30 april, 2010

craig . 67 years old / denver . colorado

it wasn't that long ago that i wondered what all the fuss over fridays was about. now i fully understand. my schedule doesn't change tremendously from the regular work week to the weekend, but not having to report to a job that isn't my passion is serving as a light at the end of the tunnel. this being friday night, i was completely exhausted. i didn't have a lot of time to find the day's stranger before beginning the final weekend with my mother who is visiting from the northeast corner of maine. even still, i didn't have the energy to rush the process.

i walked to a sandwich shop and picked up two of their specialities - one for me and one for a friend of mine who was working in a parking lot booth. i brought them to him and left them there, deciding to go look for a stranger before rewarding myself with some food. i didn't make it far before i saw a man sitting on a brick wall, smoking a delicious smelling pipe. he was wearing a cowboy hat and dark sunglasses, hiding much of his face. i usually like to get a good read of someone's face before asking them, but i gave this man the benefit of the doubt. i assumed that anyone smoking a pipe while sitting outside in the middle of downtown denver on a cool, cloudy day was probably going to have an interesting story.

craig asked me to speak up, so i did and repeated my spiel. he agreed to being the day's stranger and welcomed me to sit down beside him. he was free with his stories and i found him wonderfully interesting. he explained that he lives "just upstairs" and comes down every evening to smoke his pipe and watch the girls go by. he said he gets away with a lot because he is "an old man with a stick." his dark sunglasses make one unsure of where his eyes are wandering, which i assume is all part of his plan.

craig told me he was originally from iowa. in the midst of trading some stories, the fact that i went to school in kentucky came out and then craig said he was stationed in kentucky for some time in the army. i did some quick math and asked if he was in the army during the vietnam conflict. he told me he was and said he was one of nine men in his company of 100 that did not go to vietnam. he laughed and said, "how did i do?!"

he has been living in the denver area for 36 years and spent most of that time working in the home building business. he said he had a stroke 6 years ago and decided to move into a condominium downtown - right in the middle of everything. craig said the stroke changed him so much that he feels like he is living an entirely different life. he had a great sense of humor and a warm, throaty laugh. he was full of quips and seemed to have no problem making fun of his shortcomings.

craig told me where he spends his time and i think i will make a point of looking him up. while laughing again, he said he smokes "everything but meth and crack", so he seems to be the right one to go to for some advice on a good cigar. thanks so much for your time today, craig.

29 april, 2010

gaston . 22 years old / denver . colorado

before finding gaston, i walked for a bit longer than i usual do. i covered a lot of ground and was feeling pretty tired because of it. at one point on colfax, i spotted an elderly woman with some shopping bags and thick eye glasses. i began my spiel and she interrupted me to say she didn't have any money. she brushed passed me and didn't bother turning around when i explained that what i was asking for didn't have anything to do with money. i would have liked to have at least had an opportunity to explain, but something tells me that it wouldn't have made much of a difference.

as i was nearing my own neighborhood, i saw a young man sitting outside a café. he was smoking a cigarette and had his feet propped up on a table. something about his relaxed posture made me envious. at that moment i desperately wished i could have been sitting there, smoking a cigarette with my feet up. i decided that i should ask the guy to be the day's stranger because if i could not actually be relaxing, i could at least photograph what it looks like to be relaxing. you know... as a reminder.

now i don't mean to give the impression that gaston is just a relaxer. the fact is that he was on a short break from his work inside the café. at the same time, he is currently trying to finish up his education in aviation. he is working towards a career as an air traffic controller. he said he was fortunate to have a father who was footing his school bill, something that most likely makes some of the longer shifts at the coffee shop a bit more bearable.

gaston was born in buenos aires, argentina, but moved to colorado when was very young. he said he visits argentina once every year and a half. i told him i would like to visit there one day and he didn't shatter any of those dreams. gaston said it is really lovely, but he doesn't have any desire to move to buenos aires. he said it is far too big. he had nice things to say about the nature, though.

we didn't spend too long together. he finished his cigarette and i took a few more minutes of his time than he had planned. he went back into work and i took some notes about our chat. i still wish i could audio record each of these interactions, but i just haven't figured out a way to make the change. in time, i suppose.

thanks, gaston.

28 april, 2010

agnieszka . 30 years old / denver . colorado

i was rejected a few times today. i have been getting used to not being rejected, so i felt a bit frustrated. the interesting thing about the rejections is that not every one of them bothers me. it's the personal rejections that get to me. like the one today, for example. one woman said that she didn't "feel comfortable". i don't know how else to take that, so i take it personally. anyway, i suppose that after nearly 600 days of this, i am alowed to feel a little overwhelmed every once in a while.

i kept walking. and mostly in large circles. i walked by a greenpeace spokesperson so many times that he decided to comment on it. we had a short conversation about this project and then i continued the search. walking down a section of the street i had visited several times today, i spotted a woman coming out of a restaurant with a large portfolio. i approached her and told her what i was i up to. she asked if she had to take her clothes off. i told her she didn't and she agreed to be a part of it.

agnieszka was born in poland but her and her family emigrated from there to new york when she was only 6 years old. they lived there and in new jersey for some time and then eventually found their way to colorado. i immediately asked her where she was from because of her name. she looked a lit bit displeased with the question, but i could have misread her response. regardless, she put it past her quickly and reciprocated the question, making for a rather nice conversation.

i asked if she was an artist and agnieszka smiled and said she wasn't. i asked what she had in her portfolio and she opened it up and showed me some cyanotypes. i had no idea what they were and was glad for the chance to give them a look. she tried to explain the process to me, but i didn't fully grasp it. it looked very beautiful, though, and i think she would have a difficult time convincing anyone that she isn't an "artist" when she is walking around with a portfolio full of clearly artistic things.

agnieszka is studying to get her master's degree in writing at the university of colorado in boulder. i asked what she liked to write and she explained that she did not like to be put into boxes. she said she is very interested in the subject of immigration and the transformation that people go through in the process. she said that her writings on that subject come in a variety of different shapes.

we had a lovely chat on the street. it is always so wonderful to meet the stranger of the day. it makes all of the rejections worth it. every time.

27 april, 2010

sarah . 25 years old / denver . colorado

in the middle of my stranger search i heard from my friend, jacob. he showed up in denver on his way across the country and called me to find out where i was at. i told him i was looking for strangers and he told me he wanted to see me in action, so i decided to wait for him to come downtown before continuing the search too seriously. i had some time to kill, so i walked several blocks, keeping my eyes open, but not putting too much energy into the stranger seeking.

jacob joined me a bit later and we walked around together, catching each other up on our new life changes. jacob is a friend of mine from when we were both very young. i was just 6 or 7 years old when we first became friends. he is one of those people that seems to just get better and nicer and more kind and loving as they grow older. it was truly a pleasure to walk around with him. i think the last time i saw him i was still pretty early in the "i heart strangers" process. we talked as we walked and then, suddenly, i spotted a young woman pushing a cart of food down the street. i immediately approached her and asked if she was busy. i told her what i was up to and asked if she would be the day's stranger. she asked me if the cart of food had to be in the photo. i thought about it for a second and told her that it wasn't totally necessary. then she informed me that she had to bring it to her work, but if i was willing to wait, it would only take her a couple of minutes.

the three of us walked towards sarah's work and chatted a bit on the way. she works for a marketing research company and was delivering a cart of food for the participants of the current product research. interestingly, sarah stayed at work about an hour and a half later than usual and i postponed my stranger search so that i could share the experience with my friend. isn't it so cool that those two things in a sea of other variables were vital to bringing us together? i think so...

sarah is from texas originally, but her and her father moved to colorado when she was in high school. she decided to go to college in boulder and has been living in denver for the last couple of years. she changed major several times and is hoping to soon graduate with a degree in russian. she said she is now hoping to spend a bit more of her energy discovering denver. she spent a good portion of her time working constantly in a position that made her terribly unhappy. she eventually decided to move on to a different job (the one she has now) with a pay and responsibility decrease and has been completely thrilled with her decision.

sarah was so immediately warm. she had a very friendly smile and a loving voice. she seemed very open and honest and our conversation was refreshingly real. without much explanation, she understood this project and why i was doing it. she shared her own personal resolution with me and said that she would soon be getting it tattooed on her body. it is a quote by maxim gorky and it goes like this: "happiness always looks small while you hold it in your hands, but let it go, and you learn at once how big and precious it is."

today ranks very high in the strangers catalogue for so many reasons. anna, from yesterday, came by the café to hang out and talk for a while. then, my dear friend jacob joined me for today's stranger search. and to top it off, we had a wonderful experience with sarah.

so... a big thanks to everybody involved.

