Strangers

Although  I am older I often find myself copying my artistic sister, Gia. If she recommends a musician, I’ll listen to him. If she tells me to read a book, I’ll read it. I strive to eat organic local food and have a small garden. She runs a CSA. I studied abroad for a short time in Australia, a safe English-speaking country. She taught science to Chinese children in Beijing.

Photography is one arena where have I not followed my sister. Gia takes stunning photographs of people and places. (You can see some of them on her blog.) I have trouble focusing the camera or even remembering to use one.

To me, using a camera is an interruption of life. Cameras might capture a moment but only by forcing the photographer to be outside of that moment. The photographer must stop being part of the activity and act as an observer and recorder. I rarely want to withdraw myself from the experience, but I’m very grateful others do.

However, I have an odd interest in photographing strangers. I love seeing people’s oddities and unique characteristics, and I want to remember their individuality.

Thus, I found it amusing when Gia and some of her friends recently challenged themselves to photograph strangers and post those pictures on their blogs.

In response to their stranger photos, I’ll include my own beginning with this boy scout.

I encountered him while hiking in Pennsylvania a couple of years ago. Out of all his troop, he was the one who was truly prepared. I can assume that the headlight is for sudden afternoon solar eclipses. I loved his bandanna and his backpack. Everything about him exuded an excitement to be outdoors and the hope of an adventure.

A hotel dining room in Monterrey Mexico

Also in Monterrey

The market at Ukarumpa, Papua New Guinea