We're told from a young age that honesty is one of the most important things that we can value. It's the best policy...Then, we start to grow up, our personalities start to be molded by what we see, who we are around and what we think is cool. By twenty-something years old we feel like we have mild grasp on who we are and what we do. If you're anything like me, there are times where you question everything. The who, what, where, when and why of our lives becomes as clear as mud and it is this point where honesty and truth are extremely important. It is also extremely important when your president is okay with "alternative facts" and honesty is something you now have to search that much harder for...but that's just a little insight into my political ideals. We won't get into that.
Anyway, back to the point. Somewhere along the line, we enter into a sort of second reality where (this may be a biased view) bullshit rains supreme and hopping on a bandwagon is the easiest thing to do. I'll be the first to admit that there is a time where that is extremely comfortable. However, there's always an alternative. It is the difference between taking the blue pill and taking the red pill, for all us Matrix fans out there. One will allow you to to simply wake up, go to sleep and find something to fill the time in between without really living at all. The other allows you to go passed to surface and start to find honesty and truths you never really thought you'd find and then the living really starts.
At first it might be scary, intimidating and unusual but then without any heads up it all becomes, for lack of a better term, just fuckin' cherry. For me, it was all these things. I've gone through points of extreme uncertainty in my life, but the one thing that always remained constant was the camera. No matter what I had going on in my head, I could always find comfort and honesty when I looked through the view finder. It is that reason that I love photography so damn much. It has always been honest. With it, I am able to capture real, raw and truthful images and express the things that I'm not sure how to put into words. What really helped me at that time, was the truth of it all.
To me, that is what makes photography so epic. When I shoot, I strive to capture exactly what is there and how its happening. That is where the beauty is found. In the moment and in the details that are captured within the frame. Being able to tell stories, capture moments and provide honest work is what drives me to keep creating.
The images below are some of my favorite images that I've taken over the last few years. In each of them, there is a distinct feeling that each of them provide. What I tried to capture in the first image was the content, calm and solemn personality of the Portuguese model boat maker. In the second, the bond between mother and daughter that can exist anywhere in the world. Finally, in the third, the brotherhood of two stoked and spent Lake Superior surfers. All of these have an element of truth to them. Each of the images is a brief moment in time that may not ever happen again. No posing, no studio lights, no fancy camera tricks...Just real.
