{"id":757,"date":"2013-04-21T12:09:15","date_gmt":"2013-04-21T16:09:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/momphoto.com\/1000faces\/?page_id=757"},"modified":"2024-07-12T10:39:00","modified_gmt":"2024-07-12T14:39:00","slug":"f-a-q","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/momphoto.com\/1000faces\/f-a-q\/","title":{"rendered":"F.A.Q."},"content":{"rendered":"

What is this project about?
\n<\/em>The 8,000 Faces project is constantly evolving. It is about bringing us together and showing our shared humanity. It is about activating our empathy. The subjects are anonymous, yet they each completely individual, human and beautiful. I think seeing us in this way humanizes us. It is about allowing ourselves to wonder at the scale of that diversity.\u00a0It is the inverse of the internet’s faceless commentators who sadly often bring their worst and most negative selves. These portraits allow us to find beauty everywhere. In an ever more divisive world, these photos quietly bring thousands of strangers together.<\/span><\/p>\n

Is there more to it than that?
\n<\/em>As an art project, it is about my relationship with the with the world \u2014 about my fascination with the fact that every stranger we pass has as rich and meaningful an interior life as our own. It allows me to bring my best self out into the world, an interact with incredible, amazing people.<\/span><\/p>\n

But isn’t it just a bunch of faces?
\n<\/em>I see more than that. Some people don’t. What you experience in viewing these many faces depends greatly on what you bring to it. Because this is a project that celebrates diversity, I can’t fault diverse reactions to it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Why this<\/strong> project?
\n<\/em>Because, in my wife’s words, “Everyone is amazing!”<\/span><\/p>\n

How should I view it?
\n<\/em>A lot of people enjoy looking at the faces, one at a time, one after the other. I suggest that. It is strangely calming.<\/span><\/p>\n

How do you choose who to photograph?
\n<\/em>Mostly it is based on who is in good light, in a location that I think will feel comfortable for them to be approached. I sometimes pick people because they look interesting. I sometimes pick people because they don’t look like anyone I’ve photographed yet. I often I pick people who are in or near that good light. I probably have a bias for people look like they will say yes.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

How do you choose who not to photograph?
\n<\/em>I generally don’t approach people who are alone. I try not to photograph people who are on their phones, laptops or who are eating. I try not to photograph people in harsh sunlight. I try not to stop people who are scowling, look upset, angry, or ready to hurt someone \u2014 especially if it is me. I rarely stop people who look hurried, but sometimes I do because some days everyone looks hurried.<\/span><\/p>\n

Do you ask people to smile?
\n<\/em>Never. People often ask me if they should<\/em> smile. I tell them they can<\/em> if they would like, or that it’s their face and they get to do with it what they want. People often choose to smile, or they are already smiling because they are happy. I do sometimes make people laugh.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Do you ask people to take off their sunglasses?<\/em><\/span>
\n More and more I do. I think photos tend to be better when you can see a person’s eyes.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Do you ask people to take off their hats?<\/em><\/span>
\n If the hat is messing up the light, then I may suggest it, yes.<\/span><\/p>\n

How often do people say yes?<\/em><\/span>
\n It varies from location to location and from day to day. Before the pandemic, it was about 50% of the time. Now, surprisingly, more people say yes, maybe 75%?<\/span><\/p>\n

I’m in your gallery and want a copy of my photo!<\/em><\/span>
\n Fantastic! I’m happy to e-mail you your photo as long as I can be reasonable sure you are the person I took a photo of. Please contact me by e-mailing me at 1000faces at momphoto.com<\/span><\/p>\n

I’m in your gallery and I don’t want to be there anymore.<\/em><\/span>
\n Oh no! I’m sorry to hear that. I can remove your photo as long as I can be reasonable sure you are the person in the photo. Please contact me by e-mailing me at 1000faces at momphoto.com.<\/span><\/p>\n

You took my photo and I’m not<\/strong> in the gallery?<\/em><\/span>
\n Sorry! It can take a while for photos to post. There are a lot<\/em> of portraits! It is possible your photo hasn’t posted yet, but it is also possible I accidentally I skipped over your picture. E-mail me and let me know and I’ll try to find your picture. If you remember where and when your photo was taken, it will help. In very rare cases something could have gone wrong with the photo. I try to do these photos quickly in order to not disrupt people too much. Unfortunately that sometimes means something goes wrong. Usually it’s the focus. Sometimes I catch people mid blink. Occasionally the light doesn’t flatter a particular face and I don’t want to post a picture that doesn’t do justice.<\/span><\/p>\n

Why are some photos better than others?<\/em><\/span>
\nUsually light. I try to prioritize good lighting in choosing who I photograph, but light is fickle and shifts. A particular light might flatter one person and not another. Background can be factor and so can how much time I have. (It’s never much, but sometimes it is literally 3 seconds.)<\/span><\/p>\n

How can I license one or more of the images in your gallery.<\/em><\/span>
\nYou can’t. I would need to obtain a written release from each person in each photo and in most cases, I have no way to contact them to even offer them a release. If you want to commission me for similar work, please get in touch, I am happy to take paid work and will work with you to ensure any and all subject of such work are fully informed about their compensation and how their likeness will be used.<\/span><\/p>\n

Are these photos being used to train A.I.?<\/em><\/span>
\nNo \u2014 and they shouldn’t be. These photos are\u00a0not<\/em> public domain. Any reproduction of them without my permission is illegal. This would include replicating a copy of my work to include in a training set. A.I. training would violate my I.P., that of the subjects, and could irreparably endanger this project. (People do not want their likeness used for A.I. training.)\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

How can I be in the gallery?<\/em><\/span>
\n Luck. If you pass me on the street and I ask to take your picture, you should make it into the gallery.<\/span><\/p>\n

Is there some way I can get you to take my portrait?<\/em><\/span>
\n Actually, I’d love to take your photograph! I am available for portrait work and I will work with you to give you a good rate just because you’ve read through this whole page. Please contact me at portraits at momphoto dot com.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What is this project about? The 8,000 Faces project is constantly evolving. It is about bringing us together and showing our shared humanity. It is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-757","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/momphoto.com\/1000faces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/757","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/momphoto.com\/1000faces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/momphoto.com\/1000faces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/momphoto.com\/1000faces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/momphoto.com\/1000faces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=757"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"http:\/\/momphoto.com\/1000faces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/757\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12213,"href":"http:\/\/momphoto.com\/1000faces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/757\/revisions\/12213"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/momphoto.com\/1000faces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}