The idea of being able to stop a perfect stranger on the street and ask if you can photograph them is not new, but with the advent of the internet and the sometimes questionable ways people have their images abused online, it does surprise me that men are so very willing to have me photograph them.
It certainly helps that I do show them I am not taking their faces in the shot - though sometimes I have asked if I can include their face and it is rare they say no.
In this image, taken as I exited the great barbershop in Provincetown this man was just finishing locking up his bike, when I was given permission to take his picture.
At first glance I was taken by the background where it looked as if the resident exiting their doorway was turning away from the camera, instead I realize it is another person with a cell-phone affliction, unable to put the phone down as they go about their day, I often wonder how we ever got by without a cellphone or an e-book?
The art of actually talking to people on the streets face to face is definitely becoming a lost art, my asking people if I can take their chest shot helps to break the cycle of e-communication..I have made many a friend in Provincetown just by virtue of having taken their picture, year after year those same people remember me though not often by name but always by my photos!
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