went immediately into a diatribe about why he was looking for the media. he said he has been combing 16th street every day for almost 20 years in search of a media crew - not any one in particular, just media. when he comes across them, don asks if they would like to get some footage of him pissing on the vietnam memorial. i don't know what is more bizarre: that don said that or that i was able to maintain my composure as if i hear that kind of thing every day.

over the course of about an hour, don proceeded to ask me if i knew what "agent orange" was. if i knew what the "SLA" was. if i had heard of "patty hearst" or "fort mcclellan". i admitted that i had heard of agent orange, but didn't know what it was and had no idea about any of the other things he mentioned. don explained each piece of the story in different tangents as he tried to paint me a picture. it was difficult for me to follow as most of the information was new to me.

don was in the military during the time of the vietnam war. while he didn't have any direct contact with it, he is very angry about agent orange - a very nasty chemical that the united states dumped over the jungles in vietnam. don said that anybody that did have any contact with the chemical is now dead. he hates the government. he hates the police. he referenced "judaeo-christians" and attributed them with a lot of blame for many things, too. 3 motorcycle police stopped at the light near where we were talking and don muttered a long sentence of slurs at them.

he told me about his experience going AWOL and how when he attempted to turn himself in he ate some bad food and became very ill, and then how some military police kicked his head into the ground. and then about doing puzzle tests in front of some doctors, and about escaping from a minimum security hold, and living on the streets of berkley and finding it frustrating that people would only throw marijuana joints into his case as he stood on the street playing his guitar. he told me about meeting the future members of the SLA (symbionese liberation army) and said he was looking for a professional writer to help him sort through this information and help him to understand his potential links to it. he told me about carrying guns in his boots and building bombs and his being arrested for aggravated assault. he told me about his issues with paranoia and his anger about having to live on social security after being diagnosed as disabled.

he had a lot to say. we stood in the same place on the street for the entirety of our talk. don held his cup of coffee in the same position and never took a drink of it. he started repeating himself and i grew tired of listening. it was entertaining for some time, but then i realized i couldn't do anything for him and i didn't know what of his story was real and what was imagined. he kept asking me if i knew a professional writer - "someone like john grisham" - to help him figure this out. i told him i didn't and that i was not the guy for the job.

i walked away feeling overwhelmed.

11 march, 2010

murna . 61 years old / denver . colorado

i left work at 2.30 today! it felt so good. very liberating. my co-worker came in early to take her first solo closing shift and simultaneously save the day. you see, a journalist (doug) from channel 7 news, the ABC affiliate in denver, met with me today to conduct an interview and follow me around while i looked for today's stranger. i was feeling pretty nervous about the whole thing, but it went surprisingly well. the interview will not be on the air until the week after next, but i will be sure to post some information about it and i should be able to attach a link so that you can view it if you are not in the denver area or, like me, don't have a television. keep your eyes peeled.

today's stranger search was definitely different than all of the others have been. it felt very strange being followed by another journalist with an even bigger camera. doug had something (many things probably, but one in particular) going for him that i don't - a jacket with the insignia of his company on it. maybe i should make an iheartstrangers logo and sew it onto my jacket. eh? doug also had a company car - "a billboard on wheels" as he called it. as we walked, i had the usual compulsions to ask this person or that, but those urges were much easier to suppress as i was much more nervous than usual.

doug stopped me every few blocks or so to ask some questions on camera. i was strapped to a microphone for the entirety of our time together and a radio transmitted my audio to a receiver in doug's ear. it was all very interesting. anyway, doug asked me to give him some warning when i was going to ask a stranger to participate, but when i saw murna, i just went for it. doug probably saw the look in my eyes because he was right there with me, making sure not to miss a single beat.

murna was extremely pleasant. i explained what i was doing and told her that i was photographing a stranger every day. she admitted that she qualified and then listened as i continued on. she agreed with very little explanation, so i then went through the flaming circus hoops that are my business card and notebook and model release routine. murna was a little skeptical of me, but i think doug's presence and his fancy camera and his "7 news" clothing helped ease her mind. i told her about doug and explained that today was quite a bit different than usual. she was game.

murna is originally from utah. she said she was from all over the state because her father was a state trooper. i confessed that i have never been out there and she confirmed what many others have said - that utah is a beautiful place. murna moved to colorado 20 years ago. 20 years is a span of time that is hard for me to comprehend. 20 years in a place. i have so much to talk about every single day. so many adventures. so many ups and downs. so much excitement and frustration. i wanted to hear about murna's 20 years here. but... it is rare that the stranger is comfortable enough with me to want to divulge all of their personal information in the few minutes we have together.

