I see my camera as much more than just a tool for creating images. It is a means of interaction and communication, a way to connect with the world around me and to gain a deeper understanding of the communities I inhabit. When I am out on the street, camera in hand, I find myself more engaged with my surroundings, more aware of the people and places that make up the fabric of our society. The world can often feel like a chaotic and disjointed place, with millions of people going about their lives in their own separate spheres, much like cars on a busy highway, merging and responding to one another, but never colliding. Through the lens I am drawn to those moments of contact, the connections and collisions between people that create a sense of community and shared experience. The literal or perceptual interactions between those in a shared environment is what makes the world feel like a web of people in a network.
There is a certain magic in the stories that we tell through photography, and in particular through street photography. We often talk about how everyone has a story worth telling, and while that is certainly true, I am also interested in the stories that emerge from the intersection of multiple people and their environments. It is in these moments of contact that we see the true complexity of our communities, the interwoven threads that bind us together. Two people on the subway standing apart, each in their own head, are connected and made to have an impact on the viewer who sees them within the same frame. Their individual expressions become linked to one another and create a new definition of the story of that moment. A framed lone individual can even speak to the webbed structure of a community, if their solitude is noticeably apparent and stands out rather than blends in. The goal is to capture these moments, to reveal the network of relationships that exist between people and their environments, whether it is through the expressions on their faces, the way they move through the world, or the spaces they inhabit. It is this complexity that inspires me to explore both with my camera and without, to seek out the hidden stories and connections that make the world so fascinating and diverse.
There is a certain magic in the stories that we tell through photography, and in particular through street photography. We often talk about how everyone has a story worth telling, and while that is certainly true, I am also interested in the stories that emerge from the intersection of multiple people and their environments. It is in these moments of contact that we see the true complexity of our communities, the interwoven threads that bind us together. Two people on the subway standing apart, each in their own head, are connected and made to have an impact on the viewer who sees them within the same frame. Their individual expressions become linked to one another and create a new definition of the story of that moment. A framed lone individual can even speak to the webbed structure of a community, if their solitude is noticeably apparent and stands out rather than blends in. The goal is to capture these moments, to reveal the network of relationships that exist between people and their environments, whether it is through the expressions on their faces, the way they move through the world, or the spaces they inhabit. It is this complexity that inspires me to explore both with my camera and without, to seek out the hidden stories and connections that make the world so fascinating and diverse.
-Erik Smits, May 2023
