In 1979, Richard Avedon traveled west as an outsider, photographing strangers with formal precision. This project inverts that approach: photographing neighbors — not as strangers, but as members of a shared community.

Over the next year, I'll be photographing people who live and work on the north shore of Boston — teachers, mechanics, retirees, students, baristas — anyone who says yes. Each person will receive the same treatment: white background, natural light, no context. The approach borrows from fashion photography, but applied to people who rarely receive this kind of attention.

We see our neighbors constantly — in passing, in context, performing their roles. We rarely see them simply present, removed from the everyday stage. This project asks: what's revealed when we take the time to really look at the people we share space with? What happens when regular people are given the portrait treatment usually reserved for celebrities or models?

I don't have answers yet. These portraits will be an extended act of attention to community — a curiosity about who we actually are when we're seen this way.

If you live or work on the north shore and would like to be part of this project, I'd love to hear from you. Get in touch.