26 april, 2010

anna . 26 years old / denver . colorado

the latest issue of slice magazine, based out of brooklyn, is supposed to be on the shelves soon. i keep going to the tattered cover bookstore to see if it is there because this project is supposed to take up four of its pages. i went down there today after work to check on it, but it wasn't there again. i flipped through one other magazine and then made my way outside to look for a stranger.

the temperature wasn't very high today, but it felt nice in the sun. i made my way from one side of the street to the other because it offered more of it, and, as i passed through the median, i heard a woman speaking german on her phone while she was sitting on a bench. i was intrigued by the german because i don't run into many foreign conversations on the streets of denver. i continued walking to the other side of the street and found a very small patch of sunlight to stand in. i decided to wait for the woman to get off the phone.

i waited. and waited. and waited. and, as i am sure you can imagine, i began feeling like a major creep. i could only hear that she was on the phone, but i stood far enough away to not hear what she was saying. i don't speak german anyway, but still... i didn't want her to think of me as a complete nut. i watched what was probably 100 people walk by as i was waiting and not one of them caught my eye. i guess i had completely made up my mind that the german woman on the phone would be today's stranger. i started to wonder how long i should wait. the sun was going down and i wondered how much time i would have to seek out someone else if she declined the invitation.

before i got too carried away with the doubting, i noticed that she had hung up. i let a group of commuters pass by and then walked over to her. she was still on the bench. as i excused myself and told her what i was doing she listened but looked at me like she was expecting the worst. as she warmed up to the idea, i sat down beside her and continued explaining. i gave her my card and asked her to sign the model release. i almost lost her with the release... and what a shame that would have been.

anna was born in germany, but she grew up in spain. she moved back to germany and just recently finished studying translation and interpretation in school. she is now taking a vacation and traveling through the states. she went to california first and spent some time in the san francisco area. then she came out to denver to see some irish friends who own a bar here. she was planning on staying in the states until june, but was surprised to find out how little public transportation there is in this country. she said she was having a difficult time getting to the places she wanted to go and was not up for renting cars and driving to them by herself. she will be heading to new york city at the end of this week and will then go back to berlin, making the trip a bit shorter than she originally planned. she said she hopes to come back with a friend so they can share the cost and experience of getting to some of the other places she hoped to go.

anna was a little bit concerned with being photographed. she said she wasn't at all photogenic. she was also worried that her photo would show up "everywhere". while i wish that was likely, i assured her that it wasn't. she was very sweet. we talked for more than the few minutes i advertised it would take. i always feel good when the stranger doesn't mind spending a bit more time than they originally planned. it feels like a small victory. it also felt like a victory that after anna saw the photos on my camera, she asked if i would send them to her.

thanks so much for your time today, anna. i hope you enjoy the rest of your trip and i hope you get some better weather soon.

25 april, 2010

joy . 50 years old / evergreen . colorado

my mom is visiting. we see each other very rarely, so it's quite nice to have her here. i decided that she would most likely benefit from a fancy chocolate body wrap, so we made a trip to evergreen, colorado, where there is a rather lovely spa . after dropping the moms off, my friend, hillary, and i went into the central town of evergreen to look for strangers. after walking around for a while and feeling largely uninspired, we decided to head to the lake.

we walked around the lake, but didn't ask anybody because the light wasn't right. then we walked to the other side. i spotted a lone man fishing on the shore. we made our way to him and i presented him with the spiel, but he politely declined on account of being a pretty "quiet" person. he volunteered his friend who had not yet arrived, but we decided to keep walking. soon after, i saw a woman fishing by herself. she was tucked into a corner, where the walking trail went up and away from the lake. as i approached her, a rainbow trout that she had recently captured made a splash in the water. it was tethered to a thin rope that was running through its mouth and gills, looking very dissatisfied. i must have noticeably jumped because the fisherwoman said, "did it scare you?". i was glad she spoke to me. it happens very rarely, but i like it when the stranger makes first contact.

joy told me that she was almost sure that she had just recently heard something about this project. we couldn't figure out through which means, but she agreed to be the day's stranger anyway. she was very involved with her fishing and seemed to be perfectly delighted. i almost felt sorry to be taking her time away from what she was so obviously enjoying. on more than one occasion while talking with her, she interrupted to give me a status update on her bobber in the water. she also pointed out a kingfisher at one point, but it turned out to be just a stick.

joy was born in montana, but she said she was "made in seattle". she grew up in montana, but moved down to evergreen when she was 21 and has been there ever since. she said she used to be a ski instructor and would ski more than 80 times each season. she said that her new addiction is fishing. her and her boyfriend, bob, come to evergreen lake during april and may and then seek out a new spot each weekend for the rest of the season. i don't know what, if anything, joy does for work now. she seemed to be content being a dog owner, a girlfriend, and a weekend fisher.

thanks so much for your time today, joy.

24 april, 2010

charles . 82 years old / denver . colorado

i went in search of today's stranger with my friend, brandon. he is moving to the east coast in a couple of days, so this was our last chance (for a while anyway) to spend some time together. i don't like saying goodbye to friends. odd considering how many times i have had to do it, but maybe it is one of those things that i will never get used to. anyway, brandon was in the middle of a story when i saw an elderly man walking towards us. i immediately approached him to ask him to be today's stranger. i was completely off my communication game. my words were all bundled up and i had a difficult time saying what i wanted to. i've recently made some pretty big decisions, so i guess my nerves were just reminding me that they are still there.

fortunately charles didn't seem to judge my struggle. he listened to my spiel and pleasantly agreed to be today's stranger. brandon and i talked to him for 5 minutes or so, both of us engaging him, both of us intrigued by charles' many years of experience. he was born in jacksonville, florida, but has lived all over the world. he said the first thing that set his wheels in motion was a two-week religious trip. i don't know what happened after those two weeks, but he started doing a lot of moving.

when he was younger, charles was a very accomplished pianist. he said he could play a repertoire of classical songs and the songs he memorized were "longer than they were popular". when he said that he showed us a big grin and let out a chuckle. he taught at the brooklyn conservatory for a few years, but had to move and found the commute difficult so he gave that job up. he said he worked for the government for some time and listed off a few other jobs i can't remember.

he had a very youthful spirit about him. he also had very cool pants on, which brandon and i both gave him repeated praise for. he said he just pulled them and his shoes out of his closet after not wearing them for about 30 years. that makes me wonder if i will ever have anything in my possession for that long. i move and purge my belongings so often that i don't accumulate much. charles was on his way back to the library to return a book of classical music when we met. he said he just recently starting playing the piano again and is trying to remember the music he used to know so well. he said that playing the piano is making him feel younger then he told us about some famous pianists and how old they lived to be. charles seemed ready to live his whole life again.

charles was married for 45 years, but his wife passed away four years ago. he said he was doing fine and from what i could tell, that seemed to be true. he had a great personality and a warm smile. i would have liked to have followed him around for the rest of the day and listened to more of his stories, but that just didn't seem to be practical. when we were parting ways he thanked me for stopping him and taking his picture. i returned that thanks and then we talked about how gratitude is not often the response i get from the strangers i encounter. he laughed and said something to the effect of there not being any harm in taking a few photos.

thanks so much for your time today, charles.

