In this project, as you’d expect, you often catch people off guard. Well, technically I guess nobody is ever really expecting such an interaction like this after a recent purchase, to be approached by a random foreigner and to be asked to pose for a portrait. As I’ve often described in these posts, the overwhelming majority of people are initially slightly suspicious but willing to hear my pitch. Once they grasp the nature of the project, they essentially come around in this gradual way: “Ok, Ok… I get it… I see what you’re doing. It’s actually kinda cool. Yeah, I’ll pose for a photo. Why not.”
You, the reader, never really hear about the ones I approach who say “No, thanks. Not interested,” or “No, I hate posing for photos” or “I guess so, if you can hurry up and do it, I’m in a rush” (to which I usually politely decline), because none of those people end up getting photographed, but they are part of this process.
And then there is this category of people, and sorry for putting Nobuhiko, pictured here, in the hotseat to illustrate this, who are a combination of the aforementioned two. I wouldn’t call them the caught off-guard per se, but rather the blindsided, the ones who are frankly flummoxed by the entire idea: “So wait, you want to photograph my records? Oh, you wanna photograph me? Wait, me with my records? What for exactly? And why would this be interesting to anybody?” And it just never quite clicks despite my best effort to explain it. But they agree nonetheless, perhaps only to be agreeable. And it just is what it is. And you’re ok with that and you love it all the same.
So Nobuhiko and I didn’t quite connect like I’m occasionally lucky enough to with other subjects, and maybe the photos here show that, but hey, I’m ok with it. And the fact that Nobuhiko seemed like an offline, off IG, analog kinda person (he is buying records after all) reminds me whether intended or not, to be ok with “not getting it” sometimes. There is so much to get in the world, you just can’t get it all. But it’s all good!
But, I do have a hunch I’ll cross paths with Nobuhiko again someday, and we’ll be like “HEY OH!” “HEY! OH!” and it’ll all make more sense then.
Incredible String Band
The Incredible String Band – The 5000 Spirits Or The Layers Of The Onion
Label: Elektra – EUKS 7257
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Stereo
Country: UK
Released: Aug 1967
Genre: Folk, World, & Country
Style: Psychedelic, Folk
https://www.discogs.com/release/1345732-The-Incredible-String-Band-The-5000-Spirits-Or-The-Layers-Of-The-Onion
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