Photographer Simon Høgsberg spent seven hours a day for a month walking around Manhattan looking for striking faces—faces that give him the "strong urge to walk over and say hi." He only found 10. He asked the people what they thought of their faces. Here are parts of their answers. (Go to his website for a host of his other interesting photo projects.)What do you think about your face?
What Do You Think About Your Face?
1 min read
“... I wanted it smaller. I wanted a Tom Jones-type of nose; you can barely see the freaking thing. ...” —John Toriello, unemployed
Simon Høgsberg
“ ... Like if I saw a picture of myself, and I didn’t know who the person on the picture was, I would think that this guy has really got a goal. And so probably I’d like to look a little bit like myself. ... I’ve got that 21 st century look to me. ... See me, I don’t get ahead of myself. Because I always know that it isn’t me who made me look like this. God made me look like this.” —David Lawrence, newspaper boy
Simon Høgsberg
“My face has made me a lot of money because I’m a professional model. ... People say I look like Richard Gere, and I think that’s fine, I think that’s enjoyable. I like Richard Gere—and I’ve seen him, and he still looks a little bit like me. ...” —Harry Shaw, model
Simon Høgsberg
“... When I go to Metropolitan Museum of Art a lot of times I feel I see myself there. Because I don’t see my look as so much contemporary as European from other times. ... So I don’t relate to what I see coming out of Hollywood. I relate to what I see in Museums.” —Genevieve Montgomery, actress/screenwriter
Simon Høgsberg
“ ... I had to go and search where the origins of my face were, finding that my face was a Rwandan face. ... I am told that I’m beautiful. I accept that. But beauty isn’t beholden to anything that is moralistic in human life, so when I hear someone say something is beautiful or your face is beautiful, most times I don’t say anything because… there is nothing to say.” —Allen Makere, singer-songwriter
Simon Høgsberg
“ ... Age caught up with me. Good times caught up with me. Wild parties caught up with me. And what I see now is a truly aging woman. I no longer see the spontaneous, witty, charming… I see an elderly woman. And I find that difficult, but in a way very freeing. ...” —Rhoda Lukin, political writer
Simon Høgsberg
“I think my face is kind of harsh sometimes. ...” —Robert Sheehan. professional dog-walker
Simon Høgsberg
“ ... My features are all very big and not sharp. It’s something I’m very aware of. It bothers me that every time I’m photographed I feel that certain features are more prominent than others, like my nose, my eyes, or my lips ...” —Lonnie Rathie, singer-songwriter
Simon Høgsberg
“ ... I like long hair, and I relate—not to something out of this time, but—to the world as it was maybe some hundred years ago. It’s the energy of the long hair I like. To me it represents a sense of freedom and a sense of independence. ... I don’t think in terms of time as most people do. I consider myself to be, hopefully, outside of time. Beyond time.” —Biond Fury, musician, host on national TV show
Simon Høgsberg