23 april, 2010

mike . 62 years old / denver . colorado

ahh yes. another shockingly unpleasant day at the café. actually, aside from the rainy bicycle ride in the morning, the day was pretty good until just before the shift change. at 2.10, i received a voicemail from my only co-worker. she quit. she quit via voicemail. and she quit via voicemail only 50 minutes before her shift. i wish i could have seen the underlying comedy routine while in the heat of the moment, but instead i only saw the problems it caused. so... i stayed at work late. i already had a very busy afternoon and evening ahead of me. i needed to meet and photograph a stranger. i needed to clean my apartment. and i needed to take a trip to the airport to retrieve my mother who i have not seen in a year. i left work after a terribly ineffectual meeting with my superior and felt like a giant pile of waste.

i took my bike to the top of 16th street, locked it up, and then found a bench to sit on. i needed to prepare my business card and model release and check to see that my camera was in order. a friend walked by and we chatted about the last couple hours of my day. she was dressed in fun spring colors, a nice juxtaposition to the cold, rainy, dreary day. she suggested that my job probably wasn't worth stressing about. and i suppose she was right. she walked away and i readied myself for the stranger's search of the day.

i walked by an older asian man and said, "excuse me". he didn't acknowledge me. i repeated myself and then said, "do you speak english?" he quickly raised his hand to shoo me away and gruffly exclaimed, "NO!" without so much as tossing me a glance. so, i kept on. a couple of blocks later i spotted a gentleman coming my way in an old patagonia brand jacket. i saw the character in his face and decided that the bright colors of his jacket against the etched years in his expression would go well together. i excused myself again and began explaining what i wanted. he granted me permission because it was only going to take a few minutes, so we dove into the process.

before saying too much, i complimented mike on his classic jacket. he said that he liked it. then we made our way into the more practical matters. mike is a geo-physicist. he has been working in that field since completing his studies and seemed to be quite satisfied with his decision. he mentioned that he went to school in montana, which brought us to the subject of where he was from. mike said matter-of-factly that his home was in montana, but he lived and worked down here. he said he has a house in montana. and a raft. and a '64 chevy (i think it was a chevy, but it may have been a buick). he also said he has family there. i asked if he had family down here, too. he looked at me and said, "yeah." then, immediately, switched the subject back to his jacket, making a remark about how one can't buy a jacket like that anymore.

he threw me off with the subject change. it was like an axe fell on the conversation. we silently took some photos, shook hands, and i thanked mike for his time and encouraged him to look at the site. and that concluded day number 593.

22 april, 2010

lindsey . 26 years old / denver . colorado

waiting for some pictures to print at a camera shop, i went out in search of the day's stranger. it wasn't too far into the walk that i spotted a young woman standing on the sidewalk, smoking a cigarette. she was standing very near the bus lane, but not near a bus stop, so i figured she was just enjoying a little nicotine and some oncoming bus danger simultaneously. as i came nearer and was trying to decide if i should ask her to participate, i saw that she had a flower in her hair. for some reason, it was that flower that made the confirmation.

lindsey is in town on a vacation. she is currently living in minnesota, working at a bar. she lived in fort collins, colorado, for a while and is visiting a friend from that time of her life. she said she likes minnesota. while not a fan of the weather, she does like the small town feel and the nice people. she is originally from madison, wisconsin, so i guess she is used to the cold.

we didn't uncover anything too earth shattering today. i think i talked more than she did and most of you have heard plenty from me already. i did notice as i was looking through the camera that lindsey looked very calm, confident, and deliberate. i commented something to that effect to her and she said, "i've had a couple of cocktails." we both laughed and then said goodbye.

21 april, 2010

renee . 18 years old / denver . colorado

i am spending most of my energy and time at a job that a monkey could do. i am not knocking monkeys, but seriously, i was made for more. i know there are many people who carry this complaint with them throughout their lives, but i am not going to be one of them. i refuse. there isn't much i can do about it at the moment, though. i am just telling you so that you understand that i don't just get up every day well rested and bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and spend my morning slowly perusing the streets for strangers. these days, by the time i work my way out into the world of unknown passers-by, i am completely exhausted.

today was no different. i walked around seemingly aimlessly and felt that all to familiar uneasiness that accompanies my search. who will it be? who will say no? how many people will i pass by before i ask one? is it okay to ask that person? or that person? what will they think? what will you think? what will i think? should i take a right or a left? or maybe go straight? venture into a different part of town? and on and on and on it goes. maybe i am describing some kind of mental instability. i feel "normal" enough... usually anyway. this project does make me feel like a nut sometimes, though.

i spotted two young woman walking in my direction. i noticed one of them in particular because of her hair and her glasses. as the duo approached, i was weighing the decision - ask her or don't ask her? that is certainly the question. is it to be? just before we crossed paths, i excused myself and dove into a quick explanation of why i was stopping them on the street. i looked at both of them as i talked and then finally targeted the participatory question at the one with the hair and glasses.

renee agreed. to be polite, i checked with her friend, lisa, to make sure she had the time. she did. so, we began chatting. both renee and lisa live in boulder. they commute to denver to attend college here. renee is studying criminal justice and hopes to one day be an air marshal. she said she will make sure the plane is safe, then ride in the plane, land, and then she will get paid. sounds like a good thing to pursue. her friend, lisa, told me that she was studying history and wants to work in the museum world. she said that maybe she will be the curator at "the MET" one day.

both of these young ladies were very nice. we didn't have a long conversation, though. and parts of it were quite awkward. i think i may have offended renee by telling her that she did not have to give me a forced smile. i explained that i was just wanting her to look into the camera. and... before we started the photo taking process, i asked if she was at least 18. she and lisa both burst out laughing. i figured that meant that they were well over the legal age. then, when she said she was 18, i was terribly confused. i asked why she had laughed, but i didn't get an answer.

renee and lisa were on their way to get some dinner. we spent just a few minutes together. sometimes i am off my game and out of my element. sometimes i don't have the right questions or the super excitable and contagious personality that is often on my side. sometimes these interactions with strangers are short and sweet. and sometimes that is just fine.

thanks so much for being a part of this, renee.

and now i want to pass on a little bit of non-iheartstrangers information. i just came home from seeing jónsi in concert. i enjoy seeing live music and take in as much as i can and don't typically feel compelled to pass that information on to you, but this experience tonight is worth mentioning. i have never seen anything more beautiful. not a sunset or sunrise or a landscape or a an act of kindness or any natural phenomenon. this was on par with a midnight firefly show after an early evening rainbow turned awe-inspiring thunderstorm. jónsi's unbelievable talent and dedication and his willingness to share his creations with the audience was absolutely spectacular. so, take a browse on the internet and see when he will be nearby and then buy tickets. if for no other reason than because i said so.

20 april, 2010

ariel . 23 years old / denver . colorado

just a couple of hours after work i was scheduled to take some photos of a friend and her baby. i left the café intent on finding a stranger quickly. of course, i don't have a lot of control over that even though sometimes i tell myself that i do. and today was a nice reminder that there is a lot going on in the world that i have little influence over.

after a few rejections, when i reached the point of exhaustion and was completely over the search, i ran into ariel. i spotted her from half a block down the street. i noticed her hair. and her big glasses. and i saw that she was listening to something in her earphones (i later found out that it was atmosphere and gnarls barkley). as we neared each other, i motioned that i wanted to talk to her. she quickly removed her ear pieces and agreed to be today's stranger before i even finished the sales pitch. she told me she was hoping someone would take her picture today, but she didn't feel like asking a stranger to do that. i was happy to oblige.

ariel was so warm. she had a huge smile and bright, kind eyes. and she had a lot of positive energy when we talked - it was almost palpable. she said she is currently living in colorado springs, but was up here in denver participating in the 4.20 festivities. when i met her she was in the process of looking for her sister, which she said was not going to be a big task because of her dreads. i don't know if she is always in such a good mood or if it was just because she was up here enjoying a day away from home, but she was extremely pleasant.

her father is in the military and, as a result, ariel and her family have been living all over the world. she said she is having a tougher time adjusting to life back in the springs than she anticipated. she said that in many places she has lived, people don't care about color and race. people are people. she said that is not the case down in the springs. racism is something i have a really difficult time understanding. this isn't my platform to preach, but i am happy to say that i have no sympathy for it. i actually get very angry about it. and my heart breaks over it.

ariel told me she is an artist. she said she paints with acrylics, mostly abstract. she said that she can't really predict what is going to happen when she paints. she just paints and whatever happens, happens. that sounds nice. i don't think i would get very good results if i tried photographing that way, though.

we had a short chat on the street, but it was very fun. she had a contagious spirit and i walked away from my interaction with her feeling much lighter and happier. and reenergized. thanks so much for your time today, ariel.

