Do we face our significant other looking for a mirror reflection of ourselves or optimistic desire of whom we might be? Photographer John Huck discovered the answer somewhere in between, after snapping portraits of more than 130 individuals identified by another half. Some of those relationships outlasted the 18 months it took John to compile the collection. Others didn’t make it beyond a month after the shoot. And at least one of us--yours truly and Andy--got hitched.
The Russian edition of Esquire selected 35 pairs total to appear over a three-page spread in this month’s issue. And John was kind enough to share an impossible-to-score copy of the feature. Just like on the walls of the now-defunct Jeffrey Electric gallery this summer, this month’s feature shows the portraits as they appeared, like dangling game pieces, primed to be remixed and rematched.
Copies of the “Couples” book is available at Huck’s online book shop, along with his two other photo books: one on breakfast and the individuals who consume it, and the self-entitiled “Drawings of People with Glasses.”
Here, Huck spends a fast five minutes on five questions.
Q: Why couples?
John Huck: When I started the project I was very down on couple-dom. I viewed people in my peer group as having a mix-and-match approach to pairing up. It seemed pretty arbitrary.
I changed my views quite a bit as result of shooting some very happy and complimentary couples.
Q:. Was their any rhyme or reason to your choices?
JH: The only requirement was that everyone had to be in the same potential dating pool.
Q: As a group, the series is very much a snapshot of place, as in the Eastside of L.A. But what else does it reflect?
JH: Everyone takes away something different. For me, even though I'm not in the show, it's a pretty personal transformation about the way I think about love and commitment.
Q: Are you half of a couple?
JH: I am. At the outset of the piece I was half of a very unhappy couple. Now I am happy to report that I am half of an amazing couple (she's the amazing half). I would say this was a very successful experiment.
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