Portrait

The Bäckström Family

When I came home from New Zealand on New Year's Eve, I hadn't seen my niece in a year. When we left, she was a 2-month-old baby; when we came home, she had grown to become a beautiful young girl. 

Needless to say, this was one of the best parts about coming home. The other equally wonderful part was that she was going to have a little sister, who I would hopefully get to meet before I went to London. Seems like she wanted to meet her aunt as well, because the day before I left—she arrived.

These photos are from an afternoon that I spent with my brother and his family. Can't wait to go visit this summer, and capture the whole family of four!

100 strangers ~ part 2

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Six months later, I finished what I'd started. The 100 strangers project (with inspiration from the Flickr group with the same name) was my first ever personal project. And I can tell you right now--it definitely won't be the last.

When I first started out, it was mainly to "have something to do" while trying to build a network on this end of the world. But when I took my 100th stranger, it had grown to be something much, much more.

I've listed some of the pros of doing this project in my previous post. I will probably write something more thoroughly about the importance of personal projects, once I've decided what to do with the pictures.

But yeah, today I decided that I wasn't ready to end this project. At all. I want to continue developing portrait skills, understanding light and meet awesome people. Today I crossed the hundred mark. And so I thought it would be suitable to show you some of my favorite portraits from the second half of the project.

Click the name to read the whole story about the meeting.

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My meeting with Jack was more than just another stranger picture. The whole day, with a series of happenings, taught me to look at the world with bigger and brighter eyes.

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Fredy was, hands down, the friendliest stranger I met throughout the whole project. A bubbly girl, who I ended up chatting with for a half an hour. We changed contact details, and I hope our paths will cross again one day.

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I met Tim in Albert Park, where he was on a stroll with his mother. They didn't speak very good English, but the meeting turned out to be a very interesting one. Everything from his outstanding features, to their loving mother-and-son relationship.

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This Chinese woman was hard to convince to pose for me, especially since she didn't speak a word of English (except "China" and "home"). We were lucky that we had one universal language in common--body language.

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Noor is definitely one of my top strangers--all time. Just look at her. She was exactly as sweet as she looks, when I met her and her Dad in the harbor one evening.

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Michael is actually one of few full-blood Kiwis in my collection. And definitely the one with the most interesting mix of careers. A retired fisherman, now working as an extra on TV.

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I met Fred in a little different way than I usually approach my strangers. This time I found the location first--then I found my victim. When I looked around and saw two girls drinking beer in a tree, I knew they would be perfect for my project.

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This lady was a real firecracker! Met her in the city, where she had just left a lunch place because it was too cold. She wasn't very interested in having her picture taken, but I managed to convince her to pose at least once.

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I just love boys this age. They're full of life and pranks, and are so easy to chat and have fun with. I stopped Isaac and his friends on their way home from school, and had a mini photo sesh with them. Good fun!

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Aaand... My last favorite from the second half of my project--and the only portrait taken with my macro lens (which I need to start using way more). Needless to say why I stopped Richard for a portrait. He could've been taken straight from a fashion mag! Such a natural in front of the camera as well.

Now I'm aiming for: Many more strangers, many more stories, and a continuously developed way of looking at the people around me.

Don't expect this project to end in the near future.