Portraits, unguarded.

Collection II

Unguardedness in moments of stillness, a glimpse into eyes layered with stories, secrets, doubts and joys unknowable.

The trails we seek are often our own.

July 22, 2017

Seward, Alaska

Portraiture of strangers, is an unimaginably daunting undertaking at first, whether on a street or mountain.

I recall the first time I wanted to approach somebody in a strange city to let me photograph them, What was debilitating wasn’t simply the technicality of a shot—finding the right composition, light and angle on an unplanned street.

It was the courage to follow that compulsive feeling of wanting to capture the moment, even while the mind filled with fear, a hundred reasons not worth the audacity of approaching, convincing, and photographing a moment visible only to me,

NOTES

Silent wonder.

March 7, 2021

Zanzibar, Tanzania

Over time, with wandering trips through obscure villages in Mongolia, or bustling metropoles like Barcelona, the promise of serendipity drowns out self-inflicted anxiety.

Instead, replaced slowly by a drive to turn someone’s shy gaze, a tiny tattoo, a nonchalant attitude into a timeless record of that encounter in time.

Street photography with a person as hero, is the magic of a hundred coincidences. The light, the time or the conversation that leads to a portrait can never truly be recreated again, even by me.

NOTES

Journeys unknowable.

April 26, 2020

Gobi desert, Mongolia

Unlike the voyeuristic distance of zoom lenses, a 50mm lens limits you, forcing the photographer closer to the subject, to talk, to move and build comfort in nearness — all while framing their eyes, easing them out of their self-conscious facade.

A single moment of shared connection can disarm someone to find stillness, letting go of the practiced pose in front of a camera. To permit the photographer a glance into their inner world for a moment.

NOTES

Doubtless.

July 18, 2017

Reykjavik, Iceland

Over 100 unforgettable encounters and 10 years later, no two interactions felt the same. Each picture a story shaped by entire lifetimes, and the thousands of coincidences that led to it.

Some strangers, others now friends and those somewhere in between. On strange streets ahead, moments waiting to be captured, there are countless more stories to find.