good luck [stranger 22/99]

(Kiev 4, Jupiter-12, Kodak Elite Chrome Extra Color 100, ISO 100/21°)

My twenty-second stranger, fully equipped, was really committed to the business of bringing us good luck.

sofortdienst [stranger 21/99]

(Rollfilm 5x8, Rollei Crossbird 200, ISO 200/24°, cross-processing)
My twenty-first stranger was talking on the phone.

renfe te da la bienvenida [stranger 20/99]

(Vito I, Kentmere 400, ISO 400/27°)
My twentieth stranger checked her smartphone once again as the train was leaving the station.

der standard [stranger 19/99]

(Vitomatic Ia, DM Paradies 100, ISO 100/21°)
My nineteenth stranger was reading Der Standard.

db [stranger 18/99]

(Flexaret VI, Rollei Digibase CN 200, ISO 200/24°)
My eighteenth stranger was reading the newspaper on his way to Munich.

Red sweater [stranger 17/99]

(Flexaret VI, Kodak Elite Chrome Extra Color 100, ISO 100/21°)
My seventeenth stranger was reading a book minutes before her bus came.

Fitch [stranger 16/99]

(Flexaret VI, Ilford XP2 Super 400, ISO 400/27°)
My sixteenth stranger was really focused on his smartphone.

Chess [stranger 15/99]

(Hapo 66-E, Fujichrome Provia 400X, ISO 400/27°)
My fifteenth stranger was playing chess in the warm almost spring sun.

Reading [stranger 14/99]

(Ideal 250/3, Ilford Pan F Plus 50, ISO 50/18°)
My fourteenth stranger kept reading as if she hadn't noticed the crazy guy that needed more than one minute to take her picture: unfold the camera, set shutter to T and open it, open the ground glass cover, try to focus in the bright sun (didn't get it too well :-/), close the shutter, set shutter speed and aperture, take down the ground glass, snap the roll film back in place, cock the shutter, remove the dark slide from the roll film back and use it to make shadow for the lens, release the shutter, place the dark slide again, remove the roll film back and advance the film until the next frame number appears in the red window, snap the ground glass back into place, fold the camera, and you're done!

Turn around [stranger 13/99]

(Retinette IA, Kodak Elite Chrome Extra Color 100, ISO 100/21°)
My thirteenth stranger turned around to the camera hanging from my neck just an instant before the self-timer fired the shutter.

At the market [stranger 12/99]

(EOS 40D, EF 24mm f/2.8, 1/200, f/11, ISO 400)
My twelfth stranger had just bought a plant at the Saturday market.

Smiling [stranger 11/99]

(EOS 40D, EF 24mm f/2.8, 1/250, f/11, ISO 400)
My eleventh stranger was smiling at his granddaughter.

Ntchs! [stranger 10/99]

(Flexaret VI, Kodak Tri-X 400, EI 400/27°)
You've seen her, she waits on her bike for the traffic light to get green. You approach her silently, measure the light and set shutter speed and f-number. You make as if you waited for the green light, too, and very carefully turn your TLR ninety degrees to the left. You look down to the waist-level finder, adjust the focus and compose the picture and then...
My tenth stranger decided to check her bonnet exactly when I released the shutter. Damn! :)

16:9 bus stop [stranger 9/99]

(EOS 40D, EF 24mm f/2.8, 1/640, f/11, ISO 400)
My ninth stranger was eating an apple as she waited at the bus stop.

Sudoku [stranger 8/99]

(EOS 350D, EF 50mm f/1.8, 1/25, f/4.5, ISO 100)
My eighth stranger was playing sudoku while waiting for the boarding call for her flight.

On the bench [stranger 7/99]

(Flexaret VI, Kodak Tri-X 400, EI 400/27°)
My seventh stranger was enjoying the winter sun on a park bench.

From the heart [stranger 6/99]

(Kodak Retinette IA, Fuji Neopan 400, EI 400/27°)
This picture was taken straight from the heart.

I mean, I was walking around the streets, the Retinette on my chest hanging from the neck strap on its ever ready leather case, which is pretty worn-out by the way. I had already set the exposure for the dim light that we had in the morning (EV10, if I remember well, which meant probably 1/250@f/4 for my ISO 400 film). Then this old lady crossed my path and, without thinking, almost as a reflex, I aimed my camera at her without bringing it to the eye and pressed the shutter release with my thumb. I then totally forgot about it.

As I was checking the developed film afterwards I discovered this picture and I liked the angle and the somewhat random and casual feeling that it conveys. Though the lady was badly underexposed, I made a quite radical processing when digitizing the negative.

My sixth stranger had an umbrella because it had started raining just a minute before .

Suspicious look [stranger 5/99]

(EOS 350D, Sigma 70-300mm f/4-5.6 APO DG, 214mm, 1/400, f/6.3)
My fifth stranger had a distrustful look. I got him with a telephoto lens, that I needed some time adapting to, because it had been so long since I last used it.

Photos I didn't make - the old lady

(Flexaret VI, Kodak Tri-X 400, EI 400/27°)
There was this old lady sitting on a bench at a park close to the library. She wore a fur hat and had her purse and her watch by her side on the bench. She looked at the watch every now and then.

She was clearly enjoying the wonderful late afternoon sun which, most probably without her knowing, was also bathing her with the most sublime of lights, warm and crisp. The sun stood at a low angle over the horizon, illuminating her from the left side.

I sat on the bench by her side and stayed there for a while, trying to muster up the courage to ask her to take her photograph. I repeated to myself the exact words I was going to use, trying several introductory lines.

After ten minutes struggling with myself, unable to overcome my shyness, I admitted my defeat and stood up. I smiled at her and murmured “Auf Wiedersehen”. And it was then, in the way she looked up and smiled back at me, it was in the expression of her clear blue eyes, that I knew she would have probably said yes. But it was too late.

Out of frustration, I made a picture of the library building.

Tabletop [stranger 4/99]

(Flexaret VI, Kodak Tri-X 400, EI 400/27°)
My fourth stranger was laughing, probably unaware of the fact that the sun, reflected on the library annex building, cast shadows on the wall and on his seat. My camera got him from the tabletop.