the Stranger's project

It’s an assignment that I have seen done by many a class at the Academy of Art University. Jim Wood and Brian Smith swear by it. Take (X number) of portraits of strangers. Figure out what works and GROW!

Brian asked me to take 50 portraits of strangers. He gave me some general guidelines, such as I could take pictures of students at Barry if that worked easier for my schedule, but they had to be strangers. With the exception of one portrait (which I will explain further down), every one of these portraits WAS a stranger. Some I was able to spend more time with than others. For example, Captain Kite, I spent almost an hour talking with. One of the last images, a security guard at Barry University, I spoke with for less than a minute before she had to get back to work.

A Miami Shores street and community services supervisor. I did not catch his name. Him and his crew were trimming trees near the bay when I walked up and asked for a picture and for permission to photograph the crew working. He said that was fine, but they were just stopping for lunch for an hour. This is the one picture I took and then thanked him and left.

The Barry Labs: These students were nice enough to help me with a demo in class. I spoke with them for several minutes after class regarding their majors and what they like about photography.

Haulover Marina:

I stopped by Haulover for several reason, not the least of which was to check out the times and prices for going out fishing on the Kelly Fleet. While I was there I, I started talking to one of the mate's who was cleaning fish from the days catch. The Captain of the boat walked up and his voice sounded vaguely familiar. After a few minutes of talking to him, I asked him if he knew Rex Cardines. When he smiled, I recognized him as Butchy! One of Rex's closest friends! I worked for Rex about 8 years ago at his diving store in Sunny Isles, The Diving Locker. I spend the summer managing the store for him. He lived in the back of the store and we became good friend over the summer. I learned so many things from him, but I lost track of him when I moved from Miami during the spring of 2004. Butchy would come into the shop and drive Rex while he ran errands. Rex was of poor health that summer, so Butchy would make sure he got what he needed and got out of the Locker for a bit. Butchy has changed quite a bit since then. He has lost a lot of weight in the last six months due to chemotherapy for bone cancer. He battled it into remission a couple of years ago and it has returned. Butchy and I spoke for about 30 min as he showed me his boat and we reminisced about Rex. Rex died about three years ago of lung cancer. During the conversation on the dock, Capt. Tony was sitting near by. When he overheard that I knew Rex, Capt. Tony joined the conversation. I heard some great stories about Rex, he is missed around the dock I think. Capt Tony was very kind to let me take his picture. After that, I wondered down the dock and was greeted by Capt. Jack and his first mate. He asked what I was doing and why I was photographing Butchy and Capt Tony. I told him about being in graduate school and knowing Butchy from the Diving Locker days. Turns out, Rex taught Jack martial arts, diving, and regulator repair. Jack and Priscilla and I spoke about Rex and the docks for another 30 min. Without running in to Butchy, I am not sure I would have had these amazing conversations. I was not thinking about Rex when I went to the dock, but now I have some very colorful stories to help preserve his memory.

Captain Butchy with a barracuda he caught about 25 years ago on the boat he refitted over the past year.

Captain Tony, Captain Jack, First mate Priscilla (the gorilla)

Captain Kite runs the kite shop on the east end of the park with a partner he has had for over 24 years, 18 of which they have been at Haulover. Captain Kite and I spoke for over 40 min about the life expectancy of the marina crews, the history of the kite shop, and our shared histories of dogs and horses. Captain Kite also knew Rex and spoke very well of him. The kite shop is sponsoring a kite day at the park on Saturday, February 20th. Although I did not have time to get a picture of him, I also met Leonard, who spends a lot of time at the park. I think he lives out of his conversion van with his wife. He is one of the organizers of the Everglades Bluegrass festival, also being held at the park.

Ann, photographer from England that stopped by Barry University. Her, Silvia, and I talked about camera gear for about an hour.

