KEEP ROMANCE ALIVE - This project was inspired by a man who was wearing a skirt and walking on 5th Avenue at lunchtime. He was screaming “KEEP ROMANCE ALIVE! KEEP ROMANCE ALIVE!”  Now I ask people “What is your ROMANCE?” I think it was the afternoon of April 23, 2010.  I went to Miya Shoji, a high-end Japanese furniture store in New York to ask him if I could photograph him.  After one hour conversation, he approved me, so I photographed him.  10 days later, I brought him 2 prints from the shoot and asked him what his romance was.  He said he didn’t have any.  But he said three things.  “Don’t worry.”  “Don’t compare.”  “Make up your own mind.” He was smiling and laughing.  I thought his name was Miya Shoji, but actually his name was Hisao Hanafusa.

KEEP ROMANCE ALIVE - This project was inspired by a man who was wearing a skirt and walking on 5th Avenue at lunchtime. He was screaming “KEEP ROMANCE ALIVE! KEEP ROMANCE ALIVE!”  Now I ask people “What is your ROMANCE?”

I think it was the afternoon of April 23, 2010.  I went to Miya Shoji, a high-end Japanese furniture store in New York to ask him if I could photograph him.  After one hour conversation, he approved me, so I photographed him.  10 days later, I brought him 2 prints from the shoot and asked him what his romance was.  He said he didn’t have any.  But he said three things.  “Don’t worry.”  “Don’t compare.”  “Make up your own mind.”

He was smiling and laughing.  I thought his name was Miya Shoji, but actually his name was Hisao Hanafusa.