Meet William, the very first subject I sent a copy of my photo too. He was walking around Washington Square Park with a beautiful Pentax 67 (complete with wooden grip!) and it was the first time that I had ever seen the camera in person. At this point I wasn’t as comfortable taking portraits of strangers, but I had it in my head that I would take photos of people with cool cameras (the theory being that they were photographers, so they would be less inclined to say no). So I circled the park a couple times, gathering up the nerve to ask. He couldn’t have been nicer, and later I realized HE also walked around the city taking portraits. In fact his Flickr account, especially his older stuff, turned out to be a big reason why I started taking the Hasselblad out onto the streets. I hadn’t seen that “look” before, and I fell in love. Anyway, he was also the first person to respond to my image, and the resulting conversation is worth the read.

More CONTACT after the break… Continue reading →