Bill Hayes writes: “When I started ‘The Chair Pictures’ series, I thought of it as a natural extension of my street photography—but street photography brought indoors. Into my apartment. I had been photographing New Yorkers on the street since moving here six years earlier. From the beginning my approach was always the same: I’d spot someone who caught my eye for some reason, walk up to them, and ask if I could take their picture. More often than not, people said no, but when they said yes—and when the chemistry and the light were right—a kind of magic occurred.
“While I considered my street photos to be portraits, taken on-the-spot, I was interested in exploring studio portraiture where I’d have more than a minute or two with a subject and more control over the environment—background, lighting, and so forth. One day, I had an idea to take pictures of all different people on the same simple wooden chair in a corner of my apartment. My subjects would again be people I’d spot on the street or subway, at the gym or a bar—strangers, for the most part, whom I’d invite for a sitting. I took my first ‘Chair Picture’ in 2015 and continued the series until I moved out of that apartment in 2019.”