Friday, October 09, 2009WHO IS MY NEIGHBOR? Photo Project {Meet Trike}
This project is harder than I thought it would be!
I brought my camera with me to get my coffee this morning in the hopes of spotting a unique individual to photograph and meet. I stood in line scanning the café filled with people on laptops and the occasional couple in conversation. A couple of people stood out to me. They guy with tattooed arms and the greaser hair deeply engrossed into the glow of his online face-space community. Another young bearded man on his laptop who I sized up as a gamer/tech-nerd. And I couldn’t bring myself to interrupting either of these individuals in such a public atmosphere.
That’s when I saw through the glass windows a man warming himself in the morning sun. He looked comfortably sunk into his electric wheelchair as if he was reporting for a days work of guarding the staircase that led to the downtown movie theater. Curiosity gripped me. I had seen this man around before. Then I wondered how often had I seen him and just walked past. With that thought fear welled up within me and I was tempted to bail on my morning attempt at meeting my neighbor. It seemed harder to approach him because he was in a wheelchair. Why was that?! What inhibitions in me wrestled against my desire to step out of my comfort zone.
With a big gulp of my hazelnut mocha I walked out of Starbucks and straight towards him with a sideways smile and my photography proposal. He was happy to have me photograph him because he would like to send pictures to his son. He said he hangs out downtown everyday. Meet Trike; my neighbor and new friend.
I brought my camera with me to get my coffee this morning in the hopes of spotting a unique individual to photograph and meet. I stood in line scanning the café filled with people on laptops and the occasional couple in conversation. A couple of people stood out to me. They guy with tattooed arms and the greaser hair deeply engrossed into the glow of his online face-space community. Another young bearded man on his laptop who I sized up as a gamer/tech-nerd. And I couldn’t bring myself to interrupting either of these individuals in such a public atmosphere. That’s when I saw through the glass windows a man warming himself in the morning sun. He looked comfortably sunk into his electric wheelchair as if he was reporting for a days work of guarding the staircase that led to the downtown movie theater. Curiosity gripped me. I had seen this man around before. Then I wondered how often had I seen him and just walked past. With that thought fear welled up within me and I was tempted to bail on my morning attempt at meeting my neighbor. It seemed harder to approach him because he was in a wheelchair. Why was that?! What inhibitions in me wrestled against my desire to step out of my comfort zone.
With a big gulp of my hazelnut mocha I walked out of Starbucks and straight towards him with a sideways smile and my photography proposal. He was happy to have me photograph him because he would like to send pictures to his son. He said he hangs out downtown everyday. Meet Trike; my neighbor and new friend.
Labels: Who Is My Neighbor? -Project
posted by Cameron Ingalls at
12:51 PM
5 Comments:
proud of you for being bold and stepping outside of yourself. it's only then that we learn so much about ourselves and what our maker is doing in us.
WAY TO GO CAM!!! I love this story. That made me cry that he wants to send the picture to his son. Thanks for the inspiration to step out of the box. :)
i really love your idea -- challenging yourself to meet your neighbor. i have really wanted to borrow your idea and challenge myself. getting outside my comfort zone is really hard. I also have to say, your honesty in your personal posts always moves me. it's so real and i really appreciate it!
i have to say, i really love this new project you have started. like others have said, it has totally inspired me to step out of the box myself. i have been praying for ways to make my photography really mean something and i think this leads to some great opportunities.
trike looks awesome.
i'm inspired by this project, cameron. approaching a stranger to make a portrait is something i've never been able to talk myself into. it's good to hear these reservations that you have, and then see that you pushed passed them and made something out of the situation. i gotta do this!
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