Joseph O. Holmes • The Souls of Machines

About the Artist/Representation About the Artist/Resume Blog 20x200 About the Artist/Books About the Artist/Press About the Artist/Reviews Completed or Exhibited Series/Urban Wilderness (2010) Completed or Exhibited Series/Portraits from the Occupation (2011) Completed or Exhibited Series/NYC Xmas Tree Vendors (2010) Completed or Exhibited Series/CBGB (2006) Completed or Exhibited Series/The Booth (2012) Current and Ongoing Projects/Tracing the Underground (2017) Completed or Exhibited Series/My Father's Darkroom (2015) Completed or Exhibited Series/Custom Machinery (2009) Current and Ongoing Projects/Streit's (2015) Completed or Exhibited Series/Workspace (2007 to 2011) Completed or Exhibited Series/Seven Oil Cans (2009) Acquiring Prints Completed or Exhibited Series/amnh and LCD (2005, 2008) Current and Ongoing Projects/NYC (ongoing) Current and Ongoing Projects/Portraits (ongoing) Completed or Exhibited Series/Cooks on Breaks (ongoing) The Modern/Threshold (2018) The Modern/Installation (Ongoing) The Modern/Monsters (2012) Current and Ongoing Projects/Ellis Island Immigrant Hospital (2014) Current and Ongoing Projects/Artists of Westbeth (2019) Client Access/Kenyon Client Access/Kenyon Reunion Client Access/Test Current and Ongoing Projects/24 HR ATM (2020) Completed or Exhibited Series/The Tulip Jungle Completed or Exhibited Series/Street Photography 2005-7 Completed or Exhibited Series/Wave Alley (2014) Current and Ongoing Projects/The Street Art of BLM (2020) About the Artist/Joseph O Holmes Photos by Del Holmes/Joe Watching TV Photos by Del Holmes/Favorite Images Current and Ongoing Projects/The Gutter (2021) Completed or Exhibited Series/Coronavirus Diary, April 2020 Current and Ongoing Projects/Surface Distress (ongoing) Current and Ongoing Projects/Window Dressing (2022)

Closer

Experiments in Street Photography, 2005-2007

In 2005, after buying my first digital SLR, I set out to create my own twist on NYC street photography.

Tired of the distant style that made up so much of the genre, I decided to accomplish the opposite: shoot with an ultra-wide lens and move in extremely close. The best of the resulting images had an unnerving intimacy.

After two years, I had exhausted the experiment and moved on, but I only ever exhibited a few of those images. Now that the coronavirus has made street photography a dangerous pursuit, I offer this flash-back, a virtual excursion into intimate contact with strangers on the street.

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