Stranger#001: Edwin, the photographer

My friend,Jeff and I were dining in a resto just outside Robinson's Place Manila this afternoon when I found my perfect stranger number one. He entered the restaurant with a warm greeting to the staff and proceeded to the counter to make his order. His dreads were the first thing I noticed. (I've been thinking of going to Boracay this summer to get dreads. or maybe those tiny braids.:D) I immediately pointed him out to Jeff and told him that that person would be my perfect stranger number one.

I remained in my seat and fidgeted for 20 long minutes (what happened to the three-second rule, I have no idea), asking Jeff for advice on how to approach him and ask him to pose for me. I was such a nervous-wreck I forgot I had a drink to finish. My hands were getting clammy. This was my first time to approach a complete stranger to ask for his picture. I think he kind of noticed that I was peeking ever-so-often. (I was starting to get embarrassed :P). I was both excited and afraid, two very messed up feelings. Jeff kept on giving me reminders and confidence boosts, not to mention the nearest escape routes if my attempt backfired. I was so nervous my hands were cold.

My assessment: He looked nice and friendly, it didn't seem to me that he would decline. When he pulled his Macbook out of his bag, I knew he was techy enough to know about blogs and Flickr. He can easily look up 100strangers in the web and know that it is a bonafide group in Flickr (And I'm not some weird stalker-ish person :D).

When I finally mustered the courage to approach him, I introduced myself, explained my project (100 Strangers) and asked him if I could take his photo. He readily agreed, saying that he was also a photographer. Talk about coincidence. :)

Edwin is a freelance photographer, who used to work as an artist in an insurance company. He currently has a ongoing photo exhibit at the Philamlife Building, UN Ave, Ermita, Manila.The proceeds will be donated to Palcare (and to several other groups, according to his website). We chatted for a few moments, exchanged URLs, and talked a little bit more. I took a total of three shots with my shaking hands, shy to ask for more. He was really nice and friendly (true to my assessment.:D).

I hurried back to my seat, still giddy from being able to accomplish such a daunting task. Finally, I have my stranger number one! The adrenaline rush was exhilarating I had a hard time composing myself. We left the resto before he did, and as we passed by his table, I waved a quick goodbye and told him that he can visit my site tomorrow (Jan 10) to check the post.

In retrospect: Approaching a stranger is no easy task. It can also be dangerous if you approach the wrong person. (What I have learned: It's better to have someone with you before approaching a stranger, that way, he/she can look out for you. :) ) But when you do meet a nice person like Edwin, it becomes a wonderful learning experience. As for the photo I took, well, it's the first out of a hundred, and I still have a long way to go. There's a lot of room for improvement. Maybe Edwin could help me out, being a professional photographer and all. :D

Till my next stranger!

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This is the picture number 1 of my 100Strangers project. To see pictures taken by other members and to know more about the group, visit 100Strangers.com now. Join us here.

The search is ON!

While I was blog-hopping the other day, I came across a post from Iris' blog with the title Stranger #3 blah blah blah. Being the curious cat that I was, I read the whole post. Turns out it's an entry for a group in Flickr, 100 strangers.

It's actually a group for people who want to hone their skills in taking portraits of people, and in the course of doing so, improve their social skills. The task is to take portraits of strangers (yes, strangers only, you can't take photos of people you know) and post them in the groups with a brief story to accompany it. (For the full mechanics, visit the group in Flickr.)

My interest was immediately captured by this idea/project because it was not your usual photomeme (or whatever these things were called, I'm still new to this community) because it involved interacting with other people, and strangers at that. :)

Anyway, I was afraid to try this on my own so I introduced the concept to Missy. She readily agreed to try it too. :) Now we're project buddies. Hehe. We hope we can keep this up. *Let's go Missy!*

There you go. Now all I have to do is make up a spiel (well, Missy is starting on it) for the strangers I'll approach. I hope I don't get kidnapped or holdapped in the process. Hehe. The search is on for my first stranger! :D