19 april, 2010

brett . 46 years old / denver . colorado

here is a story i won't be forgetting anytime soon.

i left work and, as usual, felt like garbage. i rode my bike to a yogurt shop. they advertise their tasty goodness as being "non-fat" and "healthy" and i choose to believe them. whatever. it's the little things in life, right? after a few minutes of indulging, i decided to look for a stranger.

i walked a few blocks and then spotted an old volkswagen van. i am always drawn to the old vans, but today i was particularly interested because the driver appeared to be in a suit. i figured there must be an interesting story. as the van rounded the corner in front of me, i watched it and soon realized that its driver was looking for a parking place. i started following it, hoping it would stop soon. no spots were available, so it kept on going. i followed it. i ran across the street. it rounded a corner and i followed a few seconds behind. fortunately, another half a block later, i saw that it had found a free spot.

i approached the driver as he was backing into a spot. i told him what i was up to before he even had a chance to kill the engine. he agreed to being today's stranger but warned me that he was on hold with his insurance company. i learned his name by listening to parts of his conversation and traded some information while he was on hold with them. i snapped some photos while he was talking and just motioned for him to readjust his position to one that was a bit more photogenic. it was a very casual, immediately trusting interaction. i was very comfortable.

it turned out that the van did not belong to brett. he loaned his own car to his girlfriend and was driving a client's van around in the interim. brett is originally from delaware, but worked his way out to colorado in the 90s. he studied law and started practicing in the late 90s. he is now working for a medical marijuana company and is in the midst of a heavy learning process. he said this his is first experience with dealing so heavily in politics. he is involved with the legislative process and is working hard to make sure that people's rights to this alternative form of medicine don't get taken from them.

brett shared a few stories with me that made it obvious why he does what he does. he seemed to genuinely care. our interaction was so carefree, remarkably so. i didn't give him much information when he decided that i was ok. we walked together towards a restuarant/café called "the market". brett said he was going there to meet a friend of his and he invited me to join him. what a breath of fresh air! i joined him and he offered to buy me a coffee. i declined, having worked in a café all day, but i did sit down with him outside. we soon ran into an accountant friend of his named bob and another lawyer friend named wadi. if anyone needs a medical marijuana lawyer, a criminal defense laywer, or a certified public accountant let me know. i will send you to one of these three guys.

we sat around a table in the setting sun and just chatted. we talked about law and accounting and history. we talked of the homeless population in denver and gypsies and saline versus chlorine pools. we talked about traveling and costa rica. we talked about strangers. we had a very natural, easy going conversation. and i felt perfectly at home. i don't know why day 589 was so different than the others, but something clicked today. it was as if i was given a sample of what this project could be like every day.

thank you, brett. and thank you wadi and bob. what a great experience!

18 april, 2010

eric . 23 years old / boulder . colorado

i took a trip to boulder with a friend of mine and spent the day in the sunshine. at some point i left her to look through a clothing store while i set out in search of a stranger. i only walked about a block before i had to stop at an intersection to let traffic pass. while i was waiting, a long-haired, bearded, bright-eyed young man walked up beside me. he was holding a phone to his ear, but i wasn't sure if he was talking on it or listening to a voicemail. i decided to ask him. he said he was talking. he gave me an inquisitive look, so i told him i wanted to ask him for something, but i could wait. he asked the person on the phone to hold on for a second, so i explained the project to him. he then asked the person on the other end of the line if he could call them back.

we stood on the sidewalk and chatted for a few minutes. eric was a pleasure to be around. he had very genuine eyes and a trusting stare and a soft but sure way of communicating. he is from connecticut, but is out here in boulder studying peace studies and contemplative psychology at naropa university. i asked him how long he had left to be in school and he said that was difficult to answer because every time he opens the course book he starts "salivating". he said he is enjoying his time at school so much that he is in no hurry to finish. i felt a sting of jealousy deep inside and commented that we had entirely different college experiences.

eric is interested in going into the education field after he graduates. he said it seemed like the most effective way to reach the greatest number of people. he hopes to facilitate more than teach and he wants to be available to help people discover their passions. we only talked for a few minutes, but i walked away with a lot to think about. there are plenty of people out there (especially in boulder) who have a similar look and spiel, but for some reason or another, it sounded so genuine when eric talked to me. he wished me well as we parted ways and i am quite sure he meant it. i was a little bit sad to leave him because, given the time, i felt like we could have had a great conversation about any number of subjects.

thanks so much for your time today, eric. it was a pleasure meeting you.

and for the record, eric shaved his head in 2005 and has been growing his hair since.

17 april, 2010

sarah . 31 years old / denver . colorado

after a very early morning airport run, a nap, a breakfast, and more hours than i care to remember doing some photo inspecting for another job, i finally made it outside into what was a cool and damp late afternoon. i walked around for a while, doing my best to avoid the downtown area. i am down there so often that i am tiring of using it as a backdrop. i tend to walk in loops, doing my best not to wander too far from home or my bike. i still put some miles on in the process, but usually end up in relative proximity to where i need to be.

after a while of no luck, i started heading towards colfax, thinking i would find more people there. en route, i saw a woman step out of a white bus to dump some ice out of a water cooler. i hesitated, but eventually worked up the courage to approach her. i poked my head inside the bus and excused myself. i briefly explained what i was doing and asked her to be the day's no longer stranger. she said yes, but asked if i would give her 10 or 15 minutes so she could finish her duties. i paused, thinking about how late in the day it was, then told her i would just let her get her work done and i would go look for someone else. but, as i was walking away, i realized that i was being hypocritical by not giving her the time that i was asking of her. i went back to the bus and told her i would be happy to wait.

i sat down on a dry patch of sidewalk and waited. i began taking some notes and then just sat. it actually felt pretty good to just sit. i thought about taking a book out of my bag to do some reading, but i skipped it. just when i started wondering if the woman was actually going to come back outside and then trying to decide how much time i should devote to waiting, she came around the corner. she said she was sorry for being a little skeptical but she wanted to have a little more information before she agreed. i explained a bit more about the project and my intentions. whatever i said must have been what she wanted to hear because she agreed.

sarah works as a recreation coordinator for the city of denver. i studied recreation in college, but have done absolutely nothing with it. usually people laugh when they see that i have a degree in recreation. not because they think it is a joke of a profession, but because they have never heard of it. sarah probably gets a lot of that, too. it is good to see that she is using her education. she is from las vegas, but studied here in denver and then took an internship here, too. she decided to stick it out and has been working for 6 years for denver's recreation program.

on saturdays, she drives the white bus around to bring people to games. i forget what the sport was today. she said that their programs consists mostly of 13 to 30 year-olds. they offer a wide range of activities and sports leagues and said that individuals can choose to participate in programs that involve physically challenged participants if they want to. sarah told me that there is a wheel-chair rugby league, which immediately brought to mind a photo project. and now those gears are spinning in my head again...

sarah seemed to really enjoy her job. actually, she seemed to be enjoying her life. she is married and her husband's family is here, which probably makes being away from her own family (still in vegas) a bit easier. she doesn't have any children. she said that her job is child enough for her. she seemed to be an exact fit for her job. i realized i wasn't that person and eventually started just getting through classes so i could get that degree that everyone said was so important. it was interesting to run into someone who was doing what i most likely would have been doing had i chosen to continue walking down that path.

thanks so much for your time today, sarah. i am glad i waited.

