“Being at the right place at the right time. In truth, it’s his sense of possibility that makes these scenes appear, a magnetic field for moments meant to be shared by someone who knows how to keep their precious essence intact,” is a quote from Anybody, Anyway, by Chad Moore which serves as the basis for my homage series. As a photographer, Moore has spent years documenting his vision of what “coming of age” feels like and this photo book, in particular, has been a series of individuals being unapologetically themselves, as well as interacting with the youthfulness that encapsulates them in the Lower East Side of Manhattan.
The images are sporadic and random; from their placement to the content. Mainly, his work consists of scenes that seem as if they are parts of different films or movies, yet somehow come together, as if he is the narrator of all these different stories. Similarly, I followed his route. I followed my friends around on little adventures in the same neighborhood he shot his work within; walking around random alleys, rooftops, and more, I only directed my subject when I felt that the environment matched the feeling I wanted to capture, whether that be through lighting, graffiti, colors, or more.
I noticed nostalgia everywhere in my environment; every walk through the Lower East Side sparked memories of the past, movies, or books, and I felt compelled to document it all. The familiarity, the glow, and the aliveness of Chad’s photos can appear to be happy accidents; the work has the ability to control time; to manipulate the fabric of what makes us and the world feel like it will last forever. His work is not known as cinematic photography; yet, resembles it in many ways, although there is no formal way to explain that. Just as you cannot describe what is beautiful, you cannot describe what makes his scenarios cinematic.
There is no explicit story, but the viewer can question things like “Is this the bedroom of a girl who is interested in architecture? Who gave the flowers? Who is peering into her room? Are the objects in the room a reflection of what she loves? etc.” And concerning how Chad approaches his work, manipulating the idea of time, that the sunlight was fleeting and in between it hit the edge of flowers perfectly, contributes to this grander concept that the moment is not there forever, that there is more information than just a pretty photo.
Overall, the project I chose to produce from Chad’s inspiration is an embodiment of the title of the photo book itself, “Anybody Anyway.” Simply, I gave myself the freedom to not be pressured into “creating an image,” but rather, allowing what occurs within my field of vision to just be captured. It is quite literally, anybody, anything, anyway.
