1 00:00:01,131 --> 00:00:02,865 [Wind Blows] 2 00:00:02,865 --> 00:00:08,284 Steve Hartman: 45 year old Richard Renaldi is looking for someone, two someones, actually. 3 00:00:08,284 --> 00:00:11,284 Two total strangers who are meant to be together. 4 00:00:11,284 --> 00:00:12,651 Renaldi: This is Dominic, right? 5 00:00:12,651 --> 00:00:14,320 Hartman: If only for a moment. 6 00:00:14,320 --> 00:00:16,617 Renaldi: Okay, so you guys are gonna be a- a couple. 7 00:00:16,617 --> 00:00:20,589 Renaldi (in interview): They're not exactly sure what they've just signed up for- 8 00:00:20,589 --> 00:00:21,759 Renaldi (on street): Actually 9 00:00:21,759 --> 00:00:23,979 Renaldi (in interview): And people are a little nervous at first. 10 00:00:23,979 --> 00:00:26,718 Renaldi (on street): Okay, I just need you a little closer like-okay, good. 11 00:00:26,718 --> 00:00:30,372 Narrator: Richard is a New York photographer, working on a series of portraits. 12 00:00:30,372 --> 00:00:31,656 Renaldi: Okay, good. 13 00:00:31,656 --> 00:00:33,671 Hartman: For each shot, he grabs strangers off the street. 14 00:00:33,671 --> 00:00:39,511 Like Jenny Wood, an airline employee from Virginia, and Dominic Tucker, a college student from Brooklyn. 15 00:00:39,511 --> 00:00:42,367 And poses them - like adoring family. 16 00:00:42,367 --> 00:00:45,040 Renaldi (on street): Okay um, beautiful. 1,2, and 3. 17 00:00:45,040 --> 00:00:46,514 Camera snaps 18 00:00:46,514 --> 00:00:49,086 Hartman: Richard calls the project 'Touching Strangers.' 19 00:00:49,086 --> 00:00:53,735 He started shooting it 6 years ago, and now has hundreds of portraits of these unlikely intimates. 20 00:00:53,735 --> 00:00:57,930 Some of the photos- you'd never know, they'd never met. 21 00:00:57,930 --> 00:01:03,283 While other capture, quite well, the inherrent awkwardness of cudding some random dude. 22 00:01:03,283 --> 00:01:05,031 Young women (in unison): Hey there, nice to meet you. 23 00:01:05,031 --> 00:01:10,141 Hartman: Even when the subjects seem eager, their body language often concedes a certain hesitance, 24 00:01:10,141 --> 00:01:15,534 At least at first. Ten minutes later, though, it's like Thanksgiving at Aunt Margaret's. 25 00:01:15,534 --> 00:01:17,480 And that's the really weird thing. 26 00:01:17,480 --> 00:01:19,184 Renaldi (on street): Oh that's great! 27 00:01:19,184 --> 00:01:25,034 Hartman: Yes, Richard puts the people in these poses, but the sentiment that seems to shine through, is real. 28 00:01:25,034 --> 00:01:27,021 At least, so say the subjects. 29 00:01:27,021 --> 00:01:28,297 Renaldi (on street): Okay. 30 00:01:28,297 --> 00:01:30,161 Older woman: It was sort of awkward but then sort of not. 31 00:01:30,161 --> 00:01:32,284 Young women: Thank You! Renaldi: You guys did so good. 32 00:01:32,284 --> 00:01:34,952 Older woman: We are probably missing so much about the people all around us. 33 00:01:34,952 --> 00:01:36,334 Renaldi (on street): This is Reiko. 34 00:01:36,334 --> 00:01:40,905 Hartman: At first, Brian Snedon, a poetry teacher, saw no rhyme or reason for posing 35 00:01:40,905 --> 00:01:44,442 with 95 year-old retired fashion designer Reiko Urman. 36 00:01:44,442 --> 00:01:47,783 Renaldi (on street): Can you just come in a little more - yeah, okay. 37 00:01:47,783 --> 00:01:50,369 Hartman: But eventually he too felt a change. 38 00:01:50,369 --> 00:01:52,367 Brian: I felt like I cared for her. 39 00:01:52,367 --> 00:01:53,785 Hartman: Cared for her? 40 00:01:53,785 --> 00:01:55,785 Brian: Yeah. I felt like it brought down a lot of barriers. 41 00:01:55,785 --> 00:01:57,588 Hartman: Pretty much everyone shared that same sentiment. 42 00:01:57,588 --> 00:01:59,590 Young man: It was a good feeling. Laughs shyly 43 00:01:59,590 --> 00:02:01,225 Young woman: It was nice to feel that comfort. 44 00:02:01,225 --> 00:02:05,328 Renaldi (in interview): Everyone seems to have come away with kind of a good feeling. 45 00:02:05,328 --> 00:02:08,898 It's kind of lovely. It's lovely! 46 00:02:08,898 --> 00:02:11,736 Hartman: Most photographers capture life as it is. 47 00:02:11,736 --> 00:02:17,784 But in these strangers, Richard Renaldi has captured something much more ethereal and elusive. 48 00:02:17,784 --> 00:02:20,812 He shows us humanity- as it could be. 49 00:02:20,812 --> 00:02:23,680 As most of us wish it would be. 50 00:02:23,680 --> 00:02:29,534 And, as it was. At least for this one fleeting moment in time. 51 00:02:29,534 --> 00:02:33,317 Steve Hartman, on the road, in New York.