Split, Croatia - A young man walks by a school, plastered with graffiti. The sound of children fluttering around classes echo down onto the streets below, filling the surrounding area with an unrecognizable hum. I had parked across the street earlier in the day before I set off wandering around town. After a couple hours, I returned to my car and started packing up, but noticed this giant blank canvas in front of me. I walked back a bit and sat on a knee high retaining wall, patiently waiting for the right person to walk by. Sometimes I would see someone walking, and I would get excited, but a car would pass in front of me just as they moved into position. It took a bit; maybe 30 minutes before Mr. Fannypack found his way into my frame.
The Outer Reaches of Space
Music has always been a huge part of my life. At a young age, my mother forced me to play the piano for 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week. I hated every minute of it. It wasn’t until I quit taking lessons 7 years later that I really started to appreciate it. These days, if I get a chance, I still like to sit down and play what I can remember, but if I could learn any new instrument, it would be the violin. It is such a passionate instrument that elicits so much emotion. Hopefully one of these days i'll be able to sit down and give it a try.
In a nondescript building nestled in downtown Salt Lake City, sits one of the world’s top violin making schools, where people from all over spend years learning the intricacies that are required to produce the instruments that in turn create the music that moves the deepest part of the soul.
I spent some time walking around, shooting some photos, watching how focused all the students were, and the level of attentiveness was mind blowing. Throughout my time there, they talked to each other, and told jokes, but when it came time to work on their violin, their gaze steadied and the conversations drifted off into the outer reaches of space.
The Faceless Have Names
Guangzhou, China- The faceless have names, but we don't know them. They have lives that we can only imagine. Their feelings and dreams escape us constantly, but within an image, we can see it, feel it. They feel just as we feel; heartache, happiness, love, desire. Each day we wake up in the morning, our eyes opening after a sleepless night. Scanning the ceiling, we make an effort to move. We consciously force ourselves out of bed. Why? Because every human being on the planet has an innate desire to be someone. We go to school, brush our hair, put on clothes, all because we want to be remembered. For some, though, it isn't about being remembered, it's about surviving.