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People

Gary Crossey · November 9, 2026 · 10 photographs

An ongoing series. Portraits from the street, the stage and the places I travel, added as I go.

Portrait of a woman with close-cropped hair, a sculpted bust behind her
Asheville
Man in blue mirrored sunglasses with a waxed mustache, flowers behind
Chicago, 2025
Bearded man looking up, greenery behind
Chicago, 2025
Man in a blue robe and head wrap sitting by the French Broad River in Marshall, North Carolina
Marshall, NC, 2021

A good portrait isn't posed. I watch for the moment someone forgets the camera is there: a turn of the head, a glance toward the river, the way they hold themselves when no one is directing them.

That's when character shows, and that's the moment I wait for. Whether it's a stranger on the street, a performer on stage or a sitter in the studio, I want the photograph to feel like the person, not the pose.

Smiling man beside a wall of painted birds on a wire
2018
Profile in a green cap, beard against a soft background
Chicago, 2025
Man looking upward in warm interior light
Chicago, 2025
Man in a yellow shirt in warm afternoon light
Atlanta, 2000

Some portraits come from the street, some from a stage, some from a quiet afternoon. What links them is the same patience: waiting until the person stops performing for the camera.

Man with a waxed mustache against a white wall
Chicago, 2025
Boy George singing on stage with another performer in London
Boy George on stage, London