Photography and Strangers

The one major obstacle I just can not overcome when it comes to photography is talking to strangers. I can do it when I'm put on the spot and I enjoy doing it really but it's getting the courage to just waltz right on up to someone and say: "Hi." Often I try to muster up all those years of waitressing when talking to strangers was a necessity. Really, a waitress is obligated to talk to and then uncover some of the most intimate details of a stranger's life. I try to approach strangers the same way I approached customers. Calmly, with confidence and a polite nonthreatening voice. But just stopping someone on the street, camera in hand is a little different. 

A project I really want to start focuses on strangers but I can't start it until I get over this crippling fear of talking to them. Ultimately, I just need to get over it. No one is going to scream at me for stopping them on the street or striking up a conversation at a coffee shop. I bet, in fact, that many of these 'strangers' are just lonely souls that would be thrilled with the opportunity to talk and to connect with someone--anyone. But the lack of human connection is something else entirely. I just want to take portraits of strangers and publish them in a book.