Joel Sternfeld: Stranger passing By: Justin Fortier

Stranger passing Stranger Passing is a collection of about 65 large (40" X 50") color photographs by Joel Sternfeld taken over the last fifteen years. These elegantly composed and executed portraits are almost all placed outdoors in a landscape or cityscape and the play of subject against background is significant. These photos were taken all across the U.S.

Young Man Gathering Shopping Carts, Huntington, New York, July 1993


Subjects the subjects are characterized through their outward appearance, their clothes, expressions, and the environments in which they present themselves. his pictures show a wide variety of social groups and center on different life styles. Maintaining a reserved and detached view throughout. He keeps roughly the same distance from the subject in each photo. Remaining free of judgment. It sort of feels like a scientist lifting up a log and studying the insects.

A Woman Out Shopping with Her Pet Rabbit, Santa Monica, California, August 1988

Their often bizarre representation visualizes comprehensive social contexts which offer a manifold and differentiated portrait of American society. Washington D.C., August 1974 The Space Shuttle Columbia Lands at Kelly Lackland Air Force Base, San Antonio, Texas, March 1979