40 Strangers Project in streets of Toronto

I made this personal photography project to put myself in uncomfortable situations.  This isn’t street photography in the pure sense where the photographer captures moments and life as it happens before his or her eyes.  In my case, I asked for permission and then I asked each stranger to “look at me and don’t smile”.  It was difficult at first as I was 0/9 at the beginning.  I thought to myself, ‘what am I doing here?’ and ‘what am I doing wrong?’.  Later, I realized that choosing Yonge/Dundas might not have been the best idea.  Especially as all the people that said no were on their way somewhere.  And that area is full of people handing out flyers, coupons, etc.  Not to mention all the homeless people and junkies that sometimes harass people.  In  hindsight I think my main problem was approaching the ‘walkers’ and not the ‘sitters’ in that particular area.  However, I persevered and was able to find 40 people that said yes to having their photo taken.

I looked for interesting people in terms of how they were dressed and what they looked like.  I wanted a variety of strangers and Toronto certainly is ripe with many fashions, designs and interesting looking people.  I seemed to gain confidence with every “yes”.  Not everyone wants their picture taken, and when someone approaches you in a big city it tends to put you on guard.  I didn’t want people thinking I was looking for money or selling something.  It was a little frustrating when some people just shook their heads, and walked past me before I even asked them for their photo.  But I totally understand it.  I think I’m like that too.  I didn’t want to waste people’s time, either.  I would find a good spot and then set my camera up to the appropriate settings.  I also wanted to blog all 40 of the strangers I asked.  This created a challenge as it prevented me from getting lazy and thinking “oh this shot didn’t come out, its okay..i will just delete it”.  Instead it made me more focused to create good portraits for each and every person I came across.  I surely could have improved a couple of them, but I think I had the right mentality at the time.  And I have learned from the mistakes I made.  And of course I wanted every person who gave me their time to have their picture posted on my blog.

One of the strangers emailed me the other day thanking me for taking his photo and that it was nice to meet me.  Mike Downes happens to be of Canada’s finest jazz artists.  He told me in his email that he was preparing for a performance at the Jane Mallett Theatre.  So you never know who you are going to meet and strike up a conversation with!

I normally photograph weddings and engagements and baptisms, so this project has helped me in a different kind of way.  I’m always looking for light as it is one of the most important aspects of a photograph.  And anytime you do something consistently you will learn a little bit here and there which will make you better overall.  I was inspired by the wedding photographers at CPC 2013 in Vancouver, which I attended a few weeks ago.  They said “don’t just shoot a wedding on a saturday and then put your camera away for the week until your next event”.  Its a good philosophy and I’m hoping to add some more personal projects down the road.  I hope you enjoy these – and a special thanks to all 40 of you “strangers” for letting me take your photo.  Cheers!