Adrian Barry sits at a table in a typical Brooklyn brunch spot:  rustic refurbished wood table, austere cement polished floors, exposed wood beams high above which someone's taken time to oil or lacquer. From a skylight, gray-blue sunlight streams in and drenches this onetime-factory-turned-dining-room off the beaten path in Greenpoint, Adrian's home for the last so many years.  The weather reflecting that of his hometown, Glasgow.  

 

Over a French press of coffee we discuss Scotland, his origins before this once Glasgow-based photographer became the now prized "Brooklyn-based" like so many others.  A resolution had just been voted on; his homeland of Scotland will still be married to the Crown for the next however many years to come.  His opinions aside, you can tell the opportunity of a different future back home weighs heavy on him.  For his friends, his family, all subjects of his photographs as a now prominent US-based photographer.  

 

Born in Johnstone, Scotland, Barry never intended to be a photographer.  A camera more or less fell into his hands when he was 11—a Polaroid instant camera he still has to this day.  But, from that day on, the seed had been planted and after a successful career as a bassist for an assortment of bands—The High Fidelity among them—and having had his fill of the rock & roll lifestyle, Barry returned to his early foundations in photography, enrolling in The Glasgow College of Building and Printing.  

 

At first, his photography hung close to the world he knew:  Music.  But, mostly, Rock & Roll.  Doing work for the likes of Martin Taylor, Justin Currie, Uncle Devil Show, Kevin McDermott and Make Model.

 

It didn’t take long for Barry’s curated style and knack for bringing the viewer closer to his subjects and the environs of his images to become noticed.  His career quickly parlayed into portraiture outside the rock & roll scene (Gerard Butler, Emily Mortimer, Jim Lambie…just to name a few); and on into food and architecture (Highlands, Atrium Dumbo, Surf Lodge & Whitehall) as well as developing personal projects on the side.  

 

The most recent being a series of portraits comprised of New Yorkers from all walks of life:  Strangers or friends.  Captured for a single moment, in their apartments, natural and un-posed.  The images are intimate and inviting.  They tell a story in nuances. Details of each person’s lives included in objects around the room.  Details of what they’re thinking, their emotions, their life, told somewhere in their often vacant stares, relaxed, at peace, in their surrounds.  It’s the intimate view of a lover from across the room, pouring a cup of coffee, the early morning conversation having trailed off into the sounds of the city outside.  The soft patch of light, the feeling of peace, of no guard, but still there’s a tension somewhere in their eyes.  When Barry hears the mention of this, he tells me:  “I don’t want them to relax.  I just want a little bit of fear in people’s eyes.  That’s where the tension is.”  Which is what makes them so real, so recognizable and un-posed.  The natural anxiety buried in every day life.

 

Across the table, Barry shifts his coffee cup and stares out toward the street.  A car passes, a pedestrian with a dog.  His photographs still fresh in my mind, I recognize the look, the tone, the soft Rembrant-ing of his face.  He has become of one the images he tries to capture of others.  I think of taking out my cellphone to take a quick snap, but think better of it.  I leave the work to those who know it best.  And my intrusion would only ruin the moment.  

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                  Ryan Runstadler  2014