100 Strangers

Step out of your comfort zone to a new level of portrait photography: take 100 portraits of people you don't know.

The idea
The One Hundred Strangers project is a learning group for people who want to improve the social and technical skills needed for taking portraits of strangers and telling their stories. The method is learning by doing.
The project is lots of fun and improves photojournalistic skills. During the process you might expand your every day living experience - and who knows, maybe you will even get a couple of new friends during the process.
We welcome both beginner and advanced photographers. You may be new to photographing strangers or already have experience of this type of photography.

The challenge
Take 100 photographs of at least 100 people you don't know. Approach a person or group of people and ask for permission to both take a photo of them and to post it to the flickr 100 Strangers group. Get to know your subjects. Who are they? What is their life like?

Try to tell a small story with each photo you take. This may be a story about the person or how you felt approaching that particular individual. You may have, for example, tried a new approach or used a new photographic technique. Try to learn something from every encounter you make.

#92/100 Strangers - Phil



It was a dark and dreary night. Oops, I mean it was a grey and wind blown day when Phil and Sarah (not pictured) strolled past the bridge. They had just met on POF (Plenty of Fish) and they seemed to be clicking.

Phil works for the city of Guelph, a city similar in size to Brantford a little farther north. Phil was pretty tall; six feet and change. I was thinking I should have brought a step ladder when I was focusing on him. It was windy that high up and the wind kept blowing his hair around. I liked how it made for a more candid looking shot.

This is my first time out in quite a while. Eddy my PA wanted to get some stranger shots in so we set aside some time and braved the wind by the river. He shot two people and I shot two people and they all turned out pretty good. This was done with a beauty dish and a B1600 powered by a Vagabond Mini. The whole rig was swaying in the wind but it never tipped. The overcast sky added a nice diffusion to the shot.

eddyvanphotos.blogspot.com/