A Stranger A Day was made to overcome my shyness and talk to people. The challenge: talk to a stranger a day for a year of my life and try to convince them to let me take a picture and share a story. Since most tattoos have a story behind them, this was my conversation starter and a common thread that linked them all. Every week I have been sharing the story of the week here on Vancouver Is Awesome. With the year now over and 365+ strangers and their stories documented, I’ll continue to talk to a stranger every once in a while, and post a story weekly here on VIA.

Strangers #376 & #376.1 + a non stranger ||Location: a house around Commercial and 6th

At times, the way you come across stranger stories is the simplest way: you show up at a friend’s house, their roommates are in the living room, you meet them, and voilá! Past the awkward pitch of the project, mixed with a bit of luck and half a can of beer, stories start to flow. I’m glad they wanted to share, because these pieces are special in their uniqueness.

[Photo 1] The Mars Volta is my favourite band. This is inspired on one of their concert posters. Basically all of the art that they do is amazing, but this one stuck out for me. I wanted to get something huge and elaborate on my arm, so this was almost a 6-hour sitting. The art was modified a little from the original artwork where they are supposed to be little old men. We changed that a bit and made it so they look more androgynous, but it is the original colour…

To be honest, the blend of colours was crazy (in a good way). Her wife was sitting around too, so I asked if she wanted to share as well. After a few seconds of silence I got a yes.

[photo 2] I love robots, and I collect them. This tattoo was a birthday present from her. His name is Rusty —it used to be Crusty, because it was very raised and scabby at first. I love him. There used to be a clock there on his chest, but I changed it and put a heart instead. It is based off a 50s vintage robot, and it was my first colour tattoo.

To my surprise, they had the little robot around on a shelf. It looked just like the tattoo. It was very very cute. Then since we were already talking about tattoos, I asked my friend what the deal was behind hers. For some reason I had never asked her about it before.

[photo 3] As a kid I used to get homesick all the time, and my best friend used to show this to me all the time when we were in Germany. He’s really into stars, and I was not really into them, but he’d always say “There’s the Big Dipper! There’s the Big Dipper!” Then I started noticing it everywhere, and kept showing it to my friends. I would see it here and whenever I’d travel somewhere. It made me realize that if I could see it from home in Germany, and I could see it from here, then home is not that far away. I’ll get it retouched very soon. 

Wasn’t that amazing?! I’m so glad I got to collect these stories.  Awesome stuff.

Thank you all :)

For the 365+ stories, visit: astrangeraday.com