At our 30 Strangers reception on July 2nd, I overheard everything from “Exquisite” and “I feel like I’m standing on sacred ground” to “I don’t get it” and a few things in between.
Thanks to everyone that came and made the 30 Strangers project and exhibit a grand success.
I thought it might be fun to share with you some of the questions people asked on the night of the exhibit, and I also have some pictures to show that were taken at the opening.
First, the questions:
Did you just find people randomly on the street?
Nope. It was far more calculated than that. First of all, people left a comment on the blog if they wanted to participate. We made random selections from the 429 that left comments. After those 30 were selected and scheduled, we were in contact with all of them with reminders about their appointment and tips about what to wear. I knew in advance the names of everyone that was coming to be photographed. Knowing who was coming was essential because we printed a welcome sign for them upon arrival that included everyone’s name.
Is everyone you photographed from the area?
Some are, but not all of them. People came to Provo at the own expense from all over the country to be a part of the project.
What was the farthest anyone traveled?
We had two different people from Washington DC. One just happened to be in town for her daughter’s graduation, so she didn’t come specifically for the project, but the other one did. The farthest anyone drove had to be Natalie (so glad we’re now besties) and her mother. Nat drove from Moscow Idaho and her mother came from Portland.
Have you ever thought about doing fathers and sons?
I thought about it for about 6 seconds. Moms care more. That’s really what it comes down to. It’s not like photographing fathers and sons is less valuable, but honestly, they don’t care as much as moms. Women show up for their appointments, get all dressed up, and have a good time going through with it all. I just don’t see that guys would be as invested.
Will you do this next year?
Probably. At this point I imagine I’ll do it every year. I can’t imagine a reason not to.
What if you run out of strangers?
Are you kidding me? This is a pretty big planet. I’ll never run out of strangers. I go to my neighborhood grocery store (go Days Market!) and see people there all the time I don’t know and that’s in my very own neighborhood. But that brings up a good point. I’d love to do the project next year in San Diego or Austin Texas. Anyone reading this have an interest in that? I’d need a little help to spread the word in such places if I was to pull it off out of state.
How did you get the idea for the project?
This question has been answered here, but it was originally, in 2008, a creative project. After the first year, my wife and I thought of ways to improve it and make it more meaningful for the people involved. The idea of mothers and daughters came from a conversation with Kent Miles, and the idea of having people donate to the women’s shelter was my wife’s idea. The only thing I thought of was to have me taking the pictures.
Did the people you photograph come from the Women’s Shelter?
Nope. The only link is that they made donations to the shelter.
And then there were some technical questions about the framing and the printing. I made all the prints myself. They were printed on an Epson 2880 printer. The paper is Epson Velvet Fine Art and I get everything from Pictureline in Salt Lake. There may be cheaper places online for some of these things, but I’m big believer in buying local.
All images were shot using a Canon 5D Mark II.
And now, some picture from July 2nd. First, from Trevor Christensen.
Mindy Gledhill and Courtney Kendrick
From Brett Howell
From Diana Palmer
It’s hard to be a host and photograph the event. You kind of have to do one or the other. That’s why I had asked if my friends Trevor, Brett and Diana would come and take some pictures. I wanted to have a record of how things played out, and I want to thank those three for taking pictures for me. I think they did a great job.
But I don’t go very many places without a camera and I did happen to get a few pictures of some of my friends that came that night.
Leo Weidner
Lisa Clark
Rebekah Westover
Carina Hoskisson
Brett Howell
Jenn Cobia
Sarah Ward
Steven Waggoner
I’ll most likely do the 30 Stranger project again next year and I’d love to include you. If you want to know when we’re announcing next year’s project, your best bet is to sign up for our occasional newsletter, as those are the folks that will hear about it first. You can sign up here.
And if you would like to get portraits of you and the people you love, there’s no reason to wait to see if you can be a part of next year’s project. I’m making these kinds of portraits year-round. I’m currently booked until the third week of August, but have availability starting August 23rd. Give me a jingle. I’ll catch you on the jangle.
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