murna said the she had just come from a notary public class, so the law was on her mind. after admitting that, doug stepped up and told her that he could vouch for me. she took his word for it and even mentioned his "7 news" insignia. i guess the secret is for me to just buy a 7 news jacket and wear it around town. i could wrap my car in some news advertising and dress up my camera a bit, too. i guess that would make me guilty of impersonating a member of the press, which is probably a pretty big deal.

the corner we were standing on was terribly noisy. we were near a parking garage and every time a car entered or exited, an annoying alarm would sound. this was screwing up doug's sound in a pretty major way, so he asked if we could maybe move the party a little further down the street. i then photographed murna in the mouth of a parking garage, firing off a few frames while dodging the traffic.

when i was finished shooting, i asked murna what she did for work. she said she works for a startup company called "sundrop fuels". i asked what she did for them and what they did and murna explained that it was all very confidential. she told me that i could access whatever information that wasn't confidential on their website. there is just next to zero information there, so.... i guess it will remain a mystery. maybe murna is a secret agent - mission impossible style. maybe i am lucky she left me standing.

after i let murna go, doug chased her down and the two of them carried on a secret conversation. i presume it was about me. doug didn't let me in on too much of what they said, but i am just going to assume that it was all good.

murna, thank you for your time today. doug, thank you for sharing today's experience with me.

10 march, 2010

mia . 21 years old / denver . colorado

after spending most of the day working at the café, my co-worker came in for some more training. business was slow, so i gave myself a break to go look for a stranger. i took off down the street with my friend, hillary. she needed to make a trip to the shoe cobbler and i decided to go with her. i always like combining the stranger search with some other activity because it increases the chances of a more natural interaction taking place.

just before we left the cobbler, i figured it would be a good idea to ask him to be today's stranger. he gave me a grimace and then delved into a long spiel about how everyone with a camera is a photographer. i dislike it when people say that. actually, i dislike it very much. i studied hard. i put in my time. i traveled internationally pursuing an education in this field. i saved my money to buy good gear. i have dedicated 549 consecutive days of my life to sharing a person's story with whoever will listen. these were some of my frustrations with his comment. and there was the other matter of the publicity he would have gotten out of it. anyway, i accepted his statement, but i did tell him what i was working on and i pointed out that there isn't anyone else on the streets of denver doing this. he said he would be happy to be in some photos for some payment.

ha ha. that's a good one.

i am already feeling on edge these days. i have a lot going on and am feeling a complete lack of energy. so it was pretty easy for me to go into a tangent about the cobbler when hillary and i walked away. she's a good sport and quietly listened to the same frustrated speech she has heard more times than either of us care to remember.

we spotted a woman walking across the street. she had a short skirt on with tall boots and was showing a liberal amount of leg. hillary suggested i photograph her. i declined. i shy away from the people that have an obvious photogenic element to them. less than a block later, i spotted a woman getting ready to cross the street. she wasn't able to cross because the oncoming traffic had the right of way, so i approached her to tell her what i was up to.

she was listening to some music, so she pulled out her headphones to better hear me. i explained the project. i am not a close talker, but i do like to be in hearing distance of the person with whom i am speaking. this woman kept backing away from me, as if i had a knife and a filthy grin on my face. i can assure you that i don't carry a knife and i don't sport a filthy grin. she asked a few questions themed on being nervous. i did my best to assure her that this was a good thing. humanitarian. loving. a social experiment. she was late for class, but she agreed to be today's no longer stranger.

mia was hesitant to sign the model release. she couldn't (didn't) believe that other people had signed the very same thing. she didn't believe me at all. and i just don't know why. you should definitely know that i take it personally every time. i am not sure there is a way to not. if there is, i surely haven't found it. i photograph people in a very up close and personal style, which might seem invasive, but i consider it necessary. regardless, she kept backing away.

i managed to squeeze in a few questions in our very short time together. i didn't learn much, though. mia is originally from ethiopia, but she moved here about 11 years ago. i asked if she planned to go back to visit and she said that she did. she hasn't been back yet, though. as we were wrapping things up, i asked if she was in medical school - i figured some kind of medicine because of her scrubs. mia said she was about to be in medical school. and that was it...

when i look at the photo and stare into her eyes, i see a good person. i'd like to think that mia is going to medical school to become a learned individual that can help people by educating them about how to care for themselves. she will learn how to care for the sick and she will develop an incredible capacity to affect positive change. maybe she will use her skill set to help the people in ethiopia. i would have liked to have heard what it was like growing up there and how she transitioned to the states. there was so much that i wanted to know...

but instead it was assumed that i just wanted to mistreat her. i felt like dirt when she left. i sat down at a nearby table and stared at nothing in particular and let the tears fill up in my eyes over the whole fiasco. the bad days of this project are always the same. i feel so misunderstood.

a couple of days ago i pulled up to a red light on my bike. i usually run the red lights, but traffic was coming so i decided to wait it out. the crosswalk light turned white, giving pedestrians the signal to cross. i noticed a blind woman standing, waiting. i called out to her to let her know that she could cross. she quickly answered back that she could handle it. she was fine. she could take care of herself. i watched her walk in a diagonal line across the street, directly towards the curb, a parking meter, and a trash can. she worked it all out, but it was quite a bit more difficult than it could have been.

i wonder why we can't just let go.

