New York-based photographer Richard Renaldi has been working on his intriguing “Touching Strangers” series since 2007—in these pictures, he shoots intimate portraits of strangers who have never met.
These photographs always show the subjects touching, an act that is unusual in a world where touch is reserved for those we know and are comfortable with.
These images that captured “the fleeting moments of intimacy” between strangers give off a surprising sense of familiarity and are largely lacking in the awkwardness that one would expect of them.
According to the project’s creator, the objective “was to introduce an unpredictable variable into a traditional photographic formula, and to create spontaneous and fleeting relationships between complete strangers…Touching Strangers creates intimate and ephemeral relationships that exist only for the moment of the photograph”.
Renaldi has started a Kickstarter campaign to turn this project into a photo book—if you like the idea behind these pictures, you can pledge for the campaign over here.
See below for more intimate portraits of complete strangers.
[via Coolhunting]