Most people notice faces first, but for photographer Stacey Baker, it’s all about the legs.
Baker, an associate photo editor for The New York Times Magazine, captures legs swathed in geometric patterns, neon spandex, or even bare and balancing on a pair of platform sandals, in her popular “Citilegs” photo project. There are rainbow tights, ripped skinny jeans and watermelon short shorts — but no names or faces.
Fans applaud Baker, who has more than 70,000 followers on Instagram, for featuring legs in all shapes, sizes and colors. She finds most of her subjects in New York City and writes where she spotted the legs: in the subway station, or outside at a Manhattan café, for example. Most recently Baker has been posting photos from Belfast, where she attended a photo festival this week.
Baker has been posting the Citilegs photos since 2013 and has a book coming out this fall, according to Slate.com.
“I love the serendipity of it,” she told the website. “Of seeing a subject, asking her to participate, finding a nearby wall, and making a picture. It all takes place in no more than 10 minutes. The fact that most women I approach are not only willing to stop, but also put their purse down, take off their coat, raise or tuck in their blouse and stand with their hands up — all for a complete stranger — never fails to amaze me.”