The intention of B4 is to observe the strangers and tell a story about them from my own perspective and photos I shoot.
Photos:
Nikki Xie. Film Maker, Photographer.
Mia. Hair Stylist.
Moustafa. Street Brand Model.
Jenny. Animal Rescue Volunteer.
This is a hard project for me. Honestly, I am not a shy person, but I definitely do not like approaching strangers. Firstly, I do not like the feeling of being refused. Secondly, not many people think I look friendly.
Talking to Nikki is probably the best part of the entire project. Nikki is an individual filmmaker. Her parents are from Taiwan and she is born in the US. When I was playing around with my friend’s Leica camera at SOHO, she came to me and told me, “You are not using it right.” She taught me how to use the camera and told me a story about her being called Asian-face. She told me she always wanted to be a stylist but she just loved filming more. I now am following her on Instagram and we are friends now.
When someone comes to me rather than I approach them, it just makes everything so much easier. Nonetheless, I still have to go to people most of the time.
My catch phrase is “You want a cig?” I look for people who smokes and offer a cigarette. I was refused by an old guy at Union Square who took my cigarette but did not want to be photographed. A musician also said “no” because he is recovering from lung cancer.
Moustafa is a skateboarder and a model. I first thought he was just a student. I sat down with him and I lighted up his cigarette. “What do you do for life?” “Model. I model for these street brands. Skateboarding brands”. I told him I have my own brand and my passion for street fashion. He joked with me, “Maybe someday I’ll model for you.” Maybe it is not a joke after all.
Mia did not have a lot of time talking to me. I stopped her on the street just for her style. She is a hair stylist who works at a salon in SOHO. When I took the photo, she just got off work. She is a huge hip-hop fan, and I could tell because music from her earphones was super loud. “You are a pretty cool Asian, you know.” She told me if I want to know more about her I can always stop by her salon.
Jenny is an animal rescue volunteer who works for Mighty Mutts. It was a good time talking to Jenny and her friends. I just thought the photo is too obvious to tell her profession so I did not post her photo up. “Animals are the same as human beings. They have emotions. They can be afraid, happy, sad and excited. I mean it is not everyone’s job to love animals, but at least do not harm them. They’ve done nothing wrong to this world.” After meeting Jenny, I really want to keep a dog. Unfortunately, I am allergic to the fur.
Talking to strangers is probably the hardest thing to me. But I came over. After all, it is not that hard meeting some strange faces. When two people exchange their own secrets, it was the best part of this project. One thing I learned from this project is to never judge a book by its cover. Every individual has his/her own story and it can only be told by themselves.
