Raleigh Durham Chapel Hill Wedding Photography

Confession time:

I’m not southern, and sometimes, the  transition to The South and Being Southern hasn’t been all unicorns and rainbows. I feel like there is so much tradition and history to the south and I can’t really find my place in it. I’m not descended from people who came to America on the mayflower, or fought in the civil war, or farmed. Anything. Ever. At any point in time. Southerners have a deep sense of belonging to a place that I don’t really understand well at all, and that I’m slightly jealous of.

But I’m learning to find my own way.  Sometimes it’s by bonding with fellow transplants from California, and finding our way together. Sometimes it’s just about wandering around looking for things I can learn to love. I can’t say I’ve found a place I love, but there are some people and some experiences I’ve come to value that I could only learn here.

For example,I’ve learned how to make small talk. I couldn’t do that before. And honestly, when we first came to North Carolina, and people would make small talk, I was totally mystified. What did I say to these people? But I decided to go with it, and one day talked with an elderly lady about how much she missed her kids, right there in the middle of  the pasta/Italian themed aisle at Kroger.  I wish I had brought my camera. And then there was another lady who thought I should be come a Catholic, and Jana, from Bosnia, who became a casual acquaintance before she moved. After a while, I realized I liked this small talk thing, and started striking up my own conversations about tattoos, whether or not people like their cars, their dogs, almost anything. It’s weird. I was not like that at all before I came here. And then I decided I should take this to a new level of awkward and uncomfortable for me as an “artist” (more on that later), and ask people if I can take their picture.

And then I met Gary. He was wandering around on the street in Raleigh.  He asked about my camera, and then if I was married. He said he’d never been married. He’s from Charlotte, and came to Raleigh from Fayetteville looking for work, which he can’t find. I commiserated. Trying to find a job is a job in itself. Then I did it. I asked if I could take his picture.

“What do you want to take a picture of me for?”

“So I can remember you.”

“There’s nothing to remember about me.”

“Everyone is worth remembering, dude. I’ll remember that you’re from everywhere in North Carolina, and I will always hope that your find a job” (fact: I call everyone Dude. My mom hates it. And I can’t stop.)

 

So this Gary. He’s the first random person I asked to photograph. He probably won’t be the last. And now you all know him and remember him.  Becuase everyone is worth remembering.