One day while stuck in traffic, Ty Morin, a young American, thought back on a conversation he had with friends the night before. They had all just graduated from college, during which they had used Facebook incessantly, amassing a collection of virtual friends.
Composed mainly of people they barely knew, their endless lists of friends made them feel extraordinarily popular. But their entry into adult life made some of them feel the need to “clean house.” On that day in his car, however, Morin decided instead to meet each of his 788 friends, take their pictures and make a documentary.
Morin gave himself four years to travel across the United States and take portraits of each of his 788 friends, finally meeting “in real life” these people that he had only known through the Internet. For this project, he decided to use a view camera. Not only was Morin a fan of the pictures it produces, but the lengthy set-up would give him time to talk with and get to know the person he was about to photograph.
Pauline Auzou