09 march, 2010

dina . 36 years old / denver . colorado

i think i will be working with a regular schedule starting next week. i am feeling pretty stressed and exhausted right now, so i am definitely ready for the change. i do apologize for the late posts, but i am sure you understand.

my co-worker came into the café for some training and after about an hour together, i left her to run the show while i went to look for today's stranger. as i was on my way out the door, there was an incident with a customer wanting something we didn't have. the customer was talking to my co-worker and then she to me and then me to the co-worker and it was a giant mess. anyway, i didn't handle the whole situation with the grace and wisdom that i would have liked, so i spent the entirety of my stranger walk dwelling on my insufficiencies. very rewarding...

i decided to wander away from 16th street and, shortly after, i saw a woman coming towards me. i stopped her on a street corner and began telling her what i was up to. my guard has been up lately, probably because of my exhaustion. i am prepared for people to say no. that is not good. and that is not how i want to be approaching these interactions. well, this woman stopped to listen and then, after a short pause because of her concern about her hair, she agreed to be today's stranger.

dina is originally from kazakhstan. in 1996 she moved to cleveland, ohio, where she completed her master's degree at a music conservatory. a few years later, she moved to boulder, colorado, and is now a music professor here in denver. she teaches her students both music theory and also how to play the piano.

dina said she misses her home and her friends and her family, but she also likes it here very much. she told me that kazakhstan is a peaceful place now and the country is doing very well. while she would like to go back, she said she is torn between two countries.

thank you so much for your time today, dina.

p.s. channel 7 news, the abc affiliate in denver, will be interviewing me this thursday evening. i am not sure when the feature will air, but i will keep you posted. thank you all for your continued support.

08 march, 2010

blanca . 27 years old / denver . colorado

apparently the sun spent a little too much energy over the last couple of days, because today it was nowhere to be found. i started work at 8.30, but went downtown a little early, hoping to have some time to look for a stranger. i made it halfway down one block before deciding i would look for strangers later.... when i had more time.

i made a mistake by thinking we stayed open until 5. i asked my new co-worker to come in at 3 or 3.30, but realized at 3.15 that we closed at 4. i had been thinking all day long that i would ask her to cover me for a few minutes when she arrived, but lost out on the chance when i called her to let her know we closed earlier than i had thought. that's nice, right? the new manager calls the new employee to let them know he can't even keep track of the opening hours...

we decided to skip her coming in today, but that left me in a precarious position in stranger-land. i closed as quickly as i could and made it out the door at 4.30. it being late in the day, what little light there had been in the first place was fading and the downtown buildings were eating up the rest. i felt sick.

i asked a few people on 16th street, but they all had one reason or another to decline the chance. perhaps it was the crazed and panicked look in my eyes. i don't know how to describe the uneasiness that i felt over my entire body. my mind was racing and my stomach was tight. i was so frustrated that i had screwed up and was so worried that i wouldn't find someone to be stranger number 547.

i took a side street to circle back towards my bicycle. near where i photographed the man who told me about the book "a people's history of the united states", i spotted a lone woman sitting on the foundation of some columns. something about her posture as she was sitting there was very intriguing. i assumed she might be waiting for a bus, but decided to take the chance. i approached her and told her what i was up to. despite there being many people around, she did a great job of focusing on having a conversation with me. she didn't seem to care about the surroundings.

i asked if she would participate and was relieved to hear her say yes. then i asked if she was waiting for the bus. she was. panic... again! i asked if she knew when it was coming and she said she didn't. so, i went for it. i wrote down her name and age in my notebook and then told her about the model release. blanca signed. i gave her my card. we exchanged a few words, then i snapped a bunch of shots, fearing that i might have to photograph her climbing into the bus as the second shot. the light was so lousy, but i worked quickly to make something work. after i felt confident that i got the shot i needed, i went over to talk with her before her bus arrived.

blanca is from topeka, kansas. i asked what it was like there and she said it was very small. she moved out here three years ago to be in a bigger city. she likes the size of denver and it is not too far from home. blanca said she misses her friends and family, but she is trying to figure out what she wants to do with her life. we talked about the pro's of waiting until some maturity and life experiences have set in before deciding which course to take.

our conversation was very brief. some people were staring at me. and i felt like i was intruding on blanca's solitude. i walked back to my bike feeling very sad. wishing i had more time to spend on this project. it's a constant struggle... this project is not easy. maybe in theory, but certainly not in practice. life's little intricacies provide some substantial obstacles. but, this project is unbelievably rewarding.

thanks for being today's stranger, blanca. i do hope you find your passion.

