All photos by Zoe Strauss
MEGAWORDS: One of the thing’s that always staggered me about your photography is the way the you’re able to establish an instant rapport—an instant connection—with people. I feel sometimes you’ve just met them.
ZOE: Yeah. [A very loud motorcycle noise is heard outside the cafe.] Shut up, bastards! Could you have this in the interview? Fuckin’ cocksuckers!
Of course it’s in the interview!
Fuckin’ assholes!
So, is that something that you are consciously thinking about? What’s the process—you see someone and you’re interested? Or is it random?
It’s totally random.
Always?
Always? Well… yeah. It is. It’s totally random and it’s also completely unconscious. There’s no feeling of, ‘this person looks like this and I need to fit them into my work because thematically, or…’ It’s always this initial moment of meeting and then that’s the whole thing.
Does the initial contact happen with the camera or without the camera?
No, always with the camera.
Always with the camera?
It’s always when I’m working. My meeting of someone is always, ‘Can I make your photo?’
