Caught in the Act

Last year I shot a series called Observing, images of people experiencing art, from museums that we visited around the world that year.

Why? Because I’m fascinated by how people observe their worlds, and museums is one example where we’re all seeing the same things, yet we’re often seeing it differently. People’s bodies and actions provide a signal of what’s going through their minds. The continuum of attention, from walking by without looking to standing transfixed, to experiencing alone to bringing others in, there’s a delicate dance to experiencing art in public. And so I decided early in 2013 to shoot it.

Which means I took a lot of surreptitious photos last year. I only took photos where I was allowed, asking security guards up front if I could take photos, but took a lot of photos of people without them knowing.

Yesterday was the first time I got caught outright. But I don’t think they told anyone :) ^[1]

Originally posted to Hi.co under Exploration, Art, Observation in Reykjavik, Iceland, May 31st, 2014, 7pm. It was 10°C with few clouds. There was moderate breeze. ↩︎