The surprising outcome of photographing strangers | Mikaël Theimer | TEDxConcordia
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- Опубліковано 5 вер 2024
- Inspired by Humans of New York, Mikaël quit his job in the advertising world two years ago to launch Portraits of Montreal. He talks about how photographing strangers forced him to look beyond appearances, allowed him to tear down prejudices, and helped him to reconnect humans to one another.
A native of France, Mikaël moved to Montreal on a whim at 20 years old and graduated with a BComm in Marketing. After spending several years of his life working for big corporations, he quit his job and embarked on a journey to discovering his passion. Inspired by Humans of New York, Mikaël bought himself a camera and created a Montreal version of the page with a couple of friends. Portraits of Montreal has received widespread recognition for capturing the stories and ideas of Montrealers through photography.
Mikaël talked about the power of photography in tearing down prejudices, reconnecting humans to one another and forcing people to look beyond appearances.
This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at ted.com/tedx
I was looking for photo tips, but I found so much more here on this talk. So glad I stubbled on to this. Thank you !
Exact same here. 🍀🙏🏻 great talk! Very respectful and true.
Same 👍
"If Im disturbing you with my differences... Sorry. I do not know any other way to be happy than to be me" I literally cried over this
Great talk. Photography is one of the most underrated hobbies. It's a great way to connect with life and forces you to engage. It's a mirror to your soul.
My
It's one of the most underrated art forms
Rarely comment, but I love what you said about photography! Cheers
@@MrPhotographerDude very underrated
I stumbled across this video by happy accident. I wasn't going to watch it at first, but having recently starting photographing strangers myself I wanted to give it a view. Only thing I can say is... I wish it was longer. This is one of the better Tedx talks I've seen about human interactions. Thank you for this (6 years in the future).
Magical and inspiring! I've also encountered many beautiful and fascinating strangers when doing street photography. I often find that when I'm out photographing, sometimes people will even come up to me and ask to be photographed. Never a dull moment.
Ben Aqua
I have the same experience , photographing people is so enrichment, but this guy on the video has gave me a new perspective to the work I'm doing now .
That you Mikael, I've been over fifty years into photography, and this is so refreshing and inspiring.
What an inspiring talk! I am one of those that likes to talk to strangers, but like many came here seeking photo talk.
inspiring. spend less time in social media. interact with the people including strangers.
This was a very inspirational talk. I have been contemplating the 100 Strangers Project for nearly two years and have yet worked up the courage to start it. I am so much of an introvert that it's nearly debilitating, yet my favorite past times are people watching and street photography. I wish I had the courage this man has to just walk up and start talking to people.
That sounds like a wonderful idea. I think you should start by approaching people who seem keen on having a conversation and seem the extroverted type, and maybe they could help move the conversation. The hardest step is getting started. Once you have, I'm sure it'll become a lot smoother to start a conversation with strangers!
As the old saying goes, "fake it 'til you make it". It honestly becomes really easy if you practice pretending to be more extroverted than you are.
one of my favourite TEDx talks, keep up the good work, spread love!
Oh boy, that got me choked up. Brilliant.
So touching, eye-opening. You really inspired me.
Lived in Montréal for 15 years and missing it 😢 One of the most amazing cities on earth.
street photography helped me in both communicating with people and improving my photography skill. here's the detail:
- it may be interesting to take candid shots, but there's just this abstract sense of connection i got when i talk to my subjects. even better, i got things zoom-lens or distant candid shots can't get: details. i got to see the minute details from my subjects that emphasize their humanity more than. also, by working on certain circumstances, i got to walk away from my comfort zone in zoom lens and started to go with prime lens and take shots up-close (and personal);
- most of my colleagues and friends quit photography since they deemed it boring, as 'there's nothing interesting to shoot'. thanks to street photography, i still get in touch with photography (i also consider quitting photography sometime during the past) and improve in shooting, compositing, and editing. i also get to learn modeling and seeing the quirks of my subject and implement them to make their portraits stand out. it _really_ is a humanizing experience, in a world where saying hello to strangers can be rude
I love that this is something we here in the Philippines are already doing. It's like in our culture.. to just talk to anyone and get to know a stranger in a deep personal level in few minutes.
B-come a taxi driver and you will meet strangers who feel like every one of your passengers are your friend! (....well, almost everyone!)
Beautiful reminder, thanks!
Thank you for sharing your wonderful experience & your vision. I'm going to forward this to my camera club group. There's so much inspiration here for the street photography outing we have planned and life in general. With or without a camera in hand.
Eye opener. Thank you.
I wasn't expecting to be as moved as I was... A lovely talk and quite inspiring.
Wowww Mikaël I'm so glad I clicked on this video. I have just moved to Melbourne and tomorrow I will spend the whole day doing exactly this! Thank you for sharing
"the only valuable kinds of wealth" amazing.
The best inspiring speech
Beautiful presentation....a heart warming message.
these TEDx videos are brilliant, this is up there with the best!