16 april, 2010

brittany . 24 years old / denver . colorado

does anyone know anyone who might want to sponsor this project so that i can dedicate more time to it? keep me posted.

today's search took more time than usual. i was very tired, too, which probably contributed to making it feel longer than it was. while wandering around, i did see a woman who i thought would make a great stranger. i think it was because of her brightly colored clothing and her curly hair. but she was "on her way to see a friend", so she couldn't be bothered. i guess the "no's" do play an important role in this project, but it is hard to consider that in the moment. everyday i walk by so many people that i don't even ask, so i guess when i do finally break down and engage with a stranger, i would like them to say yes.

many blocks later, i made a stop in a bookstore to have a peek. i didn't stay very long, but it did turn out to be long enough to make a difference in the rest of the day. a block or so later, i spotted a young woman coming out of restaurant called "illegal pete's". she was carrying a glass coca-cola bottle. i don't particularly like coca-cola and, consequently, almost never drink it, but something about that glass bottle makes me happy every time i see it. maybe it is due to remarkably successful branding campaign by coca-cola or maybe that glass bottle brings to mind some happy memories that i can't quite put specifics to. either way, i decided to ask its holder if she would be up for being today's stranger.

brittany agreed right away. she didn't need much of an explanation. she had just returned from working up in boulder and was about to meet her girlfriend and some other friends for a happy hour adventure. brittany works for a brewery in boulder and substitute teaches on the side. on this particular day she had worked until 2am at the bar and then started teaching at 7. i don't operate very well on a few hours of sleep, but brittany appeared to be doing just fine.

i don't know what brought her out to denver, but she is originally from indiana. she will soon be going back to school to study education psychology (i think that is right). she proudly showed me a tattoo of a film strip on her upper arm. she said she shoots film sometimes, but is keeping photography as a hobby. we had a few points of similarity, which i always find interesting. she went to school in indiana. i, in kentucky. she studied art of some kind. i studied education of some kind. now, i am a photographer (which people often refer to as "art") and she is pursuing a career in education. she was stepping out of a restaurant with a coke while i was walking by. and there you have it.

a few minutes after my interaction with brittany, i walked by a woman i had seen a couple of hours earlier. she was sitting atop a brick wall in a t-shirt. beside her was an open can of PBR and a bag of mcdonald's food. a couple of things concerned me. while i don't particularly care, there is an open container law in denver. so it was just a little bit odd to see someone so blatantly breaking that law in such a busy part of town. and, more importantly, it was cold outside. i asked her if she was ok. she said she was and asked me if i was ok. i admitted that i was just fine and told her that i noticed she had been in the same spot for a while and thought it was a bit too cold for a t-shirt. she told me she needed a sweatshirt or a jacket. i suppose the best thing to do would have been to give her the one i was wearing, but i didn't do that. i told her i couldn't help her with that. she confirmed that she was ok, but again said she needed a sweatshirt or a jacket. here i am a few days later, still thinking about her. i wonder if i would still be thinking about her if i had given her my sweatshirt.

well... i guess i will chew on that for a while. thanks for your time today, brittany.

15 april, 2010

tanya . 41 years old / denver . colorado

it has taken me a while to find the time to write this story. regardless of the delay, i am excited to share my interaction with tanya with you.

after work, i walked over to a park with my friend, zach. the weather was gorgeous and i need to sit down for a few minutes to decompress from the day. we sat there long enough to get our sun fix and formulate a plan for the rest of the evening and then we started walking towards our bikes. when we were almost out of the park, i spotted a woman and man lying on their stomachs in the grass. they were talking and laughing and looked to be having a wonderful time. the woman was all smiles and had beautiful, kind eyes. i wanted to ask her to be the day's stranger, but i didn't want to be "that guy" and interrupt such a cozy time.

zach and i jumped on our bicycles and pedaled to masterpiece delicatessen - a place in the lower highlands that makes phenomenal sandwiches. they were closed, but the woman recommended that we try a place around the corner. it turned out to be closed, too, but across the street was another place i know and enjoy, so we decided to go in there. after locking our bikes, i told zach i would like to find a stranger before we participated in the happy hour festivities. we walked one block and i saw a woman standing alone on the corner.

before i could even get the words out of my mouth, she pointed at me and, with a big smile and said, "park!". i realized it was the same woman who had been lying in the grass. and she still had those kind eyes and that warm smile. i told her about my project and asked her to be today's new friend. she accepted the invitation right away. it's hard for me to ignore that kind of serendipity. we biked. she drove. our destination was closed. the woman and her friend ran into another friend on the street. moments before, zach was nearly hit by a car, which would have definitely had an impact on the day's events. then you have to take into consideration the fact that i even thought of going to that area - something probably contingent on a conversation with someone else earlier in the day. it is so impressive when meeting someone is contingent on so many things happening or not happening, especially when that interaction is so strong.

tanya moved out to colorado from baltimore when she was 5 years old. she has been here ever since and seems to be very content. she is an interior decorator, but we didn't get into the specifics of that. the details of where one is from and what one does seem to be much less significant when it is so obvious that they are such a good person. tanya was showing her friend, noah (the man in the grass), around town because he is considering moving to denver from vail.

in the few minutes we all interacted, i didn't stop smiling. it was a very positive, high-energy experience. we ended up meeting tanya's other friend, james. and zach and i bumped into another friend of mine named paul. we all eventually ended up at the same place and engaged in another short conversation before eventually parting ways.

this experience left me reeling. i guess it is the happy, smiling, positive people that keep me searching every day. thank you for being one of those people, tanya.

14 april, 2010

chong . 33 years old / denver . colorado

walking with my buddy zach after another long day at the café, we stepped around the same corner where i photographed evan a couple of days ago and there was chong. he had just stepped off his skateboard to wait for some traffic to pass at the intersection. i immediately went up to him to tell him about this project. i told him i was photographing a stranger every day and he wanted to know why. i briefly explained a couple of my reasons and he agreed to be a part of it. before i could even dig my notebook out of my bag, he started talking.

he told me that some cultures believe that a photograph steals a person's soul. he said some people won't let you photograph them until you have spent a considerable amount of time with them. seen their home. eaten their food. listened to their stories. chong said i could take his photo. he said he didn't care. but he just wanted me to understand.

he talked for a long time - 20 minutes or so - while i just listened. zach sat down near us and listened to our conversation. i looked over my shoulder a couple times to make sure he was still there, but mainly just tried to make sense of what chong was saying. i am completely blurry on the subjects of how he survives, makes money, pays rent, and eats food. he told me that he doesn't work. he gave me an example of how his days typically go by describing today. he said he woke up, pawned an ipod for $40, bought a burrito at taco bell, smoked bowls with his friends, and skated for a while at the park. then, when we ran into him on the street, he was on his way to visit another friend.

chong said that he does some graphic design work sometimes. he also said that he is really good at healing people. he said he takes a little bit from yoga and reiki and pilates and acupressure and acupuncture and massage and puts them all together. he touches people's pressure points and relieves their stress, their toxins, and their "cancers". he said he does most of this work just by looking at people - with a glance, some openness, and eye contact. then he made some karate-like hand motions and said, "most people put the qi (kee) before the chi (chee), but i put the chi before the qi. then it is cheeky, which is a bit more tricky (tree-kee)." i have no idea what he was talking about.

i asked him a few times about how he survives, but he never gave me a straight answer. i did learn that he was born in seoul, south korea, and was adopted by a mormon family when he was 18 months old. he grew up in salt lake city, utah, but decided to leave mormonism at the age of 12. he said his family wasn't very happy about that. and he said that he doesn't talk to them anymore. he didn't sound as if he wasn't angry with them, though. he said that they have their thing and he has his.

i took a few things away from my conversation with chong. i left knowing that it is good to listen to people. i figured he told me things that he felt like telling someone. it sounded like he was just giving me what was in his head, without editing. i left with a better understanding that people need love. all kinds of people need all kinds of love. and i left with a better understanding of soul-stealing through photography. and if that is true, then i am happy to know that i share that stolen soul with a lot of other people.

so, today's story might not be the easiest to understand, but it is definitely a memorable one. thank you, chong.

