This is your life

"One day, you’re 17 and you’re planning for someday. And then quietly, without you ever really noticing, someday is today. And then someday is yesterday. And this is your life." - John Green

Live Simply

He walked up to me and said, "I like your shirt.... Wait, what's it say?"  I told him it says "Live Simply." He said, "I like that, I live simple." 

Hey man, how's it going

"Hey man, how's it going," he said to me. "I'm good, how are you?" He told me he was blessed. He said he has two kids, both grown, and is lucky to have watched them grow. 

Make a mean face

As I approached this man I pulled the camera to my eye. He turned to look at me and I simply said, "Make a mean face." He laughed and said, "Okay." Click. Got it. I then took a few more shots... see above. 

I worked in a Feed mill

I asked the simple question, "Where are you from?" He told me he was from Chapel Hill, Tennessee. When he lived there he worked in a feed mill for the larger portion of his life. He has since moved to Nashville. Over that time period, he has suffered at least one stroke and one heart attack. Regardless, he still walks everywhere he goes with his wife. The two have been married for well over 30-years. 

"Your eyes, they are different colors," I stated. He told me, "I was born that way, I always thought it was neat too." 

My down time

“It is what you read when you don't have to that determines what you will be when you can't help it.” - Oscar Wilde

Interesting people shot...

I love interesting couple shots. I took this picture in Nashville. I don't really have a story to share about this couple, just thought the shot was interesting, along with them together. 

With this couple, I felt that she wore the boots... This below quote came to mind. I once heard it in an interview Marilyn Monroe did. It was one of those history shows. 

“I'm selfish, impatient and a little insecure. I make mistakes, I am out of control and at times hard to handle. But if you can't handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don't deserve me at my best.” ― Marilyn Monroe

Bang This?

These two men were sitting at a restaurant in downtown Nashville, Tennessee. I talked to them, but I got no response. The beards are real. The shirts are real. They are real. They look nearly identical. Very odd and very, very funny. 

My night is my day

I have to admit, walking around downtown Atlanta, GA is somewhat depressing. It would appear, just by observation, they have one of the biggest homeless problems in the south. People are sleeping on the sidewalks, eating out of trashcans, all in the shadows of business men and women walking to work, tourist heading to attractions and politicians headed to meetings. But what can be done? Mental illness looks to be the biggest problem among the homeless I have talked to in places like Atlanta. 

Atlanta is my home

"At any given time today in America, there are about half a million people who are "homeless" -- they don't have a “permanent, safe, decent, affordable place to live.” Around the world there are about 100 million homeless people, and many of them are women and children." -- Robert Alan Silverstein

I like the spikes on the hat

"I sell these hats," he said. "Where did you sleep last night," I asked? He pointed at a concrete wall, "Right over there." He then told me that his boss was on the way and had a push cart filled with hats for him to sell throughout the day in downtown Atlanta. 

Sleeping the night off

Sleeping the previous night off... "Why do alcoholics begin down the same hazardous road day after day? They are in search of that elusive window of well-being that opens when you drink your way out of a hangover and aren't yet drunk all over again. The alcoholic's day consists of trying to keep that window open."

-Roger Ebert

Missed the curfew for homeless

He told me, "Is there anyway you could buy me some chips? I would love some chips. I missed my curfew for the shelter." I said, "What do you mean curfew?" He told me if you wanted to stay in the shelter located in downtown Atlanta, GA, you had to check in by 7PM. It was 9PM. He said it was too far to walk tonight. That being said, I walked into the CVS and bought him chips, beef jerky and two Gatorade's. 

Can't go hungry

"We come here every Sunday. Churches bring a feast. If you go hungry in downtown Atlanta, you're an idiot, I'm sorry, something is wrong with you. We have food on every corner." That... is what he told me. I looked around and saw ten to fifteen homeless waiting for the good church to show up with food. 

Living from day to day

"We think sometimes that poverty is only being hungry, naked and homeless. The poverty of being unwanted, unloved and uncared for is the greatest poverty. We must start in our own homes to remedy this kind of poverty." - Mother Teresa