(Intro from Heads I #145)
I have always been fascinated by heads and faces.
It’s the face with which we present ourselves to each other. Then COVID came and the masks came out and we became anonymous.
In street shooting, to pick out of the flow and manage in one way or another—through patience, subterfuge, or speed—to isolate one person and end up with a picture of him or her is what interests me.
There is a difference between a picture of someone and a portrait of them. A portrait involves complicity of the subject with the photographer. A picture of someone who does not know they’re being photographed is the work of the photographer alone.
The images on the street are grabbed, unplanned, and to a great degree are the fortunate brief intersection of opportunity and luck.
Most, but not all, of this collection are images containing portraits in which I have been detected and through a pantomime of “Is this OK?” on my part, and nods or smiles on the subject’s part, an agreement is arrived at. The image, rather than being grabbed, is granted to the photographer by the subject.
This whole process is fraught with failure but richly rewarding when it pans out.
It is a subtle dance.
