Stranger 1 - Ian "Strangers? Wow! How many are you taking? Ok that's just weird. "

Stranger 2 - Brandon I used to be an artist you know? For a newspaper and last time they sent me to Hongkong. They thought the locals there will treat me like some kind of important person with the way I look, being the foreign guy...I didn't know about that... "

Stranger 3- Unknown "What do you think happens to us when we die? Are you a good person or do you think you're a good person? You can take our personality test... you may even win a million dollars! Alright? Ok do you think Hitler is evil?"

Stranger 4 - Marcus "I was just showing people another way of putting the bell back on the cathedral tower. It's not going to cost much and we can do it ourselves. There has been a lot of delays on what to do with it. That cathedral, it was wonderful before the earthquake and now there are some people who are saying it should be demolished, some saying it should be restored and make it a world heritage site "

Stranger 5 - Unknown "What? You taking a fucking photo of me mate?"

Stranger 6 - Alex "I've been a pilot for 10 years. Today it's just you guys but we usually fly about 5 times a day and it gets exhausting sometimes. You see that mountain range? Tom Cruise just finished filming a scene for the new Mission Impossible movie over there! "

Stranger 7 - Andy "You can take a photo while I'm like this. I'm shy in front of a camera. I have a wife in Singapore, she's Muslim, it's hard for us. Her family doesn't really like me"

Stranger 8 - Alan "Sure take a picture! I printed this shirt myself. Do you like it? I can print one for you if you want! Have you seen the last episode (Game of thrones)? What do you think? Oh boy, I was like, what? Unbelievable right?"

Stranger 9 - Baza "That woman back there. Don't call her your wife, she is not your wife, she's your boss! Hahaha! You don't know this stuff? You should know this as a guy! By the way, how to you say "Thank you" in Singapore? "

Stranger 10 - Tessa "That hill you see at back? That's Port hills and you can take the bridle path walk from there. It's quite a hike but the view once you reach the top is worth it. Oh you're taking pictures? Sure, that's great! We love art here! "

Stranger 11 - Bernard "Hold on. Wait. Since you gonna take a photo of me, might as well post it on our facebook page(thecoffeeshotexpresso) and can you ask people to like it? Okay about that protest that just happened here, well...it's really complicated to explain. You know our elections is coming up. People are fighting for a lot of different things"

Stranger 12: Kim and Happy "I'm ok. Yeah come take a picture! This is happy, he's 1 yr old. Yep my hat says moody. I'm moody this is happy. "

Stranger 13 - Helen : "Yes you could say that this is one of the oldest pub in New Zealand. Those money pasted in the ceiling? Oh I don't know how it started, one day people just started pasting dollar bills, and pennies... even signing their names on it "

Stranger 14 - Kelvin : "A few days ago, I met a woman here. She was from Singapore or Malaysia, I am not sure. But she was selling food... it was delicious, I think it was some kind of sticky rice. Do you know how to make that? I would love to have some again. "

Stranger(s) 15 - Don and Lorraine "You're going punting? Not my cup of tea. We'll just sit around here and you guys enjoy yourselves. I like looking at buildings. See over there, I used to work designing buildings like that..."

Stranger 16 - Conrad "Yeah I'm a big David Bowie fan. As you can see, I can't build a shrine at home so I have it here at my shop"

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Stranger 18- Unknown "Can you take my dog's picture instead? Some guys from the news already interviewed us yesterday. The elections is coming up so they want to know what we think. Of course we're not ok, does it look like we're ok?"

Stranger 19 - Lawrence "Do you see these videos? This is what happens every time you eat your bacon or meat everyday. All of these people around selling them, it doesn't matter where it came from. This happens everywhere all over the world... We are the "Anonymous for the voiceless" and I've been a vegan for a year now. I've found it to be an easy transition because there are a lot of alternatives to meat out there. You can look it up."

Stranger 20 - Clayton "There are more horses than people here in Glenorchy. The population is only 350, give or take, but we are a tight-knit community. We always look out for each other, everyone knows one another... By the way, if you're gonna ride a horse, my advice is if you fall over, go ahead and just drink a Guinness"

Stranger 21 - Tim "I'm just waiting for that perfect warm light over that grass patch...missed it last time I was here... I've been documenting this city as it evolves for about ten years now, even before the earthquake."

21 Strangers in New Zealand

I had a lot of fun doing this #TwentyOneStrangers project. It’s such a nerve-racking experience for an introvert like me… I had a lot of doubts that I could pull it off when we arrived in New Zealand, especially when the first 2 strangers said NO to me.? …I was thinking maybe this is not a good idea and I should just concentrate on doing video but on our 3rd or 4th day, I tried again with a different approach. The first stranger that allowed me to take his portrait was Ian at New Brighton beach. I explained to him what and why am I doing this, I gave him my name card and details then he gave me the thumbs up to take the picture. After chatting a few minutes with him, I wrote some soundbites from our conversation as much as I can remember. It was something that I’ve learned by watching Ashley Gilbertson’s street photography class on creative live. On our last day in New Zealand, I had about 26-30 portraits of strangers. I had to choose which one I should post. Some I had to let go, even though the portraits were nice there was just no conversation between me and the stranger. I was either rushing off to go somewhere or I ran out of things to say… I guess it just happens… I’m an introvert with no professional interviewing skills. Before and after a conversation with a stranger is super exhausting for me… But I’m glad I was able to do this. I wasn’t really aiming to get the best images. What I wanted was to get the best sound bites from a random conversation with a stranger. I pushed myself to my limits and gained some confidence in the end. ?