… the drill sergeant on my shoulder was screaming, “Radstone! Get over yourself, you committed to this project, you have a responsibility to see it through, quit your whining! Man up mister and go find a new friend.” I was wasted tired. The week of travel and long days were slowing me to almost…
Sidewalk Ghosts / “Pull Up A Chair!”
The wives looked at me, “Yes, they will be happy to be photographed.” Just outside Pearl Harbor there was a funky little dinner joint, Schooners. It was not fancy, the food was OK, and sadly it ended up being bought out and reopened as “604.” I checked them out online and yes, the new…
Sidewalk Ghosts / One of My Dumber Moments
With fear in her eyes, she told me to “F*%! Off!” It’s not that I am an Olympian, or anything close to it, but cyclist I am. A sport I found one Christmas when the gift of a mountain bike to my wife hooked us both into the pedaling maniacs we are. I’m even…
Sidewalk Ghosts / Was It My Turn To Be Profiled?
For a moment I thought, seeing I was on the same beach as the day before that I was somehow being associated with the “naked analyst”. It was my turn to be profiled, as sun dropping out of the sky like a rock falling, found me beach combing for an interview. A twinge of concern…
Sidewalk Ghosts / “If it’s nude? I’ll be there!”
You know that game where you whisper in someone’s ear, they pass it on to another, and after it goes to more and more people, the original whisper has changed. Often morphed into a fabrication nowhere close to the beginning thought. I think they call it the Telephone game. Fun at parties, but how often…
Sidewalk Ghosts / “We’re Kind Of A Big Deal – People Know Us”
It was day one of my Hawaii experience. A week of training a very cool division of the military, a group called JPAC; they’re primary focus, to find our MIA’s. My task was to work with their photography unit in sharing new techniques, ways of creatively seeing and methods of directing. My promise was…
Sidewalk Ghosts / Feelings Of Past Return
As I sit here re-authoring the posts of 2011, I am feeling the magnitude of there impact. Not just in a past tense, but in a go forward perspective–wanting to be certain that I am providing you meaningful stories to read. Now, 20 days into these update, I am reliving feelings, and I hope not…
Sidewalk Ghosts / Is What We See At First Glance?
“not too tight or loose, gentle, like you care.” It was my first attempt at going to a shopping center to meet a stranger. A destination filled with many guarded people. Made sense. After all, it is at the mall where endless unsolicited sales approaches happen; and as per what I was doing, how could…
Sidewalk Ghosts / “With a Gun and Not a Passport”
“everybody can run, only one can be first, but the last across the finish really is the one who wins the greatest prize,” It was high school football night as I sat on the sidelines of a family friends game. Thought I’d try an experiment and just sit. Settled in to not wander. Figured I…
Sidewalk Ghosts / “No Shoes On The Mat!”
It only took me seconds to realize the place was all about respect of other persons… It was starting to look like a night that was going to leave me empty-handed and alone. I had lost count of how many people I approached, all of whom I found on the streets, most very friendly and…
Sidewalk Ghosts / The Ultimate Death of What’s for Dinner?
They say it takes twenty-one days for something to become a habit and, at day eighteen of my commitment to interview strangers every day for a year; the project was starting to grow ingrained in all that I did. People were starting to ask me why I was doing it. At the time I had…
Sidewalk Ghosts / Water Really Does Seek Its Own Level
I was growing to love my Sunday neighborhood strolls. I had lived in my house for 9 years, thought I knew the area, and after only two weeks of meeting strangers I was realizing I knew nothing about the people who live so near to me. They were, and are, amazing. A story within everyone;…
Sidewalk Ghosts / The Gangsta?
“We Need To Help Our Kids” Heading into the third week of interviewing strangers, and the impact the project was having on my family was becoming overwhelmingly apparent—taking the majority of my time during a time when our financial situation was less than solvent. A coin collecting time when recovering from a debilitating recession had…
Sidewalk Ghosts / “Be Good and Do Good”
“Be Good And Do Good” – Mark – September 24, 2011: I was directing a casting session and in doing so had the opportunity to meet 200 people. Not exactly like approaching strangers on the street. But I figured they were still strangers—people I was meeting for the first time. So I thought, technically speaking, that…
Sidewalk Ghosts / “There is always a way, you just have to want it bad enough.”
