She was shuffling around Nakamise Dori, the shopping boulevard that leads to Sensō-ji in Asakusa. She touched a lot of elbows trying to speak to people who pulled away and ignored her. This did not phase her. She kept moving through the crowd, sizing up the passersby with a laser-sharp focus that seemed to cut through the communal illusion that we are all okay and everything will be fine…
(Asakusa, Tokyo 2015. See more of my work here.)
I’ve always wondered how you get people to cooperate with you. Some of your subjects are less than … what’s the term I’m after here? … fully present. But they seem to be more than willing to show you the essence of the moment they’re in.
One just has to seem really casual about being deadly serious. The more one wants it, the less receptive people are.