Photographer Richard Renaldi released a cool new project today called “Touching Strangers”. The collection consists of street portraits of, you guessed it, strangers touching. In an interview with Jörg Colberg, Richard explains:
It is rather awkward to approach someone and ask them if they are interested in touching another stranger for a photograph. I think maybe my nervous, slightly pleading voice kicks in, combined with a little charm. I generally give them my spiel about being a photographer working on a project, and I try to have my book, Figure and Ground, to show to them. It was never easy – though most everyone who agreed to participate was a good sport. Most people eventually grasped the concept, and often it seemed to be a pleasant distraction from their day.
Images from the project can be found after the jump. Also worth browsing through are Richards other photographic collections my favorite being “Bus Travelers”, “Fresno”, “Madison Avenue”, and “Great Plains“.
So he had to convince at least two strangers to stand close enough together for a photograph? That would be a human relations challenge! I like the photos.
Not only stand close to each other but make physical contact. And to add to the difficulty the strangers all seem so different from each other (but that’s also what makes the photos so interesting).