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The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
Read the press release here.

Photographer Offers Free Portraits at Grand Central in Honor of Women's Day

MIDTOWN EAST — A New York photographer celebrated International Women’s Day by celebrating women the best way she knows how: photographing them.

Photographer Dorie Hagler spent Tuesday taking portrait shots of women with the backdrop of Grand Central Terminal behind them and printing out the photos on the spot free of charge, all part of a project she is calling “Me & Eve.”

Hagler recently launched Me & Eve with the goal of to taking photos of women and pairing them with a quote from the subject describing their “experience as a woman.”

Hagler didn’t want to say what her prompt is when she shoots subjects — she doesn’t want people to be prepared to answer the question — but she said the goal is to get wide-ranging stories of womanhood from the women she photographs.

“Most women complain that they’re not heard enough,” she said. “Every woman has a story to tell, and I want this project to show that what they say has value.”

Hagler has been shooting for the project for several weeks now, but she decided to use Grand Central Terminal as a larger-scale event to give dozens of women the chance to have their portrait taken and to get the word out about her project.

She set up on the balcony staircase leading to the Apple Store on the east side of the concourse, asking every woman who passed if they wanted their portrait taken. 

Hagler’s occasional difficulty in getting people to stop became clear as about three women in a row rebuffed her efforts to photograph them on Tuesday afternoon. Either they didn’t have time or they didn’t like their look that day.

“I’ll find you when my hair is looking better,” one woman laughed.

But many women, once they heard the photoshoot was free, were happy to oblige. 

Hagler is modeling the project off of Humans of New York, the wildly popular — and sometimes criticized — photo project featuring portraits of New Yorkers with captions that are variously inspiring, depressing or saccharine.

But unlike Humans of New York, Hagler wanted to give her subjects something physical. The Polaroid-like printouts, emblazoned with a sticker advertising her website, gives her subjects a gift, something in return for giving Hagler a moment of their time.

Even with a small gift on the table, Hagler says she sometimes has trouble getting women to stop. New Yorkers may be notoriously difficult to accost, but women pose an even harder challenge, she said.

“It’s hard to find women who are standing still,” Hagler said. “Women rarely have time to pause.”