As a frequent lone diner, I was curious about the rationale behind people who have their meals by themselves. For me, it was about the speed of deciding where to go and what to eat. Lunchtime was precious when we were working and I used that time to catch up on shows or use the time saved from dining with others to run errands.
I went around asking lone diners if they could be interviewed and photographed and I got rejected 7 out of 10 times. Many times, I had wanted to give up, and I questioned the purpose of doing this story even more so.
Many months after the story was published, while I was lamenting about the purpose of photography in a world flooded with images, I received an email.
It came from the sister of Mr Fairuz - the first profile who let me interview and photograph. During my encounter with him, Fairuz was kind and open in sharing his story. He even agreed to move to another table so I could get more light for the photograph.
In the email, Fairuz’s sister broke the news to me that he had passed on and had asked if I could share his photos with her for their family’s keepsake.
3 months later, Fairuz’s cousin reached out saying that reading about our short exchange had provided him comfort - a testament of the amazing person Fairuz was.
Maybe there’s a reason for putting out stories and photographs after all.
