At the core of basic human needs is the need for love and relationship building with others. Craigslist.org’s ‘missed connections’ section is a collection of short love stories written by completely anonymous authors asking for a second chance. These stories or ads are published for the world to see but are written specifically to get the attention of one. They describe a spontaneous glance or conversation that is often very ordinary but has the slightest possibility of becoming something more.

For this series I responded to missed connection ads requesting to meet with the people who posted the ads and to photograph them where the missed connection occurred. The idea of recreating these situations appealed to me because of the complete anonymity of the missed connections. When reading through the ads I often try to visualize the encounter as well as the person posting the ad. Today it seems like the digital world is an escape from the real one. Eye contact, let alone a conversation with a person on the street is somewhat rare in today’s society. Missed connections are unique in that they are merely a tool used for a second chance at a face to face conversation.

To successfully complete this series I will continue photographing the missed connections over the next three or four years in various locations. Below are three audio interviews I recorded before photographing the ‘reenactments’.