13 april, 2010

coeli . 19 years old / denver . colorado

i left work and stepped out into a warm and sunny but very windy day. i was exhausted and not entirely sure i had the energy to immediately look for a stranger, but i thought i should give it a try. i wandered for a few blocks up 16th street and then made my way over towards 14th. i spotted an older woman with great glasses, a very charming face, and a beautiful smile. i excused myself to give a quick pitch and she immediately placed her hand on my shoulder, as if her body's listening device was located in the palm of her hand. when i asked her if she had a few minutes, she shot me a big smile and told me she only had a second. she was so sincere about it that i shot her a smile back and wished her a good day.

a couple blocks later, i came across a vast, bright yellow wall. it was so bright, almost blinding, because it was directly in the later afternoon sunshine. i walked by a bench that ran along the wall and noticed a young woman sitting there. she appeared to be waiting for someone or something. i walked by, contemplating asking her, then turned around and figured it was worth a try. she was, in fact, waiting for someone, but she said that her ride could wait a minute if we weren't finished when he arrived. i was so happy to hear that. very refreshing.

coeli (pronounced chay-lee) recently moved here from hilton head, south carolina. she told me she is already missing the beach, which is definitely understandable considering how beautiful south carolina is. she is studying history and isn't sure if she is going study to get a PhD in archaeology or spend a little bit less time in school to pursue a career as a curator. she has plenty of time to decide, though. at 19, i had just decided to change my major to something other than history education and the time between then and now has been a ridiculous adventure. she, like me, is currently flat broke, so she was waiting for her friend to pick her up so they could watch some movies at his place.

i had never heard her name before so i presented her the "most interesting name" award and asked her where it came from. she said it was her father's college roommate's ex-girlfriend's name. he always liked the name, so he gave it to his daughter. i thought that was really charming. one of my sisters had a college friend with an interesting name... and one that i will never forget.

because coeli was sitting in the direct sun, i asked her to cross the street with me for a portrait in the shade. i couldn't resist using her original location for the environmental shot, though. so different than usual. i thanked coeli and she told me she was flattered to be a part of the project and then we parted ways. another day, another stranger.

12 april, 2010

evan . 30 years old / denver . colorado

today's stranger search was special because i was walking down the street with the friend who encouraged me to begin this project (zach ramey). he lives in new york city, but is out here in denver paying me a visit. one of the many reasons why it is always a pleasure to look for strangers with zach is that he documents me documenting strangers. he has a lovely collection of photographs serving as proof that this project is real. having a friend as continuously involved in this project as zach is also serves as a lovely way to measure my growth as a photographer. and the experiences are inevitably more memorable when he is involved.

zach and i stood on the street for a few minutes, watching a long, thin piece of plastic floating around in the air. then, a few seconds later, i stepped out of the way of a woman on a longboard and directly into a man who was also stepping out of the way of the woman on the longboard. then, when zach started to photograph a building whose rooftop advertised his name in big bold letters, i spotted a woman walking across the street, in the opposite direction, on the other side of some concrete traffic barriers near a construction zone. i couldn't see much of this woman, but for some reason i decided she was the one. i sprinted across the street, directly in front of an oncoming car, and blurted out my spiel (managing to explain myself better today than yesterday). she expressed interest right away and, after ensuring that it took just a few minutes, agreed to being today's stranger.

evan is currently living in boulder, but she lived in new york, massachusetts, and, most recently, illinois. she is currently working as a substitute teacher, while searching for a "real job" as a teacher. she seemed to be a little bit frustrated with how long it was taking to find work, but chalked it up to the lousy economy. when i accosted her, she was on her way to one of her final courses to get her certification in teaching english as a foreign language. evan told me she was thinking about going to teach in korea, which is something i always have plenty to say about as i spent 6 months over there and didn't exactly cherish every moment.

zach eventually made his way over to where evan and i were talking and i gave her a little bit of our history. then, the three of us walked across the street to find some shade and a more suitable shooting location. i shot many more frames than usual because of the unfortunately timed wind, but we managed to make it work.

evan had a very lovely speaking voice. it was very unique. i mistakingly thought she had a foreign accent, but maybe it was just because it had so much character. it brought to mind julie london, the singer from the 1950s. we talked for a few minutes: about teaching and jobs in south korea and the project and why i was doing this. then, she was gone. it's probably weird to ask people if i can follow them to wherever it is that they are going, but that is what i want to do sometimes. i just want to keep hearing more. i didn't ask evan if i could go to her class with her because that definitely would have been weird.

zach and i made our way into the sunshine, where i took a seat on the ground and began taking notes about my chat with evan and he took to documenting me. thanks so much for your time today, evan. and thanks for being a part of this interaction, zach.

11 april, 2010

kevin . 47 years old / denver . colorado

i parted ways with my visiting buddy (left him to take a nap) and went out in search of a stranger. i ended up walking for a very long time. i was already not feeling well, but as the blocks passed by, i started feeling very tired. the weather was beautiful, but i was having a rough time appreciating it. fairly early in the walk, i asked a woman if she would be today's stranger, but she looked at me like i suggested we go back to my place to construct a little voodoo doll that i could later use to torture her. in all fairness, that is probably not what she was thinking, but people really can say a lot with their looks.

after that rejection, i felt miserable. i started over-analyzing everything. and everyone. my courage left me hanging and i started doubting my own sincerity and questioning what "everyone might think" if i photographed this person or that person. and then i began disqualifying people for reasons i couldn't begin to explain. after battling my thoughts for about an hour and a half and, in the process, putting a couple of miles behind me, i spotted a man walking towards me.

i approached him with a very bizarre version of my spiel. it didn't come out right at all. i guess i can chalk it up to the over-indulgences of the weekend and my fatigue, but even those excuses don't seem to account for my inability to communicate. i told the man i was photographing a stranger every day and then writing about the experience. i asked if he was up for it. he shrugged his shoulders and said, "sure". i was then able to go into further detail about what this was all about, but i was still missing my charisma and most of my vocabulary.

kevin used to live in boston, which is something i have in common with people more often than i anticipated. he owned and operated a men's clothing store - slacks, shirts, jackets, suits, etc. for about 12 years. he said he dealt with a lot of professional athletes. then he and his wife moved back out to denver because of how much more affordable it is and kevin opened a similar clothing store here. he recently gave it up and is currently unemployed. he is taking a couple of months off before diving back into the job search. he isn't sure what he wants to do and is a little bit worried that he may have pigeon-holed himself into the men's clothing world. i told him that he should do what he wants to do and it would most likely work out. not that i am the embodiment of that mantra, but i do believe it to be true. kevin gave me a jolly look and told me that i was right.

he had extremely kind eyes. and a personality to match. he was very generous, too. not just with his words and his time, but in being genuine. i didn't sense any barriers. he offered to connect me to a couple of his contacts in the publishing world. he recommended that i look into his friend's photography and extended an invitation to introduce us. we had a lovely conversation despite my struggling to formulate a proper sentence. i took more than my advertised "few minutes" and we eventually parted ways so that kevin could return to his wife with some dinner.

i don't know why i struggle with defeatist thoughts. maybe it is because these days i am just so very tired. but, i always meet someone who agrees to participate and share parts of their story. even if they only give a few minutes, there are many people who are quite willing to forgo their "stranger" status to satisfy my curiosity. thank you for being one of those people, kevin.

10 april, 2010

makis . 35 years old / denver . colorado

i had a big day ahead of me, so i went out in the morning, before picking up my friend from the airport, to search for today's stranger. i didn't leave myself much time, but every once in a while, there just isn't any time. i walked around my neighborhood for about as long as i could and then decided to head towards home so that i could make it to the airport on time. en route, i walked by a woman with a big rottweiler. the dog gave me a handful of his nose as we passed and then, a few paces behind, was a guy with a pretty spectacular mustache.

i didn't realize that the woman with the dog and the man with the mustache were together. had i known, i may not have asked him to be the day's stranger. i don't like inconveniencing more than one person and i often don't like the awkwardness that comes along with one's friend watching them being photographed. anyway, the guy agreed to participate. it was then that i noticed the woman and the dog had stopped. i assured them that the process wouldn't take very long.

makis (mah-kees) and i walked across the street to find some shade while his wife and wyatt (the dog) waited in the sunshine. makis told me that he works in internet advertising. he said he has been working in the internet world for a long time, but this is his first experience with advertising. he seemed to be happy with his work and explained briefly what he did. i didn't fully understand when he told me so i am not sure i could adequately explain it to you...

after a stint of visiting each other back and forth from boston to washington d.c., makis and his wife decided to move out to denver, where makis is from. i didn't get a chance to talk to his wife, but from what i could tell, she seemed to be just as nice as makis. and i'd say they know a thing or two about training dogs because wyatt was big enough to be pulling them around, but he wasn't.

today's interaction was short and sweet. thanks for your time, makis.

