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2023

7 Unorthodox Ways of Finding Photography Subjects

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© Bieke Depoorter

Over the course of four years, the photographer Bieke Depoorter made eight visits to the United States, hitchhiking and spending each evening in the home of a different stranger. After sundown, she’d approach someone on the street who looked trustworthy and ask if she could crash with them for the night. 

Depoorter photographed those who said “yes” during those brief one-night stays, knowing that, in almost all cases, she’d likely never see them again. In 2014, those trips culminated in the photography book I Am About to Call it a Day, a series of tender, intense, and mysterious portraits of people encountered purely by chance.

This is an article about artists who took risks while finding photography subjects and made singularly compelling images in the process. One turned to Tinder, while another contacted all her exes. A taxi driver asked his passengers for permission to photograph them, and a student messaged people on the Couchsurfing app.  

Put a note in your Tinder bio.

While studying in France, Mel McVeigh faced the challenge of finding photography subjects in an unfamiliar place. It was her teacher, Claudine Doury, who suggested she start on Tinder. McVeigh edited her existing dating profile to include the question: Can I take your portrait? 

If the men she matched with brought it up, they’d discuss meeting (for a date and a portrait). Looking back, McVeigh remembers a sense of “giddiness” and anticipation—for both the photograph itself and the possibility of falling in love. In the end, the artist did not fall in love, but she came away with several friendships. 

© Mike Harvey

Offer a free ride. 

After university, the photographer Mike Harvey took a job in Wales as a taxi driver to earn some extra income. During his four years driving people, he was intrigued by these brief but intimate meetings, finding passengers would often open up about their lives. 

With these encounters in mind, he kept a DSLR in his glove box and asked people if he could take their portraits at the end of their rides. As a “thank you” to those who said “yes,” he’d waive their fares. He asked 130 people; all but about nine agreed. 

© Laura Beth Reese

Ask your exes. 

For Laura Beth Reese, photography was, in some ways, a secondary motive, coupled with her desire to reconnect or find a sense of resolution after a breakup. Of the exes she contacted, only about half said “yes” to being photographed; she met them at their homes for the sessions. 

In the portraits, the exes are partially unclothed but not fully nude—the artist believed that might be “too much to ask.” Some weren’t comfortable being photographed but wanted to photograph Reese instead—a proposal to which she agreed.  

© Mirja Maria Thiel

Run an ad in the paper. 

When Mirja Maria Thiel set out to document intimacy among senior couples in their 70s and 80s, she went about finding photography subjects in a few ways. She met her first couple through a sculptor who taught nude painting to students ages 60-plus. At one point, she contacted a sex therapist—a perfect approach, given the subject. 


Thiel also ran ads in supermarkets (look for bulletin boards too) and took out an ad in a popular local newspaper. As it happens, photographers have been using newspapers and newsletters to find subjects for decades: while traveling the country and working with LGBTQ+ couples in the 1980s, Sage Sohier ran ads in local gay newsletters. 

© Natcha Wongchanglaw

Ask local hosts on the Couchsurfing app. 

When Natcha Wongchanglaw moved to New York to study photography, she didn’t get the chance to meet many people in her new city. But an assignment from a class in editorial photography encouraged her to think outside the box. Using the Couchsurfing app, a network created to connect travelers with local hosts, she started contacting hosts who lived in New York. 

It took her a few weeks to get a “yes,” but soon after, she was traveling to Harlem to meet her first sitter. Wongchanglaw usually spent a few hours with each host and shared a meal, but in some cases, she stayed the night as a “couchsurfer” herself.

© Sophie Green

Cold-contact people on Facebook. 

The photographer Sophie Green was looking for subjects with a very specific requirement: people who were also named “Sophie Green.” She took a few avenues in her search: she looked up voter records and searched Wikipedia. She also ran searches on Facebook and Twitter. 

You can use Facebook to find people who share a common interest (check out groups); find events in your area; or filter by name, location, or keyword. Try sending messages explaining your intentions, and see who responds. 

© Bieke Depoorter

Approach strangers, and ask if you can spend the night. 

Before Bieke Depoorter stayed with strangers in the United States, she took a similar approach while traveling along the Trans Siberian Railway. During that journey, she carried a handwritten note, which helped her navigate the language barrier: “I am looking for a place to spend the night. Do you know people who would have a bed, or a couch? I don’t need anything in particular, and I have a sleeping bag.

By making herself almost painfully vulnerable—without the kindness of strangers, she’d have no place to sleep—Depoorter invited the people she photographed to express their own vulnerabilities. Sometimes, it’s easier to let your guard down with strangers, and her photographs speak to that paradox: had she got to know them a little bit better—or stayed just one night longer—perhaps the images would not have felt so achingly intimate. 

The post 7 Unorthodox Ways of Finding Photography Subjects appeared first on Feature Shoot.




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