Encounters — Street Portraits
Documentary Street Photography Project
Encounters — Street Portraits is a documentary street portrait photography project developed through spontaneous encounters in public spaces across different cities and cultural contexts.
The work focuses on brief human exchanges that take place in the street — moments in which proximity, curiosity, and mutual attention allow a portrait to emerge.
Unlike long-term projects rooted in a single community or location, this series brings together images created during unplanned meetings across various journeys. What connects them is not geography, but a shared condition of presence.
Street Portraits and Consent
Although shaped by the rhythm of street photography, none of these portraits are taken without consent. Each image is preceded by a short interaction — a gesture, a few words, a moment of recognition — before the photograph is made.
The street becomes a space of encounter rather than extraction. The camera does not claim a moment, but responds to one that has already been acknowledged. This approach shifts the balance between observer and subject, allowing a more equal and respectful relationship to form.
Proximity and Brief Encounters
Time is limited in these situations, yet attention remains central. Even brief exchanges can carry depth when approached with care. Expressions, postures, and gazes reveal themselves quickly, without direction or performance.
These portraits are not meant to represent cities or cultures, but individuals encountered along the way. Each face stands on its own, detached from description and stereotype, grounded instead in the immediacy of the meeting.
Documentary Street Photography as Presence
Through this documentary street portrait photography project, the work explores the possibility of connection within fleeting moments. The photographs hold traces of encounters that are short-lived yet genuine — instances in which the boundary between photographer and subject briefly dissolves, leaving space for a shared human presencee.
