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Many people avoid talking to strangers, but not artist and storytellerImran Nuri.
He designed an entire project that centers around talking to people he doesnt know.
Luckily, a stop in Oklahoma City to develop a test roll confirmed that they would come out okay.
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The project was a huge undertaking and sacrifice for Nuri.
He began driving in May 2022 and lived in his Toyota Camry for 12 weeks.
In the end, the intense endeavor was worth it.
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We spoke to Nuri about his ambitious project, including one memorable encounter with a stranger in Colorado.
Scroll down to read My Modern Mets exclusive interview.
Read our interview with him about the project.
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How did you get the idea for this project?
Ive always been someone to push myself to grow as much and as often as possible.
At that time, photography wasnt a component of it.
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You had to make some serious sacrifices for this project.
Why did you feel so compelled to start and finish it?
He said, Everyone wants to believe theyll live to be 80 years old, but thats not true.
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Can you really afford to risk planning for an 80-year life thats not guaranteed?
I think about that frequently.
You could say I felt compelled to start and finish this series out of the fear of dying young.
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How did you find these individuals?
At what point did you snap their photo?
I never directed anybody on how to poseI just told them to do what felt comfortable.
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You shot all of the portraits on a medium-format camera.
What inspired this decision?
I think most importantly that using a TLR means you shoot at the waist level.
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Making portraits with TLR will inevitably give you photos that make the subject look tall and powerful.
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Is there any person who stands out for a very memorable visit?
Not just that, but he was getting matching tattoos with them!
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His name is Don Caskey, and at the time he had over 400 matching tattoos with total strangers.
Dont work your life away.
I ended up being the 435th stranger to get a matching tattoo with him.
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It was my first tattoo, and its a roll of medium format film.
I got mine on my forearm and he got the same one on his knee.
We still keep in touch to this day.
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What were some of the larger lessons that came out of advice from 1,000 strangers?
When you watch the news, youre led to believe the world is all bad all the time everywhere.
Still, our imperfection leads us to make the same mistakes over and over again.
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Theres beauty in our imperfection, but its also just a lot of unnecessary, preventable pain.
What’s next for you?
Anything exciting to share?
For now, nothing is concrete, but Im sure that will change soon!
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