09 april, 2010

ljugene . 26 years old / denver . colorado

i left work early to attend a meeting. this meeting has been on the books for several weeks and i had been looking forward to it as a life-changing event. the meeting was very short. and didn't appear to be all that life-changing. but, you know as well as i do, that things have a way of turing out a little differently than they appear, so i have not lost hope.

anyway, my thoughts are now are a little bit different than they were a few hours ago when i found myself sitting on the sidewalk in the sunshine, dwelling on the meeting. i was feeling really down. i was hoping to meet a friend for some lunch and while waiting, i was in the middle of text messaging some other friends about the meeting's outcome. i looked up to see a beautiful young lady putting a mouthful of salad into her mouth. we locked eyes long enough to acknowledge that we both realized what had happened and then we both started laughing. a few minutes later, i made my way over to her table and started chatting with her. the fork full of salad occurrence would normally have been enough to ask her to be the day's stranger, but i was too preoccupied with something someone had said earlier. the man i had the meeting with made a comment about how i photographed a lot of pretty women in my age group. i don't know why he said that. it isn't true... and if it happens to be true on some kind of technicality, it certainly isn't deliberate because i have actually gone out of my way to make sure critics don't have such an easy target.

anyway.... i did not ask that woman to be the day's stranger. instead, i went to lunch with a friend and then went out in search of another stranger - preferably someone who did not fit the "pretty young woman" description. i hadn't made it very far when i spotted a young man half a block in front of me. i followed him through an intersection and then caught up to him to give him my pitch.

"louie" was hesitant. he was on his way to work. he was skeptical of my intentions. and he seemed to doubt my integrity. but i continued on with my explanations and told him that it did not take very long. i eventually pulled my model release out of my bag. it happened to be tucked into a copy of "the tipping point" - a brilliant book that i am currently reading. i think when he saw that book something switched in his head. louie told me that he had that book at home.... and that seemed to break the ice.

we started exchanging information and then i learned that his name was ljugene. he moved out to denver from new york about 7 months ago, but his family is from the caribbean, which is where i assume his name is from. i like people's full names and his is especially unique, so i started calling him ljugene. well, he was on his way to work as a dj at a bar called maloney's. when i told ljugene that this project was, among other things, my attempt to get people to slow down and break out of their shells, he told me that he usually keeps to himself. then he said that this was his way to counter that. i was glad to know that he was consciously making an effort to step out of his comfort zone.

in the end, ljugene and i were trading smiles and handshakes and engaging in a level of trust that i would guess he didn't believe was possible to achieve with a total stranger. i considered today a tremendous success. and i think that ljugene has many stories to share. it's quite funny because the same man who accused me of photographing a bunch of pretty young girls also said that he believed each person had one really interesting story. well, i think each person has many interesting stories. and today we were able to tap into just one of ljugene's.

08 april, 2010

brandon . 28 years old / denver . colorado

i spotted brandon as we walked toward each other. he was looking to cross the street in the direction i had just come from. i noticed his bright eyes and the fact that his hat was bringing out their color and thought about how nice his portraits would look. he walked passed and i turned around to see that he had to wait for the crosswalk signal. i approached him with my pitch and he took out his earphones to hear me.

i explained the project and he accepted my invitation to participate. he didn't hesitate. and he didn't have any precautionary questions. now that i think about it, he didn't seem to be fazed in the least. he just agreed. i asked him if we could use the plain wall that was just a few feet away and he was up for that, too.

brandon is from detroit, michigan. he worked as a radio dj for many years and decided to move away when he was offered a promotion with no pay increase. he said he was bored. he has been here for a couple of years now and is currently working as a bartender and taking classes towards a degree in computer science. he said he wanted to do something that would make him some money and we both agreed that computers are probably not going anywhere anytime soon.

i asked if he had just come from working out. he had. i said that i needed to spend some time at the gym. he chuckled. and that was that. as quickly as our exchange began, it ended.

thanks for your time today, brandon.

07 april, 2010

adrian . 25 years old / denver . colorado

after work, i unlocked my bike and headed towards 16th street. i wasn't sure what to do or where to look, so i decided to just do something. i am sure you have heard the saying, "when in doubt, don't." well, i generally disregard that. if i "didn't" every time i doubted, i would be nowhere. or, more specifically, i'd probably still be looking at my bicycle locked to the street sign.

so, i walked. and i walked slowly. and i passed hoards of people. and i felt a little overwhelmed by them today. someone told me about a guy who surfed every single day for 10 years. i guess this surfer started to notice patterns in the water and small changes in the seasons and he picked up on things that the average joe wouldn't have. i think about that when i look for strangers. i wonder if i will start to notice things that most people don't. the ebbs and flows of stranger interactions. maybe i will be able to pick out the "yes" people from the "no" people at just a glance. maybe i will be able to describe one's occupation before meeting them, based just on how they carry their self. i am not sure i want that...

anyway, i neared the end of 16th street and started thinking about where i would lock my bike to rid myself of the burden and then where i would choose to walk in search of a stranger. but, as luck would have it, i spotted a man standing at the mouth of an alley. he was standing in the sun, listening to something in his headphones, and smoking a cigarette. he had a look, one that was difficult for me to ignore.

as i approached him and started speaking, he took out his headphones to better hear me. the way he did that told me that he would say yes. some people would have sighed and hesitated and rolled their eyes while removing them. some would have just ignored me altogether. but adrian energetically removed them and looked willing to give me whatever information i was looking for. that made the rest of the process so much easier. i didn't ask for money. or a cigarette. or worse. instead, i presented to him a unique idea. he was game.

adrian is from denver and seems to be very satisfied with still being here. he was enjoying a break from his job and taking in some sunshine and nicotine. he works as a legal assistant for a law firm that deals mostly with collections. he said he does it for the money and it helps that he really likes the people he works with. he said it was a really good "bad" job. he does a lot of data entry and calls on people to figure out how they can work out some kind of deal that involves adrian's company getting paid. adrian said he pays his taxes and takes care of his debts, so he isn't particularly affected by people's excuses. i figured that makes him a perfect candidate for his job. i, on the other hand, would probably break down into tears every few minutes and just tell people that i was going to transfer their debt to my own account. then, i would probably get fired.

adrian would much rather be working on his art instead of working as a legal assistant, but he said it just doesn't pay. he paints. he graffitis. he really enjoys it, but he keeps it as his hobby. we had a lovely conversation about the project and he asked me a few questions about what kind of plans i had for it. plans? haha. yeah, well, if i had a dollar for every time i've heard that...

i know i have been mentioning it a fair amount lately, but i am very tired. i don't want to get into it, but i think being tired makes me feel a bit more "emotional" than usual. so i just want to say thank you. to you, for reading. and to you, for commenting. and to you, for your encouragement. and to adrian, for being today's stranger.

06 april, 2010

audra . 21 years old / denver . colorado

i was supposed to photograph a friend and her baby after work today, but the weather wasn't conducive to it, so we rescheduled. i had a bit more time after work than i anticipated, so i decided to say hi to a friend at a bookstore. this is relevant, so bear with me. i flipped through one magazine, realized i wasn't great company because i needed to go look for the day's stranger, and decided to go do just that. i walked down the street and decided to make my way towards a camera shop to develop some film. about two blocks later, i spotted a young woman walking down the street. i don't how to explain it, but i knew i needed to ask her to be the day's stranger.

so... i think it is funny. maybe it's not a big deal to you, but it means a lot to me. of all the things that i could do. a left instead of a right. i could have left work later. earlier maybe. i could have looked through two magazines instead of the one. i could have been a bit more social with my friend. i could have ridden my bike to the camera shop instead of walked. but, i didn't. and i met audra because of it. sure, i would have met someone else, but it seems to me that because i didn't meet someone else, then i wasn't supposed to. i don't know.

anyway, i approached this woman on the street and told her what i was up to. she laughed and seemed a bit surprised by the idea. she asked a few precautionary questions and then, assured, agreed to being today's stranger. and then we had a lovely interaction.

audra, a name i had never heard before (turns out that she was named after her aunt, audrey), is here in denver, studying marketing. her fiancé is a private pilot, currently living in bermuda. audra and her guy met in kansas. then audra went to switzerland for a little while to do some service work. her fiancé made an effort to move there to be close to her, but instead was asked to move to bermuda. i am sure there are much worse places to be, so he went for it and is there now. audra is at the tail end of a 21-credit semester, which translates to a heavy workload. she is currently not working, but is just trying to complete her course-load. her and her fiancé will be getting married in two months and then audra will be moving to bermuda. she isn't interested in the marketing world as she was turned off to it because of its cut-throat competition. she likes to work with people, so she is entertaining the idea of working in the public relations world. but, she is moving to bermuda...

audra was on her way to a coffee shop to study when i met her on the street. i would guess that she is doing a lot of studying these days. we had a lovely chat and she was a natural in front of the camera. while i was photographing her, she took a phone call and i decided to use one of those photos because i thought it showed a very natural expression. we only spent a few minutes together, but i enjoyed our conversation very much. i am working a lot these days. so much that i am always tired. i get a little worried that i won't last at this pace, but it makes me so happy to know that every day i get to do something that i see a lot of value in and greatly enjoy. thanks so much for being a part of that, audra.