“There is always a way, you just have to want it bad enough.” Say, “Hello,” to Brian: dancer, graphic designer, and gym enthusiast. I met him at Kinko’s while printing paperwork for a casting session I was doing the following day; assisted me in restocking paper into the printer I was working at. He was…
Sidewalk Ghosts / The 10:30pm Poet
They called themselves Weird Buddies, but there was nothing weird about these kids. It was 10:30pm, the day not over, completing final pre-production for a project I was producing and directing. I’d been watching the clock all day, looking for a chance to break away for a 365 outing. It was only an hour-and-a-half away from…
Sidewalk Ghosts / “The World Is The World”
I asked him what he meant? He responded in telling me that people are generally good and change is possible. It just takes time… 365 was growing to be a big part of my life as I transitioned into the second week of the project. Its impact taking root in all aspects of my family,…
Sidewalk Ghosts / Lab “Otto” Style
She stood puzzled, “Lab, Otto Style?” My eyes were watering and the room was a blur. It was 6pm and deep in pre-production for an upcoming project, I’d barely eaten on a day that was wonderfully insane. I’m a little crazy in the fact that I love days like that; they keep my mind nimble…
Sidewalk Ghosts / Fragile As Flowers & An Important Challenge
A CHALLENGE—In authoring today’s story, and in gratitude to Shabbir and his family, I invite you to take a short break from whatever you are doing. To reach out to someone important to you by simply letting them know you care about them and just how important they are to you. It was Sunday afternoon,…
Sidewalk Ghosts / Less Violence, More Fixies
Vincent was planning on going to business school and dreamed of one day opening a bike shop just like Antonio’s. Antonio gave his blessing with one condition, “OK by me as long as it’s 30 miles from mine.” Vincent replied with the harassment one would expect from a best friend, “How about another state.” Vincent…
Sidewalk Ghosts / The Betty Boop of Wilmington Ohio
She showed me photos of her eleven grandchildren and six great-grand children, and as we bridged past the pleasantries, we shifted to a darker history… I was traveling from a location scout in San Diego, feeling rather tired from a long day of driving. En-route home from my dear old mum’s apartment, I dropped by…
Sidewalk Ghosts / And The Oscar Goes To…
When you think of the West Coast photo scene, you may think of a who’s-who list of name photographers, but on September 16, 2011 I met true photographic royalty. Say, “Hello,” to two incredibly hard-working people: Silvino and his sister Andrea. For years Silvino’s name has been synonymous with quality flash equipment repair. Never met…
Sidewalk Ghosts / The Book Of James
The Book Of James. It was day 6, almost one week into my one-year commitment to meet a stranger and post a story every day. I had 359 days to go, and the good thing was, to that point, my family was still on board. September 15, 2011: My daughter and I passed Taft High…
Sidewalk Ghosts / It’s More Than News Coverage
I asked, “Where are you from?” He said, “Wherever I’m passing by.” I had the opportunity to photograph the news anchors of Univision 34, Los Angeles—a great group of people to work with and a ton of fun to photograph. The photo shoot started very early in the morning and finished in the evening….
Sidewalk Ghosts / Fish Out Of Water Saved By Francis The Key Guy
Take one middle-class Caucasian man dressed like a college golfer; put him in a public park; place a camera around his neck and paperwork in his hand. Then have him loiter around the teen center—at night, mind you. Sound suspicious? Perhaps. I was not really thinking too soundly on this one. The saving grace was…
Sidewalk Ghosts / Alishia’s Insights
There I was, walking my neighborhood saying hi to all my neighbors. Felt strangely like Ozzie on an outing to borrow a cup of sugar for Harriet. No not Ozzy Osborn, but Ozzie Nelson. Ozzie Nelson? If you don’t know the vintage sitcom, Ozzie and Harriet were the ideal TV family and ran on ABC from October 3,…
Sidewalk Ghosts / A Quick Entry – Travel Log Style
11:30am: Early lunch with family, I sat in uncomfortable chair at breakfast joint. Almost decided to photograph and interview Chef Abraham. Discouraged by the lunch rush, I passed on the prospect. 1:00pm: Fry’s Electronics. Bought blue-tooth keypad for iPad and spent enjoyable 30 minutes in demo massage chair. Healed from the terrible ergonomics of entry one. Still…
Sidewalk Ghosts / Slava – “Songs About Friends”
“What is your name?” I asked. In deep dialect he responded, “Slava.” “Do you have a hobby, Slava?” I casually followed up. He paused, glanced at my reflection in the rear view mirror, eyes staring as if summing me up; and, after an uncomfortable delay–“Guitar.” “What kind of music?” I inquired further. He lightly laughed…
Sidewalk Ghosts / Levi– “What If We Pay More Attention?”
From the very beginning of my stranger meeting journey I promised to describe my feelings in one way or the other; so in continuing to honor the integrity of the commitment, I’ll stand by that pledge in this installment of Sidewalk Ghosts. June 27, 2012, stuck on traffic jammed highway 101, I was exasperated. Stressed,…
Sidewalk Ghosts / Jalon– The Barber of Men
“Try to find some kind of a spiritual crutch, so when people are not around you can rely on, you have somewhere to turn.” March 10, 2012 – It was 7:00pm on a Friday night, the streets full of people enjoying the evening as the aroma of limitless dining choices wafted in the air—a…
