Talking to a Stranger

I was walking around taking photos on campus, making the most of that golden hour light, when I saw a man in the distance. He was standing in the middle of the transit centre, directly under the dome skylight, shooting photos through the gap between the top of the stairs and the overhanging concrete ceiling. 

Now, as a general rule, I don’t like to talk to strangers, and I REALLY don’t like to start conversations. I find it awkward, and I usually don’t have anything to talk about. That, however, changes when the stranger in question has a camera. Suddenly, there’s an easy connection.

So I walk up to the guy, my camera in hand, and ask my go-to question:

“Whatcha shooting on?”

We got chatting a bit about our respective cameras, me with my modest but dependable Canon R50, and him with his much larger, fancier setup complete with a zoom lens that likely cost more than my tuition. I felt like I was showing off a family SUV to a guy in a Ferrari. He told me that he’s been a street photographer for about 15 years, and I talked about being a film student. It was a fairly brief conversation about nothing more than our gear; we didn’t even exchange names, but I walked away feeling pretty good about the interaction.

What’s funny to me about that interaction, is how different it was from my interactions with other photographers and filmmakers online. The truth is, avoiding conversations with strangers is something I do on the internet too. Sure, I’ll leave the odd comment on someone’s social media, but do I send them a message just to chat? No. If anything, most interactions I have with strangers online are simple, short, and to the point. Most of my online interactions start and end with a single sentence or question to a faceless profile: How do I colour grade my photos like that? What lens should I buy? Nice picture! Should I upgrade my camera?🔥.

That interaction with that guy in the transit centre was different. There was no real point to the conversation: neither of us learned anything new, we didn’t trade advice, we didn’t exchange social media profiles or names. We went into the interaction as strangers and we left the same way. But does that mean that the conversation didn’t have value? I don’t think so. If anything, that short, “pointless” interaction meant more than any online interaction could. 

And why is that? Why did a short chat with a stranger leave more of an impact than hundreds of online interactions? Honestly, I don’t have an answer.

I’m just a photographer.

-Tyler