San Francisco Berlin

San Francisco Berlin sets Stefan Ruiz's portraits of residents of the two title cities side by side, using an identical straight-on studio setup for both so that the comparison falls entirely on the people and what they wear, hold and signal rather than on staging.

Published by Boot in 2011 as a 96-page hardcover, the book continues Ruiz's documentary approach to portraiture, developed through long-running work for the New York Times Magazine and Colors. Subjects are photographed with a flat, deadpan clarity that treats subculture, occupation and self-presentation as primary evidence. Pairing San Francisco and Berlin, two cities with distinct but overlapping countercultural and creative identities, turns the book into an implicit study of how place shapes self-fashioning.

Ruiz is an American photographer whose work spans editorial portraiture, documentary projects and fashion. He has published widely in the New York Times Magazine, Colors and other international publications, and has also contributed cover photography to other artists' books. San Francisco Berlin is among his most sustained comparative portrait projects.