05 april, 2010

emma . 24 years old / denver . colorado

after work, i took a few minutes to sit in the sun and enjoy a bite to eat. a pigeon kept me company and quickly taught me he/she (i think it was she because another pigeon came over and did a sexy dance for her, but she wasn't into it) didn't like celery. i contemplated riding my bicycle to a different part of town, but realized i just didn't have the energy. so, on foot, i decided to head down 16th street, towards a transportation depot, some train tracks, and eventually a walking bridge. just before coming upon those adventures, i spotted a young woman sitting outside of a little restaurant, writing in a notebook, while a draft beer sat in front of her. i liked the scene and wished that i, too, was sitting at a table with a beer. i would have replaced the notebook with some reading material, though.

i approached her and excused myself, diving into my daily explanation. i think i have adopted the "if it isn't broken, don't fix it" slogan because my spiel is pretty much always the same. she said, "can i stay here?" in a tone that suggested she was hoping for a reason to refuse. i assured her that she could stay there. i gave her my card and further explained the project. i asked her to sign the release, which has become a non-issue since its 3rd edition debuted not that long ago. there was a short iron fence between her and i, which threw me off. i contemplated crossing over it to eliminate the unnecessary border between us, but ignored it and carried on, not wanting to seem to forward.

emma had just finished her day working as a kindergarten teacher's aid. she was taking a few minutes to regroup before going to the emily griffith school to assist in a class for refugees. the class is an english language and life skills class for adult refugees from africa and the middle east. some of the refugees are new to the english language, so emma helps the teacher communicate the lessons with a variety of other methods - i imagine some gesturing and picture drawing. she only does this on mondays, but works at the kindergarten all week. she said that teaching is not her "calling" and she is hoping to get away from it before she starts to dislike it.

one's "calling" is an idea i am familiar with, but understand that it can sound quite foreign to many. purpose would be another word... the reason why one exists... in french, raison d'être. anyway, i asked emma what her calling was. she said she wasn't sure. she has a passion for languages and can already speak spanish, portuguese, and mandarin chinese. and she wants to see more of the world, something else i can relate to.

emma applied to join the peace corps. the application process alone takes a considerable amount of time and dedication and then there is the joining. emma said she would be hearing back from them in june, a long wait considering she started the process in july of last year. i used to think about the peace corps as an option, but repeatedly ruled it out because of how arduous of a process it is. i suppose that is the whole idea behind the waiting - to make sure people really want to participate.

emma was a little shy at first, then that shyness increased when i shoved my camera in her face, but she lightened up after i put it away. i started leaving her at one point, but said something that gave us a few more minutes together. i don't remember what it was, though. she was very sweet. i walked away with more to think about. it's always nice when my stranger interaction opens up the door for thinking.

thanks so much, emma. please let me know how things turn out in june.

04 april, 2010

jeff . 27 years old / denver . colorado

wandering around on this beautiful easter morning, i saw mostly families, dressed in their sunday best, congregating outside of restaurants. i didn't feel up for the task of approaching an entire group of people to ask if one of them might be interested in being a part of this project, so i kept walking. i made it to a tri-colored wall that i would like to photograph, then, finding no one there, decided to head back towards my home.

a few blocks later, as i crossed a street, jeff and i passed each other. he was friendly and i noticed he had wonderfully kind eyes. i turned around and called after him and told him about my project. he agreed right away. jeff was born and raised here in colorado and, when i asked him if he liked it out here, he held out his fists to show me his tattoo of c-o-l-o-r-a-d-o across his fingers. i took that as a yes. he said he has done some traveling, but he likes living here. he is currently working as a chef at a new restaurant downtown called "h burger". jeff said has been working in kitchens for 15 years and is ready to become one of denver's great chefs.

i asked jeff what he was up to on this easter morning and he had a surprisingly original answer: he was waiting for his wife to give birth to twin daughters! he was on his way to the hospital to be with her as she is in bed rest. her due date is not for two more weeks, but i think they are ready for the twins to come anytime now. jeff looked proud. he said he already has a daughter, so he will soon be greatly outnumbered at home, but he didn't seem to mind.

i became legitimately excited for jeff in the couple of minutes we talked. i hope he has a successful career and raises a lovely family. deep down, i hoped for something special to happen today. for me, the meaning of easter has changed considerably over the years, but i guess it still holds some kind of magic. thanks for sharing with me today, jeff.

03 april, 2010

alex . 23 years old / denver . colorado

after sitting in the sun for a few minutes with a friend, we got up and started walking along the pathway in front of the denver art museum. i noticed a young man sitting by himself in the shade, smoking a cigarette. i broke away from my friend and went over to him to explain the project and see if he was interested in being today's stranger. he was.

alex was born and raised just a few blocks away from where we met. he has spent his whole life in denver and said that he loves it. he told me that denver was his favorite place. he told me that when he was walking home at 3.00 this morning he had another realization about how much he really enjoys living here. i was excited to hear him say that because i got the impression that he was believing it more as he was saying it - like the words were becoming real as he was speaking them.

alex is studying journalism at metro state, in downtown denver. he doesn't know what he wants to do with it, but he seemed to be enjoying the subject matter. he was waiting for some friends to join him for a trip into the museum to look at some art. they showed up pretty quickly, so we parted ways. he was super nice and very laid back. we shook hands and thanked each other for the experience. it was nice to have a lighthearted interaction.

thanks, alex.

02 april, 2010

jessica . 23 years old / denver . colorado

a friend of mine who i have not seen in months came by the café by chance. he didn't know i worked there, but stopped in to get some coffee on his way to work. after my shift, i walked down the street to continue catching up with him. this guy makes everybody feel good when he is around. i mention it on here because my interaction with him greatly influenced my mood during my stranger search. imagine what it would be like if each person we encountered had the same affect as my friend, mark.

i had about an hour to find today's stranger before a meeting with another stranger to talk about my experience with meeting strangers. my life is all about strangers these days. i walked most of the length of 16th street and then turned around to work my way closer to my meeting destination. i caught a glimpse of a bright purple t-shirt and a huge smile on the face of the woman wearing it. i approached her and her dog with my usual spiel and asked if she would be the day's stranger.

jessica agreed to it with no hesitation. her big smile that initially caught my eye stayed on her face for the duration of our chat. from alaska, she has been living in fort collins, colorado, for a few years while she studied biology. she is taking a short break in between graduating and attending school again for her master's degree. jessica will be pursuing a career in genetic counseling, something i hadn't heard of before. she made it sound very interesting and explained that new developments in science can help warn people of what diseases they might suffer from later in life and what they could potentially pass on to their children. i assume there is a fair amount of controversy involved with that kind of research.

jessica is looking for an internship to participate in before she goes back to school in a year and a half. she said that 23 of the 25 schools offering her courses are on the east coast. she came to denver to transition out of alaska and fort collins (very small, community oriented places) because she has heard that the east coast is such a hard place to break into. coming from there, i assured her it wasn't all that bad.

jessica rescued bruiser, her 10-month old labrador/border collie, from the dumb friends legue here in denver. they seemed to have a good relationship and while it might look like she is reprimanding him in the photo, she wasn't. she was just trying to get him to sit down and stop eating cigarette butts. nothing like a good cigarette butt...

thanks so much, jessica!