New Year New Me

Trying to get my thoughts together to write this one . Well , here we are at 2020 , the end or beginning of a decade . Won’t admit how many I’ve seen but it’s been more then a few .

So , it’s a time of reflection , a time for resolutions, I personally didn’t really set any resolution for myself but I did reflect on what I’ve been doing with photography.

The back story of what I’m thinking about is based on the things I see on Twitter . I follow the group in Syria called The White Helmets and see their photos and videos of what’s happening in that part of the world . ( I can personally say that I can sit at home , sleep at night without worrying about a Russian bomb dropping through my roof . )

What does Syria have to do with me ? Actually nothing at all , I’m not Syrian , I’m not muslim , in fact I have no religious affiliation. Born in Chicago , grew up near Cleveland and in New Jersey now . But , what I did see , my photos mean nothing . I do a photoshoot of a dancer , I covered 20+ parades last year . Always fun happy moments in general .

1st 2 are my photos 2nd from white helmets on Twitter .

Am I on my way to photo in Syria ? No .. if you ask me if I would go to photo , yes as I sit here writing this I would , but, I have to remember that when I arrived I wouldn’t be immune to the death and destruction in a war zone . When I’m looking through my camera lens I feel invisible to the world , I see you but you don’t see me . But it’s not reality , so if I was there , I would realize that I’m flesh and blood just like everyone else there in a dangerous place .

So in the end I’m torn , I’ll still continue doing what I do , parades , shoots , nature etc . But I want to do more ” real life ” work in the upcoming year . Things like shooting fashion shows , celebrities really seems irrelevant to me at this point .

This weekend I’ll start with shooting the No Fear No Hate March in New York City . No it’s not dangerous, but it’s important . I’m 100% against any type of discrimination, race , religion etc etc . So I want to get shots here .