Today we’d like to introduce you to Adam Schluter.
Hi Adam, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I am from the Midwest (St. Louis, Missouri) but moved out to Los Angeles in my early 20’s to chase my dreams. I got my dream offer but had grown to really hate LA so I moved down to Mexico for a few years. Then, I was sponsored by an outdoor company to travel the entire Pacific Coast Highway, from the Southern tip of Mexico to Alaska, and pick the best place to live out of all three countries. I went 22,000 miles and picked the town I live in now, which is Coeur d’ Alene, Idaho.
I moved there with a girl I loved very much and thought I was going to marry. But, after a few months, our relationship began to crumble and we broke up, leaving me all alone in a town where I didn’t know a single person. I was deeply depressed and felt completely alone. When I went out to try to have conversations with people, I felt like I was always losing to a cell phone, a text message, social media – And I was just craving a real in-person conversation.
When I finally hit a wall, I knew I couldn’t just sit in my house any longer and go deeper into a hole. One day, I looked at a world map and, with money I had saved up waiting tables at restaurants, I booked a one-way ticket to Europe with a crazy idea. To just walk up to strangers in as many countries as I could to say hello, ask for their photograph and then put the camera away to have a genuine conversation. As an introvert and someone who is terrified of rejection.
I was so scared when I first started this that I threw up in my room on the very first night. The next day, I approached the first person and they rejected me. So it was off to a rocky start. Because I was so scared, I came up with a script that I would tell people which was ‘I’m photographing people all over the world but only when I see something beautiful and, in this moment, I see something so beautiful. Would you mind if I took your photograph?’ And everyone told me no. 90% or more of the strangers I’d approach would reject me. Finally, after weeks of this, I was so beaten down by the rejections that I threw away the script and started just asking out of vulnerability – and everyone would tell me yes. I went from 90% rejections in the beginning to now, less than 3%, anywhere in the world I go. What changed this so drastically? Vulnerability.
The project has now been to 21 countries in the last five years, approaching thousands of strangers to share in their lives with them. It changed my life and countless others around the world and taught me the most valuable tool I couldn’t have learned any other way – That vulnerability is the key to connection. No matter how different we may sound or look.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
No, it has been a very insane rollercoaster – That I wouldn’t trade for anything in the world.
When I first began this project, I was deeply depressed and contemplating suicide. Those first month of this project was terrifying, especially because I had almost no money left over after buying the plane ticket so there was no escape plan. That stripped away any ego I could have possibly had and left me realizing that I had to give my heart to this or it wouldn’t make any sense at all.
I really had to figure out who I was without any of the comforts or distractions that we’re so accustomed to in our lives. And, when you’re depressed, that can be a scary thing because it means you’re going to be facing your hardships head on. There were a lot of fragile moments that made me a very vulnerable person in the process.
When I came back from the first part of this project, which was 60-days over 14 different countries, I was excited to tell people about what I had been through and why it had changed me so deeply. I wanted to share some of the beautiful stories strangers had told me and the lessons I learned along the way. But I found that people didn’t really want to hear the stories (or at least not more than 45 seconds of them) and so when I came back, I felt a second wave of loneliness come back – Having fought so hard to find all of this connection in the world but still didn’t find it when I came back to the states.
Now, five years into this project, and I have never made a penny with it. Still taking it to multiple countries every year to give my heart to the world but also to remember how important connection is to our mental health and individual growth. These trips are still difficult to me – It takes me days to work through my introversion and push myself out of my comfort zone, talking to people and putting myself out there.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am a photographer, journalist, author and storyteller. For the past five years, I have gone all over the world to say hello to strangers, ask for their photographs and then put the camera away to have a genuine conversation with them.
I am most proud of finding a way to genuinely connect and earn trust from strangers, allowing me to take a very intimate photograph of them. It is the hardest thing possible, in this age, because of social media and the overwhelming self-criticism in the world these days. When you approach a stranger, you have less than 2 seconds to earn their trust or they will walk away or tell you no – So I’m proud of the lessons I’ve learned on this project that allow me to get that trust almost every single time now.
I guess the thing I would say that sets me apart from others is my desire to go to the most difficult and complicated places in the world to show the beauty of humanity. I have been traveling the world for more than half of my life and have found that the strongest reminders of how simple joy can be always come from the poorest and simplest places.
What were you like growing up?
Growing up, I was always a strange kid. I was a very sensitive boy and I struggled a lot because of that. My parents were hoping I would toughen up. I struggled making friends because I wasn’t a tough guy. I was always kind of an outcast. I have always been very curious also and was a learner so I was always looking for conversations with anyone I could learn from. Teachers, pastors, grandparents, etc. Always asking questions about life, people, philosophy, etc.
I never got into sports or music or anything like that. None of that really interested me. I just wanted to be outside, exploring every single place I could find.
Because I was trying to break out of being so sensitive, I used to hang out with a lot of bad kids that were always getting into trouble. I started smoking weed when I was really young, was always hanging out with kids getting into fights, and then I finally got kicked out of my high school, shortly before I was supposed to graduate. I was a mess.
Contact Info:
- Email: adam@hellofromastranger.com
- Website: www.hellofromastranger.com
- Instagram: hello.from.a.stranger
- Youtube: Hello From A Stranger
