Without a studio environment, and often spending no more than 30 seconds with any given individual, Harris captures the closeness and raw emotion within the human persona. Harris says about capturing this moment, “...you are getting that person in all their truth. There is no time to be a different person.” In these brief moments of photographing someone, the stranger becomes a friend. Losing his mother and sister to death in his late teens, Harris considers himself a kind of a loner. And yet, behind the camera, a connection is made. “Each person I take a photo of I feel connected to them to this day. Just about every photo I’ve taken I know where it was or what the weather was on that particular day.”

 

Harris started his journey photographing people for their fashion choices as a way to break up his time from his business painting houses. Eventually, Harris began to feel more connected with the individuals themselves than the clothing they wore. Facial features and contextual artifacts become glimpses into the lives of his subjects. Keeping the photographs black and white allows the focus to be on the individual. When Harris does use color it is minimal and purposeful, used only to enhance the individuality of the person photographed. 

 

Isaac Harris was born in Columbus, Ohio where he attended The Ohio State University to study Journalism. He has photographed people from cities such as New York, Paris, and Berlin. Harris currently lives and works out of Milwaukee, WI, and continues to travel to various cities around the globe.