Taking publication form for the first time with a limited run of 500 copies, How Close Can You Get to a Stranger by Steven Piper is an iterative extension of an ongoing photographic series presenting a selection of images from a total body of work comprising of over 2,000 images captured between 2018 and 2024 from Paris, Étretat, Bordeaux, Arcachon, and Biarritz. The series, both deeply personal and astutely observational, represents an insight into Piper’s dedicated and sincere approach to photography. With the same tender observation of noticing a flower bud in spring, Piper’s impetus to capture an image is first inspired by an intuition of intimacy - struck by that which is true, timeless, and fleeting.
How Close Can You Get to a Stranger is arranged along this gradient of proximity, bringing the viewer progressively closer to Piper’s recurring subject of choice - the stranger. Far-away landscapes sequentially become intimate portraits: each page taking one, metaphorical step, closer. Piper desires to extend the first encounter with a passerby - to him, a serendipitous meeting is both an opportunity for sonder and the potential to present oneself authentically, free of preconceived notions. In a contemplative twist of perspectives, Piper invites the viewer to perceive themselves through the eyes of a stranger, as if meeting for the first time - suspending the moment of first recognition, before assumptions take hold. Each image becomes an invitation to enter this instance: a practice of releasing judgements meant to be carried away, even after stepping beyond the frame.
“To my subjects, you were once a passerby in my life, yet now I look at you, so intently.”
Taking publication form for the first time with a limited run of 500 copies, How Close Can You Get to a Stranger by Steven Piper is an iterative extension of an ongoing photographic series presenting a selection of images from a total body of work comprising of over 2,000 images captured between 2018 and 2024 from Paris, Étretat, Bordeaux, Arcachon, and Biarritz. The series, both deeply personal and astutely observational, represents an insight into Piper’s dedicated and sincere approach to photography. With the same tender observation of noticing a flower bud in spring, Piper’s impetus to capture an image is first inspired by an intuition of intimacy - struck by that which is true, timeless, and fleeting.
How Close Can You Get to a Stranger is arranged along this gradient of proximity, bringing the viewer progressively closer to Piper’s recurring subject of choice - the stranger. Far-away landscapes sequentially become intimate portraits: each page taking one, metaphorical step, closer. Piper desires to extend the first encounter with a passerby - to him, a serendipitous meeting is both an opportunity for sonder and the potential to present oneself authentically, free of preconceived notions. In a contemplative twist of perspectives, Piper invites the viewer to perceive themselves through the eyes of a stranger, as if meeting for the first time - suspending the moment of first recognition, before assumptions take hold. Each image becomes an invitation to enter this instance: a practice of releasing judgements meant to be carried away, even after stepping beyond the frame.
“To my subjects, you were once a passerby in my life, yet now I look at you, so intently.”
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