Assingment 1: Stranger

My stranger's name was Thomas. I met Thomas on a chilly Saturday morning as he was serving cheesesteaks. I approached Thomas with a remark about the weather, and when he seemed friendly and open to talking, I asked to photograph him and what he was doing. The first thing that we talked about was his work. Thomas says he's not much of a chef outside of work and that he prefers his mom's cooking. Don’t worry about sounding professional. Sound like you. There are over 1.5 billion websites out there, but your story is what’s going to separate this one from the rest. If you read the words back and don’t hear your own voice in your head, that’s a good sign you still have more work to do.

The next thing Thomas mentioned was his time in the Boy Scouts. I myself have never been a part of a Boy Scout troop. However, one of my closest friends is an Eagle Scout, so I kept the conversation going for a while. Thomas told stories about how he was still able to get his Eagle Scout badge whilst being in “the worst troop ever.”

The last thing we talked about was his aspirations; his mother is a lawyer in the Philly area specializing in family law. He says that his goal is to one day go to school and pass the bar so he can help her with business. However, he says that he also loves History, specifically pre-Columbian and early American and that he could also see himself teaching a classroom in the future.   

At first, I was nervous when attempting to complete this assignment. I was afraid I wouldn't know what to say or what questions to ask, and although I knew it wouldn't make a difference in my life, the thought of a stranger's rejection still terrified me. However, once I started to go up and talk to people, the assignment quickly became much easier. I realized there wasn't a specific way that I needed to get it done and that I just had to go with the flow of the conversation to get the answers I wanted.