Random New York Street Portraits
Tom Erikson
I make only one exposure, thank my subject, and walk on. Some people are not interested in taking part, but I am polite and not in any way demanding. If I am feeling good about myself, and the work, my positive response ratio is quite high. By the second day in New York I was receiving very few rejections and at one point had twenty willing subjects in a row. Gang members and police officers were the most resistant, but a remarkable variety of other New Yorkers were pleased to take part, with no other promise from me than that they would be helping with my project. I did not ask for more than a verbal release and I did not offer a copy of the image. If someone was very interested in seeing the results I gave out my web address.