Photographer Justin Bettman creates interesting and slightly quirky photos in interior spaces that he creates himself – but these interiors come with a brilliant twist. They are all placed on the streets of New York and other cities, and none of the photos was actually taken indoors. Justin plays with perspective, his project Set in the Street plays with your perception, and you can even play with his sets once he’s done shooting.
In the “rooms” Justin creates there are flowers, curtains, decorations and all the sorts of details that make an interior complete. In reality, he makes these sets entirely from discarded or unwanted furniture, often found on the street.
Once he builds the set in the street, Justin takes photos that play with perspective and with our minds. The goal of the final photos is to “explore the complex ideas of perspective and perception through revealing the larger picture that we often overlook.”
When the shooting is done, Justin leaves the set in the street. This way, the passersby can shoot photos of their own and “play home” under the open sky. There’s even an Instagram hashtag #setinthestreet for those who post these photos. Most of the sets are in New York City, but the project has taken Justin to other cities too, such as London, Moscow, Berlin, and Prague. On the project’s website, you can see the map depicting the exact location of each set, in case you want to take your own photos.
I found an interesting story about one of the sets Justin created. A young man got in contact with Justin because he wanted a memorable marriage proposal for his girlfriend. Justin built a set for them at the same place as their first date. When the young man proposed, Justin took photos and video of the engagement. How great is that?
Here are some more photos from Set in the Street project:
If you’d like to learn more about the sets and see where they are, visit the project’s website, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. Also, make sure to check out Justin’s website for more of his photographic work.
