Sarah Stolfa - The Regulars - 2009

“The Regulars” is a photobook by American photographer Sarah Stolfa.

Based in Philadelphia, Stolfa pursued photography while working as a bartender, and this book features photographs taken over many years of the regulars who frequented McGlinchey’s, the long-established bar where she used to work.

Office workers, students, laborers, retirees, and lonely regulars—each with their own different life stories—visit the bar in the afternoons. Stolfa captures these individuals naturally, based on a trust that transcends the relationship between bartender and customer, portraying the bar as a small urban community.

The glances, silences, humor, and even solitude exchanged within the limited space of the bar are carefully captured, elevating ordinary daily life into universal portraits of humanity. The book includes a preface by Jonathan Franzen, a leading figure in contemporary American literature, as well as an essay by Stolfa herself.

This documentary, filled with intimacy and a warm gaze, is a testament to her experience as a bartender before becoming a photographer. Softcover edition.