A magnificent tree, delicate wildflowers, a charming landscape - these were the subjects of my early photographs. So were family, friends, and pets. But a stranger? Never!

Trees don't intimidate me, flowers don't glare, and landscapes don't make me uncomfortable. But confronting a stranger with my camera does. However, I came to realize that you can't convey the character of a country without showing its people. Thus, to depict a foreign country in pictures, I had to take a leap of faith and do the dreaded: point my camera at a stranger. And to my astonishment, I grew to like it.

Oh, it wasn't easy, not at first. I even considered getting some sort of periscope attachment so I could look the other way as I snapped a picture. Should I click and run? Ask permission? Start a conversation? I'll admit, I've used all these techniques, but the one that works best is this: I smile and make eye contact with my subject.

Sometimes it's easier to take pictures of people in a country where I can't speak the language; I can feign ignorance as I smile and click. But I do speak Ukrainian, so in Ukraine, I use several techniques to capture environmental portraits.

I bought a dried, salted fish from these fish sellers, then clicked the shutter before walking away. It was a lucky shot because I took only one.

Our car broke down during a road trip one rainy day, so as my brother-in-law tinkered with the engine, I approached a woman with an umbrella grazing her cow by the road.

The village woman in the orange sweater showed up as I photographed her barking dog. She was a more interesting subject than her vicious shepherd.

Both of these women weren't crazy about being photographed, so in each case I started a conversation, held the camera at waist level, and clicked several frames as we chatted.

This car parts vendor looked a bit intimidating. I smiled at him, clicked the shutter twice, and kept walking through the bazaar.

In my cousin's village, I got up before sunrise to catch the early morning activities of this rural community. I snapped a candid picture of this woman driving her geese out to the pasture. When she saw me, she was curious and came over to talk. Her daughter, who was out with the cows, joined our conversation and subsequent portrait session.

I'm not always comfortable walking around with a camera hanging from my neck. Or even with my camera hidden from view. I'm conspicuous simply because I'm an outsider. Photographing strangers is at times embarrassing, at times exhilarating, and always rewarding. Several of my favorite travel adventures, which I'll describe another time, began with me snapping a picture of someone I just met. Photographing strangers started as a challenge but has become a passion.

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