Thanksgiving
I have friends sometimes push me by giving me a topic to shoot while I am on the road...this topic was titled "Thanksgiving". First I thought that maybe I should photograph things that I am thankful for personally, there is so much. I continued to reflect and concluded that it is not at all about me. I am thankful everyday for all the meaningful blessings in my life, but what about the less fortunate? My thoughts wandered to the people that are thankful each moment of every day for a stranger’s kindness or a safe place to sleep at night. I photographed a few different people that were living in the streets; beggars with a cup placed in front of them and people sleeping on sidewalks hoping for a donation. Then after I was certain I had captured the essence of Thanksgiving I encountered this woman on the steps of a church in Montmartre. She was quiet and reserved and only held out her hand as tourists marched by to see the sights of this magnificent cathedral, leaving behind a woman less fortunate to humble herself and beg for subsistence. Each time someone dropped a coin into her palm her burden for that day became slightly lighter. This image is dedicated to the less fortunate in hopes that it will remind us all of those that are truly thankful.