A little over a year ago, I went through a very dark breakup that left me very, very depressed. I spent a long time by myself, sulking in the despair that I was feeling... and it made it so much worse. So I started reaching out to tons of people on social media and texting but it didn't help at all. Even with people responding, it just felt... empty. It didn't make me feel less alone at all. When I kept feeling more and more alone, I decided to hop on a plane, go around the world and walk up to strangers to say hello... And ask for their photograph. From there, I would try to have a conversation with them. Many times, this turned into a coffee/lunch/dinner and a friendship for life.
I have now taken it to 19 different countries in the last 12 months and had over 1,000 portraits and conversations to go with it. Every person was a stranger before I asked for their picture. I was just learning as I was going. In the beginning, I was rejected by almost everybody I asked... But the more I kept doing it, I learned how to be more and more myself and stop being so scared. People read that vulnerability and trusted it - opening up to me in beautiful ways that I could have never expected. All within minutes of just saying hello.
This project is now sponsored by Nikon to go to the Middle East in January/February and will continue growing! It is a published book also, which will be released next month.
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Website: HelloFromAStranger.com
Instagram: @connectingtohappiness
TED talk -
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Thank you all for watching!
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Video Shot in Part By : Andrew Jansen (The Great Android) and Adam Schluter
Edited by: Daniella Sansotta
Produced by: Bethany Schluter
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