Randy

by Robin de Puy (Photographer)

In 2015, portrait photographer Robin de Puy (Dutch, b. 1986) travelled across America on a motorcycle for her book If This is True ... Her 8,000-mile road trip had almost come to an end as she rode her Harley-Davidson through Ely, Nevada on 7 July 2015. That night a young boy rode past her. He rode fast, but in the split second she saw him she knew: she had to find out who this boy was. His name was Randy.

Recalling their first encounter, she wrote: "Randy, a fragile-looking boy, striking face, big ears - a puppy, a golden retriever waiting for the ball to be thrown, (too) naive. 'Can I photograph you?' I asked him. The question was met with a shrug and a look both anxious and curious, a look that seemed to say so much and so little, then he wholeheartedly said 'yes'".

De Puy took his portrait, left town a few days later, and that was it - or so it seemed. Back home in Amsterdam, Randy popped into her mind from time to time. Ultimately, she found it impossible to meet this boy and leave it at that single image. From the end of 2016 to May of 2017, she met him three more times. In the photographs from these encounters, De Puy turns him inside out, looks at him, stares at him - and Randy lets her. "Never before have I met someone who gives me so much space to watch, to observe him."

120 pages, Hardcover

First published December 6, 2017

About the author

Robin de Puy’s (1986, the Netherlands) photographs start with a desire to tell her own story through the faces of others. Whether it’s the freckled adolescent she noticed whilst refuelling in Wyoming, the Dutch author, poet and columnist Remco Campert, or the boy Randy she met in Nevada whilst on her American road trip, De Puy sees the camera as an aid to understand the deeply personal traits and histories of each person, and how they also reveal something about herself. Many of her encounters are fleeting; a heartfelt glance into the life of someone else before time resumes its frantic pace. In others, as with Randy, those same transient experiences blossom into profound and enduring relationships. Regardless of which ending they have, De Puy’s photographs are always imbued with a sensitivity and timelessness that encourages a slow gaze on the human condition. Her images are chances for genuine human connection, and through sharing with them with the world, allow us to take part in such moments.

Reviews

[Marcel Uljee · Rating 4 out of 5]

‘Will you miss me?’ I asked him. ‘Yeah,’ he replied, ‘I like being with you. But you’ll be back.’