It's an unusual and difficult thing to ask a stranger if you can make their photograph. Many people might rightfully be suspicious and skeptical of a request like that. Yet despite their suspicions, some people do say yes. They agree to trust you and be vulnerable in front of your camera. And by giving you their trust and being open, you now hold a responsibility as photographer. You have to make an image that does some justice to the trust they’ve placed in you. And as difficult as it may have been to ask for a photo in the first place, it’s even more difficult to make one that sings.

It’s now your task to make a photograph to the best of your ability that describes the person in front of you. Not necessarily to make a flattering image, but to try and make an honest and truthful image - a photograph that holds some of what you saw in the person when you decided to approach them, and some of what they gave you as they arranged themselves for your camera, and some of what you created together in the act of making a photograph.

Knowing how difficult this practice is, I was blown away by Troy Williams’ street portraits - these photographs are absolutely wonderful at making so many complex variables dance in a single image and serendipitous encounter - light, background, pose, gesture…Everything just hits me as right with these images, and maybe most importantly I feel like I’m connecting to the people in the photographs. I feel like I have some intuition of who they are, and while I may be wrong about that intuition, I at least know, thanks to Troy, about their light and humanity on the day Troy photographed them. I love seeing people through Troy’s eyes, and I can’t wait to meet more. He’s a photographer you should be watching.

I asked Troy to tell me a little about his motivations in making the images, and what he learns from these fleeting interactions with strangers:

Isn’t it lovely to be able to look deeply into someone’s eyes and be able to hold that gaze for as long as your mind wants to wander?  What a gift it is to have an intimate and spiritual interaction with another.  And when it happens with a complete stranger who shows you themselves unguarded, vulnerable, confident, and with a graceful trust, one can’t help but wonder if that moment was touched by the connecting energy that makes us live and breathe.  My fascination, specifically with street portraiture as an action of faith, has led me on a beautiful and emotionally satisfying journey.  

As we have all experienced the overwhelming aspects of change during the pandemic, my post cocoon moment came when the light of safety began to show it’s ever changing face.  My second act in the world of being a photographer began in the summer of 2021.  Before the world turned upside down my inspiration for making photographs was based in evoking memories of moments lived and reimagined. Theatrical and cinematic representations of life in my rearview mirror. I was always looking towards the past. Once the lockdowns ceased and the vaccine was readily available with infection rates dropping, all I wanted to do was be close to people again.  I decided that it was time to live in the present.  Portraits became the proposition.

I am consistently awestruck with the connection made between the subject, the photographer and the audience, which in my belief, creates a community. It has the ability to bring forth the interiority of our desires, our faith, our aspirations, our apprehensions, our truth. It is this profound power that portraits have that brought me to my current version of myself.  And just as important as my need to connect, I make these portraits as a way to honor and pay attention to the everyday people that I lovingly cross paths with. We are strong, resilient, creative and healing beings that have the power to lift each other up. We inspire when we live out loud with enthusiasm and compassion. Our surface shows so much of our spirit. A photograph is a beautiful vehicle between one soul to another.

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Portrait of Troy Williams at top of post © Mark C. Wagner @thewarneraesthtic

↓ ↓ ↓ All Photos in this post © Troy Williams @trooooooooooooooooooooooooy ↓ ↓ ↓

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