‘Portraits Project’ is an extension of the ‘Urban Evolution’ series.  The process of the evolution is what Machen finds to be the actual art and inspiration.  The idea of watching the ‘urban decay’ or evolution on a profile that Machen has chosen finally struck him as the next logical step after years of photographing images that he found on the streets of New York, Los Angeles, New Orleans, Paris, and San Francisco. Watching these images evolve, and the reaction they would solicit adds another dimension to the documentation of the evolution process which Machen finds exciting.