This picture is #2 in my 100 strangers project. Find out more about the project and see pictures taken by other photographers at the 100 Strangers Flickr Group page

I go into my local cafe, Bar Amalfi, a couple of times a month. When I went in today, I noticed a new waitress. She had a wicked twinkle in her eye. While she was cleaning a table she dropped the salt cellar, and with her tongue firmly in her cheek, and a wink at me, she said: "Toss it over the left shoulder for luck?"

I asked Roula if I could take her photo for the 100 strangers project and publish it in Flickr. She agreed. She said that she had been a childcare worker for years, but had decided to take a break for a while, trying something else, before she decided to have her own children. Up until the time I took the photos, she had been smiling and laughing, but for these photos she wanted to project another image. I know I have failed to capture the Roula I thought I wanted to document. But maybe I have captured another mood.

Tags:   100 strangers #2 Bar Amalfi Ramsgate Beach cafe environmental portrait monochrome black and white

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This picture is #1 in my 100 strangers project. Find out more about the project and see pictures taken by other photographers at the 100 Strangers Flickr Group page

I've had the "100 strangers project" in my mind and joined the group a few weeks ago, always intending to make a start when the time was right, or when I could get up enough courage to approach a stranger and explain the project. Today, in the first extended period of sunshine in a week, I decided to take myself and my camera for a walk. As I walked along the beach, an old man, who was sitting on a fence with a young woman, greeted me. He asked me about my camera, and what kind of film I was using. I said, "No film." He said, "Oh, you are an amateur."

My subject is 82, was an electrician and trained many young electricians in his time. (They're all grandfathers now, he said.) He was a keen photographer in the past, but now his passion runs to rescuing old cameras, such as Box Brownies, from destruction by buying them at Salvation Army or St Vincent's shops. He keeps a disposable camera in his car for use when necessary, and when it's full he gets the photos developed and buys another one. I don't think he could really get his head around cameras without film.

My subject went on to recount how he had saved thousands of old photos and community memorabilia from destruction when Kogarah Council was rebuilding its chambers and needed to clear out the basement. They called on my subject, knowing of his interest in local history through his writing on the subject, and delivered a couple of truckloads of this historic material & he stored it in his garage until he could donate it to local libraries and other places that could protect it.

When I mentioned the "100 Strangers" project, and Flickr, to my subject, and asked him if he'd be interested in being my subject, at first he said no, the FBI was after him. Finally though, he agreed. I think he was secretly quite flattered to be asked. When I asked his name, he said, just tell them what Shakespeare said: "What's in a name?"

I got the courage to ask my subject to be my first stranger because he seemed so ready to talk and friendly. After taking my one photo of him, I walked slowly back to where his car was parked with him. On the way he cheerily greeted everyone he passed on the walking path, and they all responded with the same enthusiasm. It was a pleasure and a blessing to meet What's in a Name. I only hope that I'm still walking around spreading joy when I'm his age.

Tags:   stranger portrait people 100 strangers preGame Winner You Rock! Winner old Matchpointwinner T264

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