100 Strangers 4 of 100 is Linda. She’s an avid anti Second Amendment, anti gun rights advocate.
I could tell that in her mind she was treading into the belly of the beast and was a bit nervous, thus perhaps a bit overly defensive. After all, she had taken it upon herself to walk among a couple of thousand pro-gun activists with her sign declaring that NRA members are “murderers.” Hundreds of the pro-gun activists were openly carrying firearms.
The event was taking place at the State Capitol; a counter protest to the anti-gun protests taking place on the other side of the building.
After a while it appeared as though Linda realized that the belly of the beast was not so beastly after all. Many of the pro-gunners walked up to her and engaged in civil conversations.
I interrupted one of the conversations to ask her if I could take her pic. She looked a bit surprised, but I quickly explained the 100 Strangers concept and she happily agreed.
After I took this shot she went back to engaging with a particular man carrying an AR-15 over his shoulder. I listened in:
Linda: “We need to outlaw those kinds of guns to save lives. You don’t need it.”
Man: “So no one should own one of these”?
Linda: “Just government. To save lives.”
Man: “Do you know who the biggest mass murderer in history using firearms is?”
Linda: “No, but I’m sure you’re going to bring up some obscure serial killer or something from a hundred years ago. But humor me, who?”
Man: “Government.”
Linda was taken aback by the statement and had no retort.
She looked around, “Is there a water fountain around here? I’m thirsty” The man pulled out a bottle of water from his backpack and offered it to her, but Linda said she doesn’t drink water from plastic bottles.
Linda, I really appreciate you letting me take your photo as you engaged those with whom you disagree. You are an amazing person.
Technical stuff: As you can imagine this was a pretty chaotic environment and nearly impossible to find a background that didn’t contain people. Luckily, Linda was standing close to a wall and I used that to my advantage. Because I used my 50mm I needed to back up a ways to avoid perspective distortion. So I took the photos from 8 feet or so away and cropped in. Since it was overcast, the lighting conditions were nearly perfect.
Technical asides: As you can imagine this was a pretty chaotic environment and nearly impossible to find a background that didn’t contain people. Luckily, Linda was standing close to a wall and I used that to my advantage. Because I used my 50mm I needed to back up a ways to avoid perspective distortion. So I took the photos from 8 feet or so away and cropped in. Since it was overcast, the lighting conditions were nearly perfect.