Beautiful project....Beautiful message. Very inspiring!
I love your message, great job presenting heart moving stories so rich and expansive. I too talk with strangers but now I shall dare to go deeper and be more curious.
We all have a story and a voice that feel good to be heard.
Such an inspiring freaking video. This is definitely what I’ve been wanting to do for a while.
Thank you so much for this. Extremely inspiring
Wow! Amazing. Almost crying over here.
Thank you, Mikael. You're so right.
Vous avez si bien souligné la difference entre l'essentiel et le superficiel. Où allons nous aussi vite pou ne pas offrir quelque mots à un frère ou une sœur en détresse? Ce sont ces liens qui nous renforcent et nous rappellent que nous sommes humains et provisoires.Merci, c'est très touchant.Ça me rappelle un peu de la chanson de Gilbert Bécaud "L'indifference" !
Thank u all very much
a fantastic talk.
Beautiful and brilliant!! Thank you for sharing this :-)
I went out and did some "street" photography and found people saw me almost as an authority. I was taking pics of the architecture and the people acted like they didnt want to walk into the shot and I heard lots of people say to eachother oh look at his nice camera.. no one got mad and yelled at me for taking their picture but I only really got people in the shot when they happened to walk into the scene I was shooting. So I think if you take a picture of a person they will maybe get mad but if you're taking pictures of the scenery and they walk into it they don't really care.
Amazing talk and video... very inspiring and thought provoking .. thank you for sharing.
I cried...
Great talk. Truly inspirational.
Great speech and video.
I wish I could start a conversation with strangers on the bus.
This is wonderful. Thank you.
"Don't talk to strangers" yea, as a youngster, I too had been given such advice... Let me ask you this;
If you had listened to this piece of advice as a child, how then would you make new friends??
A rather bold question I ask but without talking to strangers, you'd most likely be a very lonely individual.
inspiring, thankyou
Thanks for help me open my eyes
I did two rounds of 100 Strangers (a project on Flickr a few years ago). It was the most difficult and at the same time the most rewarding experience ever. As I said on my page, "100 Strangers: where the first stranger your meet is yourself". Highly recommended.
That was a great inspiring talk.
What a great story! Thanks for sharing.
Two thumbs up, inspiring!
Beautiful talk my friend! 👌🏻
beautiful
Fantastic talk, definitely inspired by this.
just ... wow!
Great man!!!! Really inspiring!
Wow. Great story.
Awesome!
Yeah.. I can see this happening in Canada.
hats off! 😍
Beautiful
I'm inspired....
Amazing : )
wow!! just G R E A T
U will one day become another Steve mcurry
Why you don't take pictures of rich people will be nice to see there reaction.
Who else is watching this...... looking down into their phones?🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔
this man looks exactly like Russ
The guy on thumbnail looks like pwediepie :3
nice video... great photos... i wrote poems with stramgers in my latest video.. its kinda weird lol but hey
wie kann man seine eigene firma nur wichs nennen?
Can't believe he said David is no longer a bum now. He is suggesting everyone else who lives on the streets are bums... not cool
Bum = Homeless?
@@larryvaughn5843 Homeless = Human being
Babe
TED talks approaches issues that have been written and analysed hundreds of years ago. Go to a library and read Marcus Aurelius, Aristóteles or any other of the great thinkers. The Problem is that people are lazy to think for themselves and believe that what is presented in these type of videos is an innovative idea. It’s not. It’s just presented on a cool way by a cool guy. Analyse the content and you will realise that there is nothing deep or novel. But entertains!
Andres Rocha so what. It’s still cool what he’s doing.
The idea that any project must be deep or novel is a great philosophy for someone who wants to accomplish nothing. There is nothing new under the sun, but each individual is unique, has lived a unique life with a unique combination of experiences, each of which has, to one degree or another, molded them and their worldview. This makes their perspective on a tired old topic a little different, and those small differences make it interesting...even if it's a perspective on a philosophy that's eons old, or a project that's been repeated a million times.
So you are saying that viewers of Ted X and similar talks are lazy? I suggest that they are openminded to other points of view from current times.
Photos are amateurish.
Show off yours.
Such kindness, thank you for this well deserved comment. I was an amateur, took on photography in 2014, this was in 2016. Much love to you.
Eurgh. Ted Talks is just a platform for narcissists to tell people why they’re better than them.
Huh?
ShoesNoSocks UA-cam comments are just a platform for idiotic comments.
Basically he copied an idea.. “Portraits of New York”.. Also the whole concept of “approaching strangers on the streets, on the bus and make friends out of that approach”.. COULD NOT APPLY EVERYWHERE.. I could not see an scenario where this will go well every time.. in Irak or Venezuela.. or so many more places.. THIS TALK IS BASICALLY A CLICHE.. that does not apply in today’s world.. I Usually don’t give thumbs down, but this is disappointing for a TED TALK!
It wouldn't apply in many cities, but it does apply in many others. Approaching strangers is a difficult thing to do, but photojournalists do it every day.
beautiful