stranger stories

432

As a human currently situated in a larger environment again - Reading - and working a customer-service job - Front of House in a café (again) - I seemed to have developed a sense for talking to people... way too much. That being said, my confidence is through the roof as seem to initiate conversation with basically anybody, as long as the idea of doing so is prompted by my funny little brain. Okay, you might be thinking, but why is this of any blog-worthy relevance? Well, dear friends of mine - let me give you a little backstory.

For those who have known me for a longer time, even as much as the duration of this blog, it is evident that I was never the most outgoing dog in the park. With time, changes and maturity, I started to develop a greater need for extrovertism, communication and communication. I wanted to reach out to people, learn their stories, take their photos and simply... befriend new, stunning individuals and get to know their brilliant brains. Thankfully, through the situations I was placed into, I decided to put myself deeper into the world and allow myself to carry through my plans, regardless of the public opinion or my personal shame and regrets. Thus the journey began - the journey of being more 'out there'.

Years later, I am sat in a café, still watching people from the window as I would have been years back. What's different is now I ask the employees about their lives, converse, and even have thoughts of asking to take their portrait (if a camera is at hand, of course - I wouldn't waste that kind of opportunity on a phone photo). But that's my current struggle - I only seem to have the thoughts of asking to take these semi-strangers' photographs, but haven't yet managed to pop the question... and that's where this blog post really comes in.

THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF A POTENTIAL PROJECT.

Okay... seems like being overbearing is one of my favourite ways of kickstarting an idea or concept. As someone who is only just starting their adulting journey, things are still quite messy and unorganised (I still haven't cooked myself a dinner that isn't ramen in the comfort of my own home, which I have been living in for just over a week), which is why this project doesn't have an extremely fixed start date, but I would like to count this as more of a concept to consider and a challenge to take on as soon as it is possible and achievable for me. ANYWAY, the idea: as I continue to observe the world and its wonderful people, I plan to create a photo-narrative series, where these strangers o' mine tell me either a story from their life, or the story of their life, all while being encaptured in some (preferably analogue) portraits. This is a project that I'd most like to publish in the form of a book, but for now I shall settle onto publishing the work under my Instagram posts on both @rosestarred as a promotional standpoint (the account being my main and most popular account), as well as @rosestarred_photography, where I shall be actively pursuing my view on photography and the beauty of the people of the world. Additionally, I might choose to take the project onto my blog, releasing behind the scenes and additional information over the abbreviated paragraphs from my Instagram accounts. This would allow me to encapture more depth and detail then the quick minds of Instagram would be willing to follow. This project? A dream. Let's see if I am capable of achieving it.

Again, my priorities right now are to ensure I have enough money to continue my adulting adventures. Afterwards, when officially settled, I will be able to throw myself into this project the same way I threw myself into extrovertism a while back. The idea has been pitched, now to wait for the timing to be appropriate.

Create ideas.
Plan some potential dreams.
Reach.
Keep going.

All my love,

Gabriela