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Stranger #15

Yesterday, I went down to my favourite section of Toronto, Queen St. West. I first discovered this area when a class ate, Cindy, brought me downtown in the hunt for dismembered doll parts. It sounds weird, but it sort of fits in with the area.

Queen St. West, is this fascinating place. Not just because it's part of the Gallery/Fashion Districts, but because of the people. Just walking down the street is an experience in of itself. I can't even begin to describe the weird, and wonderful people you ran into. Or the stories behind each person. Its just not something you can describe, you have to drag people down with you and show them yourself.

One of my favourite stores down here is The Lomography Store. I honesty stumbled (like everything else of late) upon it earlier this year. It might just be the photography subject, or the wall decoration, or the people inside it that I find so attractive. I don't know. But everythime I visit, it feels like I've entered a toy store, and the child-like glee that accompanies it.

The one thing about the place that makes it worth the trip down, are the employees. One of them is this handsome guy, Kevin. I seem to always run into him at the store, and we always get talking about film, and photography. Of course, many of these times was me asking stupid questions about analogue photography. Kevin has been a great help each time, he (and the others) never make you feel stupid about it.

This particular shoot was taken on a whim. Kevin had just given a run down of the different 35mm film the store carries. Listing pros/cons, and interjecting his own preferences. After ringing the film up, and me asking random questions. I asked if I could take his photo - with a digital camera.

Similar to the last photograph, this was taken under dark lighting. There were two options: 1) take it by the polaroid of all employees at the store, or 2) in front of the Lomo Wall. I can't justify why I chose the first option, it just felt right. All I can say, is that the second option was probably better for lighting, and less work on the editing process.

This would be the most torn I've been about a photo before.

100 Strangers Flickr Group page l 100 Strangers, first time (set)

Stranger #14

If you don't run into interesting people on the the streets or in coffee shops, you can definitely find them on the subway.

I'd like to introduce Katie. We met on the subway at Union Station while both helping an other gentleman looking for directions to Finch. It was just coincidence that we both spoke at the same time. After helping the man, I asked Katie where she was from. She had an accent. Not very thick, or discernible as others. It turns out that she comes from Dublin, Ireland. And was living here for the next two years. Unfortunately, her stop was up, and I wasn't able to find out what brought her to Canada.

100 Strangers Flickr Group page l 100 Strangers, first time (set)