Barry University Lady Bucs vs. Milles College Bears, Saturday and Sunday February 13th and 14th:

As I was leaving the school on Thursday, I noticed that the Universities softball team was playing double headers on both Saturday and Sunday. Arriving before the game started on Saturday, I began speaking to Kayla's Mom Pat, who travels with the Mills team, before the game. She said that the Mills team has been traveling quite a bit, coming from Georgia, about 15 miles west of Birmingham. The trip down to Miami took them about 15 hours, one of their longer trips by bus of the season; they have also traveled to North Carolina. Pat was excited that I was there to take pictures of the game and asked me to take some portraits of her daughter, who was the starting picture for the second game of the header (I was only present for the 1st game). Kayla was very nice, describing herself as a "a self-professed photo whore". She introduced me to several of the team members who were also excited to have their pictures take.

Kayla and Pat:

Paula, a Barry mom for the last 5 years, travels to Miami from Phoenix every February. For three of those five years, it was to watch her daughter Colleen (pictured next to her) play softball for Barry. Colleen is now a graduate student working on a degree in Higher Education management, specifically NCAA compliance, but Paula still comes down to support her team. Recently, Paula had surgery on her foot (2 weeks out of the cast, 6 more in a boot) and is very happy to be up and about to make the trip.

Coach Danielle was very happy to let me shoot portraits during the game. I think many of the players were happy as well. The paid photographer for Barry, whom I saw working Sunday, spends most of his time either on the roof of the dugout or in the outfield with a very long lens. I think the ladies appreciated the change up to me shooting next to the fence and along the 3rd base line.

Brie, #12, starting pitcher. During the game, she would start spinning the ball on her finger between batters and sometimes while getting the calls. I wasnt able to get a great shot of it while she was in the field, so I went back Sunday when she wasn't pitching and asked her to spin the ball for the camera. She was kinda camera shy at first, but I was able to get a couple of great shots and it was obvious she had a great time.

Actually, thank you's are in order to all of the Lady Bucs, especially Coach Danielle for allowing me such access to the team and the field. I hope I can continue to shoot during their games!

The Knights of Columbus Run for Life after party:

A friend of mine is a KoC and asked me to be a second shooter for the fundraiser party he was volunteering to photograph. During the party, I was fortunate to spend some extended time talking to Dave (I think) and Bill (who was constantly sitting next to Bill's wife. The MC could not remember Bill's name, but could remember that he was sitting next to Bill's wife.). Dave was the organizer of the run for the K0fC and is holding up a special string of prayer beads that was created for each of the runners. Each colored bead of the string represents a different prayer for a different group. He could only remember a few of the colors, for example, red was for unborn babies, white was for their mothers. The Run for Life is an annual fundraiser to raise money to fight abortion. Bill and I spoke at length about Nascar, Formula 1, and the history of racing, which I was very unfamiliar with. Bill is quite the knowledgeable fan and was very proud of his black McLaren F1 jacket!

The Del Ray Beach Garlic Festival (February 14th, 2010):

As far as the actual festival goes, it was a waste of time and money. The food was terrible (execpt the Mahi vendor), it was over priced, the grounds were a mess, and some of the vendors, like the garlic ice cream which was a big part of going, had left because of issues with the organizers. However, I did really enjoy talking to Bob (2nd and third pics). He is a professional carny and has been for over 30 years. Currently he winters in Stetson Beach, Fl and works for the festival every year. Next month he will go to Connecticut and work his way south with one of the carnivals.

Left to Right: Festival volunteer (missed her name), Bob, Tom Johnson (elementary school administrator and King Bulb for 3 years running), Lena (vendor and amateur photo bug)

Lena was also an interesting picture. She noticed my camera and asked me about the 70-200 lens. She has just purchased a Nikon N90 with 70-300 (probably 55-300?) but did not understand how to get limited depth of field. I offered to show her an example by taking her picture a couple of times. She was happy to let me take the picture (and liked it). Jenifer cracked up as we left, saying that was "really smooth and kinda sneaky." I think we both got something out of the exchange and an interesting conversation ta' boot.