Emily Kai Bock captures intimate portraits of strangers in the street

Emily Kai Bock is the filmmaker responsible for music videos for the likes of Arcade Fire, Grimes and Grizzly Bear, which explains why her eye is so well-trained at spotting the moments she captures in her photography, too. Shooting strangers in the street and yet capturing strangely warm and intimate portraits she seems to form immediate bonds with the people she spots on her travels, from a girl waiting in line to pay for her groceries to a glamorous but frustrated woman crossing the road. There’s something transfixing about the vulnerable but unwavering eye contact her subjects fix on her, almost as though they are the only two people in the scene to recognise her existence. It’s a rare talent, but it seems to come very naturally to Emily, and we can’t help but feel grateful for it.