In Their Own Words

 As a professional studio photographer, I made much of my living photographing people in a way they wanted the world to see them.  Families would wear their best outfits to the studio because they knew their portraits would become art for their walls.  When producing headshots my job was to help them create an image that would either get them a corporate job, a theater role, or a modeling job. I was never really in the business of helping people tell their true stories.

I've always been interested in people and their stories, so I began this project to give the world a glimpse into the true person.  Each participant was asked to sit for a quick, not posed, but honest portrait.  They were told they could wear anything they wanted that would show the viewer something about them or help present a statement that they wanted to make.  They were also told that I wanted them to write a short statement.  Again I gave them almost no instructions.  The idea, I told them, was to write something that they wanted to say to the world.  It could be autobiographical, encouraging, their philosophy of life, or they could simply complain.  The only real rules were that it had to be in their handwriting and fit on a 4x6 file card.

The project has no ending date and will never be completed. It will just continue to expand as long as there are interesting people in the world.