My Portrait of a Stranger Shoot

I went to the Lake Merrit farmer’s market yesterday to shoot my portrait of a stranger project. I sat down on the ground with that sign and read a book until people approached me.

It was interesting the kinds of people that approached me. They were mostly families or couples, only a few individuals. Several of the people I took pictures of either had gone to Mills or had friends at Mills.

Also I think that my appearance factored into people’s levels of comfortability around having their picture taken. For a lot of people (for whatever reasons) the way I look does not signify something dangerous or creepy. Maybe if my body had been presenting other signifiers, they would have felt creeped out. I think I was perceived in a non-threatening way (despite the angry look on my face in this picture) and this helped me garner photographs of strangers. Also, many strangers presented their kids to me to be photographed. That weirded me out—how willing people are to have images made of their kids.

Anyway, we'll see how it turns out.