Tag: 100 strangers

  • Strangers Nos. 17 and 18

    Strangers Nos. 17 and 18

    This is Indriani and Suttimetta. In India, it is a common practice for women to get up early in the morning, sweep and wet the pavement in front of their homes, and then, using rice flour (or chalk), create a design called a kolam. They are generally all different, usually symmetrical, and as far as…

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  • Strangers Nos. 14 and 15

    Strangers Nos. 14 and 15

    Arais and Veerrappam were sitting exactly as you see them here, as I walked by with my camera, and thought it was the perfect photo.  It was about 0830 am on a Sunday, and I assume this is their shop they are sitting in front of, getting ready to open.  We had a brief chat…

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  • Stranger No. 13

    Stranger No. 13

    If you have been following along up to this point, you may have noticed that so far all of the “strangers” on this site have been male. Part of this project is getting the courage to start a conversation with a stranger on the street and ask to take their picture. For a foreign male…

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  • Stranger No. 12

    Stranger No. 12

    Andanan (spelling) was sitting on the floor of what you might consider a garage, with piles of bundles of banana leaves behind him. He was taking them, one leaf at a time, and cutting them into pieces about 18 inches long, and throwing the unusable parts away. In India (Tamil Nadu, anyway), it is traditional…

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  • Stranger No. 11

    Stranger No. 11

    Stranger No. 11 is Abdul Ghafar.  I actually didn’t ask his permission before shooting – I saw him across the way, and he was so engrossed in his work, and the light was perfect, so I started taking shots nonstop.  I went over afterward to make a point of introducing myself because I specifically wanted…

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  • Stranger No. 10

    Stranger No. 10

    Pandiyan was also in the market. Quiet and pensive, he didn’t mind me zooming all the way in close. When I showed him his picture, he so much appreciated it that he broke off a sprig of cedar he was selling and gave it to me. I like how his eyes shine on the close-up…

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  • Stranger No. 8

    Stranger No. 8

    I stopped to chat with Vasanth and almost got separated from my group. Venkath and a partner are in the bottled water delivery business (see his truck behind him). He gave me a card for his business, “Done Marketing” Packaged Drinking Water Supply, we chatted for a few moments, and we were both on our…

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  • Stranger No. 7

    Stranger No. 7

    This is Akash, who caught my eye because he seemed to be very proud of his bicycle. So instead of the usual close-up portrait, I decided to take a wider angle shot showing the object of his pride. At the time, I thought the photo had come out better than it had – but it…

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  • Strangers Nos. 5 and 6

    Strangers Nos. 5 and 6

    Apu and Siva were on their way somewhere when they spotted about a dozen folks with cameras heading toward them, snapping photos in all directions as they moved. They asked several folks to snap their photo, and given that they were in a photographic mood, I approached them and asked to snap their portrait. They…

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  • Stranger No. 4

    Stranger No. 4

    This morning, I went for a walk in Chintadripet, a suburb in central Chennai, and met a smiling Mohammed, the proprietor at Chandrika Fast Foods, getting ready for the breakfast crowd. I asked him if I could take his photo exactly where he was sitting, as he looked very much at ease; we had a…

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