The Fabric of Raleigh is a portrait series that was born out of my desire to create engaging, truthful portraits of people in my community – Raleigh, North Carolina.
Being a professional portrait photographer, I am used to all the planning, scheduling and preparation necessary when working with commercial and editorial clients, but for this series I wanted to skip the planning, styling and scheduling that’s common with my projects, and instead capture people in the moment, going about what they do in an unscripted and authentic way.
So I loaded my car with a single camera, one lens, one flash and one backdrop and set out to explore Raleigh to see what and who I may encounter. I didn’t know who I may find each time I took off, and they didn’t know I was coming.
The first afternoon driving around I think I made four different portraits and it was…magical. For subsequent trips, I also brought with me a second camera on a tripod, to capture some behind-the-scenes shots showing how and where the portraits were made – on a sidewalk, inside of store, in a sanctuary, by a fire truck, …
The Fabric of Raleigh series currently consists of more than 40 portraits, from firefighters and pastors, cobblers to baristas, ballet dancers to construction workers. Ordinary citizens who together do extraordinary things, for our community and for each other, documented in a style that combines the quality of studio portraiture with the authenticity of street photography.
The Fabric of Raleigh and its sister series The Fabric of Durham are available as a book. More info here.
-Christer Berg
BIO:
Christer Berg is a fine arts and commercial photographer residing in Raleigh, North Carolina. Christer’s passion is to tell people’s stories through his portrait photography.
www.cb-photography.pro
