The Survivor

I had been in San Francisco around 2003 - eager and wanting to know more about this medium; about photographing the human condition. During this period I once again flocked to the depths of the library in pursuit of images that would lead my eye towards light; technique and the understanding of why. Why was this medium of capturing life so important and intriguing to my very own vision? During my quest, I found images from various photographers who had captured Romanian orphans - chained to their piss-soaked bed frames, undernourished and on the verge of death. These photographs had a profound impact on my mental state. For days I wandered throughout the city thinking of these children and how powerful images were. I needed to find these corners of the world myself. 2011 was an odd time. I had walked down many roads after I had stumbled across these images of those 1980's orphans in the Eastern Block theater. There were many times of witnessing certain areas of the Middle East and Africa that would act as triggers to images in my own experience.  During that same year, I was asked if I would photograph a young man in his early twenties. He was a musician - a very talented one who was adopted into a family from America. He was of Romanian Gypsy decent. He was orphaned and had survived. I had the privilege of doing his portraits for his own musical pursuits. As I photographed him I thought back to those images I had seen. They were very dark; hellish even. Yet light had pushed in and this boy was saved; he was a survivor. After my work was done. we drove around the country and I captured this image of him; him in a traditional hata. He is Calin Matei. I write this post even though the stories are from times past, they are stories that must not hide in the drawer. They are the testimony, the testimony of survivors.