In 2013 I went to the London book launch of ‘Crossing Paths’ by Niall McDiarmid, a photographer who I had been following online for a couple of years. Niall had taken over 800 portraits of strangers whilst crossing the UK and I loved his work - the subject was always somebody interesting and his clever choice of backgrounds made the work really stand out. Despite really wanting to create a similar project, I never quite got started with it and it just lingered in the background for years.
Leaping forward to late 2022 I found myself travelling to London for the first time since before the pandemic. I met my friend and fellow photographer Nigel Rumsey for dinner and some candid street photography. I mentioned again about wanting to shoot portraits of strangers and he said simply, why not just try, the worst that could happen is that somebody might say no. This logical statement stuck with me and I decided to finally do something about it, both for myself and my mental health, and for my Dad.
At the age of 87 my Dad was becoming less able to get out and about which meant he had fewer opportunities to do what he loved - meeting new people and chatting. He could, as they say, chat for England. This struck a chord with me and gave me extra incentive to start my project as it meant that when I spent time with him, I could show him the portraits and tell him the stories I had been told.
By the end of 2022 I had re-bought a camera I’d owned previously and loved for its simplicity and image quality, the original or ‘classic’ Canon 5D. I really didn’t have an excuse any more.
On Boxing Day I jumped in the car and headed to Hastings, somewhere I’ve always enjoyed visiting. Despite not yet having taken a single photo, I’d settled on ‘Strangers When We Meet’ as a name for the project. As well as being the name of a favourite song by David Bowie, having a project name would help me when talking to people about what I’m doing.
On this first day out I met and had lengthy conversations with two people who were also happy for me to take their portrait. I’m eternally grateful to Sylvia and Mark for inadvertently changing the course of my life (but more of that later). My original plan was to make portraits wherever I happened to be, but something about that first day made me want to return to Hastings and St Leonards for my next day out.
As often happens in life, things didn’t go to plan. Just 4 days later my Dad suffered a stroke and at the end of January 2023 he died. Although he was 87 this was still unexpected and the next couple of months were a bit of a blur. Arrangements needed to be made, and I also caught Covid for the first time at the worst possible time. By the end of February I desperately needed a day out on my own and out of habit I put my camera in my bag in case I felt like using it.
My second day out resulted in 5 new portraits, more than I thought possible, and 3 of those 5 people I still see regularly. The project continued through 2023 and was a major factor in my decision to move to Hastings, which happened in May 2024. As I write this, I have taken over 150 portraits, have made lots of new friends and can’t think of a single reason not to continue this project forever.
UPDATE - October 2024
I'm very pleased to say that I have recently met with St Michael's Hospice in St Leonards about raising funds for them. In late 2025 I will be publishing a new book of the project and all profits from sales will be going directly to St Michael's.