07 march, 2010

leigh . 48 years old / denver . colorado

after spending last night bombing around town and all of today adventuring with my friend, brandon, i found myself running out of time. i hoped to make it downtown to go to the movie theater with another friend, so i grabbed my gear and headed in that direction. i spotted an older gentleman coming my way and invited him to be today's stranger, but he gave me a look that suggested he knew i was attempting to trick him and then passed on the offer.

a few blocks later, a man in a green trench coat, a black hooded sweatshirt and torn black sweatpants asked me if i had a light. i had actually spend the entire day carrying one around because it made me feel cool, so i was delighted for the opportunity to use it. i searched every pocket and then my camera bag and then every pocket again, eventually finding it hiding under my keys. i gave him the light and then told him he could keep it. he seemed as pleased to receive the gift as i was to give it. i intended to continue on my way, but then stopped short and told the man what i was up to and invited him to be a part of this project. he agreed.

i asked where he was from and leigh told me that he was an "air force brat" and lived all over. he said that he even lived in germany as a small child and then told me about a vacation he took with his family to the tulip festival in holland. leigh was delighted to share the story with me and still had a childlike excitement over the many colors of tulips that exist. he told me that tulips come in every color he could imagine, including "purple and even green".

i was curious what he did with his time and he told me he was a part of the MHCD (mental health center of denver). i asked him how long he had been in that program. he thought about it and then said he first started in the program when he was 35 years old. i asked him if something happened. he admitted that something had indeed happened. he had been trying to start a relationship with a woman and one day decided to trespass on her property when she wasn't around. and then he said, "i did some things i shouldn't have". from there, he ended up in a hospital for a few weeks where he was diagnosed as bi-polar.

i was curious about leigh's life before the hospital, so i asked what he used to do. he told me he was "in the delivery business". apparently he worked for an italian restaurant and delivered pizza and other italian dishes to people. he recalled a few stories from that time and even spoke fondly of a few of his co-workers, referring to them by their names. leigh spoke in a very peculiar voice, much higher pitched than i would have guessed. the way he crafted his sentences was interesting, too. i need that recorder...

leigh was excited for the chance to be photographed in his black clothes. while i took his portrait, he held his green coat low on his shoulders and out of the frame. then, when i moved back to take the full-length shot, he said, "we'll do this one a little bit different". then he proceeded to take of his coat and put it aside. that is quite interesting, right? image is so important. for some it's a porsche and coach weekend bag, but for others it is a black hooded sweatshirt and some torn pants.

thanks so much for the conversation today, leigh.

06 march, 2010

grant . 24 years old / denver . colorado

as someone was once again covering for me at the café, i hurried through the streets in search of the day's stranger. i don't like to hurry. i especially don't like to hurry while searching for strangers.

as soon as i stepped outside, i saw a guy on a skateboard. he looked pretty tough and his dog looked even tougher. i wouldn't ordinarily choose to go up to the duo, but this project gives me an excuse to talk to everybody and anybody. i like that. it gives me a chance to show some courage. skateboarder and tough dog declined my offer on account of their being late for work. that was ok.

i was moving at a good pace up 16th street when i noticed a young man walking in the opposite direction on the other side of the street. he wore a sign that read "mechanical engineer for hire". i was obviously intrigued. i ran across the street and caught up to the guy. i told him what i was doing and asked if he would be up for being today's stranger. he was.

originally from illinois, grant went to school in michigan. finding that he wasn't too interested in cars, grant started looking for work elsewhere. he kept hearing the same thing, "we are looking for local people". so, grant decided to pack up his belongings and move. he ended up in denver and is currently pursuing his passions... and looking for a job. he said he is interested in solar energy and has always had a penchant for legos. i think solar energy is pretty cool and i used to play with legos, too, but i don't have the creativity to make a career out of combining the two. i would imagine that grant actually used his legos to be creative, whereas i merely followed the instructions because i invariably found myself in a mess if i wandered from the path. i never have considered myself to be a very creative person.

grant has been applying for jobs in every way he knows how. this is another attempt at showing his drive and work ethic. i wish i was in the market for a mechanical engineer...

thanks so much for your time, grant. good luck with the search.