i set out to capture main street in concord, massachusetts. i got all the pictures i wanted, but ran into some trouble on the way. here's how i captured portraits of main street.
my first problem was an internal one: anxiety. how does an photographer diagnosed with anxiety manage to take photos of shops crowded with people without completely losing his mind over whether or not any of the random people think that he's photographing THEM? that's not a rhetorical question by the way, i'm genuinely wondering. because while i was bouncing around from shop to shop, i occasionally had people who coincidentally also followed my path. and one of the things i had to come to terms with was the fact that if they were in the pictures, that was their fault. i think that i'm still very new to the "shooting things in public where people are" level of photography, and that's something to get adjusted to.
i decided very early on in the planning process to make the entire project out of portraits. why? because i liked the title portraits of main street and i like when people think i'm clever.
so enjoy the essay, it took some planning, and some harsh editing, but in the end it think it captures the heart of a small new england town in autumn.