FIRST PERSON

Stranger Things

Can the connection between a photographer and their subject last beyond the work?

words and photographs by TODD COLE

Photography has enabled a strange and special phenomenon in my life. It has made friends out of strangers in an instant. On a few rare occasions, always unforeseen, photography has turned a stranger into a dear friend in an instant. It’s a mysterious alchemy I still do not understand, but I am forever grateful when it happens. Early in my career I photographed a young woman, fresh in LA from North Carolina, for an editorial.  Amid the hair and makeup, the fittings, the reloading of sheets of Portra in my 4X5 Toyo-View camera, there was this warm hum of connection between us. I gave her a ride back from Venice that day, and now she is married to another good friend, and our families go on holiday together.

This kind of deep personal connection doesn’t always happen—or rather, it’s incredibly rare. But when it does, it’s unmistakable. I sense the connection from the moment one of these special souls stands in front of my lens. A voice from my subconscious says, “Oh, yeah, they are my people.” Even more mysteriously, I’ve had that feeling just reviewing a casting sheet. It happened last year with my friend Cole. He was just a face on a grid of casting options, but when I saw him, I immediately thought, Who is that?! I just had that feeling.

I wound up photographing Cole for a personal project called “Spirit of the Canyon” in 2021, and then we collaborated on a Rodarte project. More recently, we shot together just for fun. For this collection of images, my desire was to make portraits of him as he is, reflecting my experience of our friendship. I wanted to document his amazing personality. He styled himself, and our little crew consisted of Cole, myself, and my assistant in a space provided by Cast Partner. We made these images together in about an hour, listening to his playlist of Playboi Carti, the Pixies, Tears for Fears… Just a couple of close friends goofing around.