guest blogger: mark krajnak

Norman – Stranger #59 by Mark Krajnak

Mom always said: “Don’t talk to strangers.”

Sorry, Mom. See I’m working on this personal project called 100 Strangers and I HAVE to talk to strangers. Find out a little about them, what their names are, where they’re from, and why they’re where they are.

And, well, photograph them.

That’s the goal of my 100 Strangers project–shoot portraits on the street of 100 people that I’ve just met. Chat with them a bit and then ask if I can take their photo.

The project has taken me longer than I expected. I thought I’d be done by now as I shot Stranger #1 back in July 2008. But I go through waves. Some weeks and months it’s really easy to strike up a conversation with someone. But other stretches…not so much. I get into a groove and I get out of it. Sometimes it’s easy for me to talk to people and take their portraits. Other times, you’d think my camera weighed 100 pounds and I can’t even raise it to my eye. Then there are times when I should have asked to shoot someone’s portrait but never did–like recently when I was chatting with the appliance delivery guys at my house. Got to know them…but never asked to shoot them.

I’m leaping forward a bit. Somehow, probably through Flickr, I found out about the 100 Strangers project. There’s a website www.100strangers.com and a Flickr group www.flickr.com/groups/100strangers. When you add a photo to the Flickr group, it’s immediately posted to the website. There are quite a few photographers working on this project and many are shooting some amazing portraits. I started the 100 Strangers project because I don’t normally shoot people. I shoot places, things, food, and street scenes, not people or models. But to me, there are some people that are just screaming to be photographed. Their faces have a story to tell, not in a studio or on a set but right where they are in their daily life.

I wondered if I could actually do it. I had already done a 365 Day Project (a photo a day for 365 days). But could I do this?

Before I got started, I set some parameters for myself. Like I said, I need to meet the people. No photos of people from across the street using long glass. I need to chat with them and get to know them for a bit, even if it’s just five minutes. I always ask them their name and usually ask them where they are from or where they grew up. Then I ask them why they are where we are–how did our paths come to cross. Another parameter is finishing all the portraits as black and white images. I just love B&W portraits.

Some are easily evident, like when we all were tailgating before a Springsteen concert at Giants Stadium and I was walking around the parking lot with my camera. I probably could have done all 100 portraits right there. Some are a little more unique. I was in Jinotepe, a little town in Nicaragua, and wandered into a fire station. I met the fire chief who didn’t speak English, and a young fireman who did. He took me up some very old stone steps to the roof of the firehouse, which had an incredible view the town and mountains. That’s where I shot Alexander.

When I hit the halfway mark, I put together a photo slideshow:

“Everyday People: The First 50 Portrait” -  http://www.vimeo.com/13288769

In all, I’m batting 1000. Every one of the 60 people when told about my project and asked if I could take their portrait have said yes. No one has declined–yet. There are more men than women, which is a little surprising to me. Years ago, as a bachelor in the Darwinian existence that is the singles scene, I was usually able to strike up a conversation with a gal. An old job doing sales, I think, helped me always find a common talking point with anyone, anywhere. I thought that would carry over but on average, I see myself shooting more men. Easier to go up and start talking to them, I guess.

Sometimes they ask ME to take their photo. One guy, Vinnie, saw me doing some street photography and said “Take a picture of me!”

“Why?” I asked.

“Because I have a story to tell,” he said. And he did.

That’s the thing, the one constant; everyone is just so damn interesting. The guy riding the bike along the beach in Santa Monica? He was peddling from Seattle to down to Santa Monica over to Florida and up to Ohio to honor his brother who died of cancer. And he had a capsule of his brother’s ashes with him. I wonder if he made it. Then there was the teenage couple who were out with their young baby. I wonder how they are doing now. (Couples count as one person in my book and I’ve shot four couples so far.) The bearded guy named Grover who works in a cigar store in Chicago. He and I carry the same money clip.

I give each subject a business card and tell them that if they like the image to just email me and I’ll send it to them. Only a few have taken me up on it though. Not sure why. I do like it when I hear from them and can send them back an image. Kind of a neat closing of the circle. Just recently I heard from Agatha, Stranger #1. She was doing a Google search on her name and came across my photo of her. She was thrilled to actually see it and even remembered the lunch break she was on when I shot her.

This has been a fun project for me. It’s gotten me out of my comfort zone and I’ve learned to shoot quickly. It’s a big blue marble we live in…I’m just trying to take it all in and get my camera in a new place.

And I’ve got a chance to meet some really interesting people out there in the world.

Brooke - Stranger #60 by Mark Krajnak

P.S. A big THANKS to Mark for being on my blog today and for debuting two of the latest images in his 100 Strangers project. I asked him several months ago to do this post because I admired his ability to approach complete strangers and to do their portraits so intimately. I was very curious about his process because I knew I could learn something that would help me break through the barriers I have photographing people. From his post, I am reminded how much fear grips me and stops me from even attempting something like this. It’s a great illustration of what my friend and mentor Ray has told me: “You just need to replace fear with curiosity.”