Bonnaroo 2017: Hundreds of people busily walked past them in the midnight hours, but they never saw one. With a small flashlight and the light of a cellphone, the two quietly enjoyed a romantic meal a minute past midnight. In the background, the sounds of Red Hot Chili Peppers fell over them.
“Every great love starts with a great story...” ― Nicholas Sparks, The Notebook
All ages having fun in the "Silent Disco" at Bonnaroo.
For those who have never been, it is a massive dance area under a tent with no audible music from the outside. You must wear your headphones or the headphones they provide for you. If you wear their headphones you hear the DJ (he can be seen in the background).
"Youth can not know how age thinks and feels. But old men are guilty if they forget what it was to be young.” ― J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
What were they saying to one another minutes before the performance of U2 at Bonnaroo? I have no idea? I could guess based on their actions after the short discussion I froze in time... It likely went like this...
Centipede man: Hey man, I can use this stuffed centipede to get us to the very front. What I will do is, hold it above my head and make it look like it is crawling towards the front and everyone will move out of our way. Are you in bud?
Bud: Nope, you are nuts
Centipede man: Watch this
Did it work? YES!
Music, art and light – all forms of energy that give you distinct feelings of freedom in a way that just words fail to give.
When I photograph at night I don't use a flash because of a fear that it would distort the light that I see. The reds at a concert, the light strings that someone swings around, the glow sticks tied to a persons body to show that he or she is in the moment, etc.
Bono of the group U2 was performing and those in attendance were in their own worlds taking on the feel that the music was introducing into their bodies. Some people were uniting together with smiles, some were crying while others were dancing with light.
During an interview that took place over 18 years ago, Bono told a reporter, “Music can change the world because it can change people.”
Bonnaroo at 2:00 Saturday morning (June 10, 2017).
It is always interesting to watch people and their reactions more so then what they are seeing to cause the reaction. To me, that is where the attention should be as it once was in magazines like LIFE, which we no longer have.
Why? Because Life is what we want to see and peoples reactions, be it happy or sad, that is where you get an understanding of what is real or how someone or a group of people feel.
If I focused on the entertainer it would simply be someone singing on a stage by himself or herself - no real expression of the moment can be seen in the entertainers face as it is often just another show.
Henry David Thoreau once wrote a profound statement that could easily describe Woodstock in 1969, our military forces when an entertainer visits a camp in Afghanistan or Bonnaroo in 2017. Thoreau wrote, “When I hear music, I fear no danger. I am invulnerable. I see no foe. I am related to the earliest times, and to the latest.” At concert venues far and wide, music is what peacefully brings people of all backgrounds, colors or nationalities together.
I guess what I enjoy about Bonnaroo more than the entertainers is the excitement in the air. The trusting of everyone. The total strangers greeting other strangers.
This couple, and I have no idea if they knew one another prior to the concerts, said to me, "Hey, take our picture!!" With the click of a shutter the moment was frozen in time with a massive techno concert in the background.
Bonnaroo is such an interesting place to visit.
While so many photographers were fixed on the entertainers, I was more curious as to the fans reacting to the entertainers at 2 in the morning.
I shot this photo while looking into the crowd from the photo pit area as "Russ" the rapper came out. The 24 year old from New Jersey had the crowds attention.
Russ gained his popularity thanks to the Soundcloud page where he was played more than 40 million times.
Mr. Russ the rapper below...
Outside the main entrance into the concert area of Bonnaroo 2017 sit two life sized kaleidoscopes. For those who enjoyed a little too much pleasure earlier in the day, your eyes can easily become glued to the multiple colors.
At 3AM on Saturday, he became glued.
Shadow people, the ones that most of us turn the other way when we see out of fear of being asked for money, a favor or perhaps a ride… They are everywhere.
What would happen if you turned towards them instead of away? Maybe you could brighten their day? You could take them some lunch? You could listen to them tell you about their troubles for five minutes.
In this photo, a 38 year old man who lives with a family member in Middle Tennessee.
“What men call the shadow of the body is not the shadow of the body, but is the body of the soul.” ― Oscar Wilde, A House of Pomegranates
LOCAL media has a lot of responsibility and that is not taken lightly.
I have noticed a growing trend in Middle Tennessee and far beyond. Quite often after a story is reported, published or broadcast, family members of the person arrested and named in an article, etc., will call the local media outlet demanding the story be removed.
Family will often state, "This story will cause too much harm to his/ her children, or mother or father, I insist you remove it - he/she is addicted to (name your drug)."
The fact is that he/she who committed the crime is the one causing damage to the family, not the media. The addiction is shaping their life in a horrible way. The crime is the aftermath of the addiction. The media has a job of making that addiction / crime known so others listening, watching or reading don't continue their narrow road and instead get help.
It could easily be argued that the majority of those arrested for serious crimes that are reported in the media have an addiction or a troubling and sad past. They need help, obviously.
Other times local media will receive a call or email suggesting that the family member arrested has a severe mental illness. While that maybe true, so do the majority of those arrested. The United States Department of Justice reports, “64 percent of local jail inmates, 56 percent of state prisoners and 45 percent of federal prisoners have symptoms of serious mental illnesses.” Again, a problem that needs to be reported so that change can happen.
If stories of such are NOT reported, then how will the public know of the issues we as a society need to work on?
For example, if someone is charged with DUI number 6, it should be reported by local media. If it is not reported, how would you realize that we have a problem with the way alcohol cases are treated by the laws we currently have in place? If it were not reported, how would you be reminded that many people in our society have extreme addiction and help is again needed.
Another example, when synthetic drugs were sold in gas stations as bath salts and persons on bath salts were arrested after getting high and randomly attacking and literally eating people, it was reported in local media. If things like that were not reported, then laws would not have been enacted to end the sale of bath salts in gas stations. Rehabilitation centers would not have known about some of the current drugs being used as swiftly had they not been reported in the local media first.
Local news is powerful and potentially life changing for the good, if used properly. It allows the residents of the community to help others like national media cannot do. It allows for big issues to be made known, laws to be changed and programs be developed to help the community as a whole as the result of the arrest of only a few.
One more thing... It allows those who are arrested for serious crimes to publicly choose to make a change for the good or to continue on their current road of destruction. Being publicly known means that the complaining family can fully address their loved one instead of hushing a hard conversation. Perhaps the problems have been kept behind closed doors for years and now it is out in the open. The story may create more pain in the present, but perhaps real recovery in the future - if properly addressed. It will also allow his/her children to know the true dangers of the addicted which means family can come along and fully support the children before that child makes life altering decisions for the negative.
As for how criminal names or stories are handled on social media with no heart whatsover, that is a problem of those commenting. Social media can be harsh because of people commenting without thinking.
I believe we should all take a step back before we comment and remember that we are about to comment on a real person who may have a very sad past of physical abuse, sexual abuse or an addiction. The person arrested could have a mental illness that has gone undiagnosed for years and years. Life is real and sometimes really hard.
I'll step down from my soap box now.
I took this photo in Nashville in 2015, I found it interesting how so many people are anxious to photograph what they believe to be newsworthy and comment about it on social media so quickly.
She is a domestic violence survivor in Middle Tennessee and she is holding her Bible open to one of her favorite verses, Psalms 96:
1 Sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all the earth.
2 Sing to the LORD, praise his name; proclaim his salvation day after day.
3 Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples.
4 For great is the LORD and most worthy of praise; he is to be feared above all gods.
5 For all the gods of the nations are idols, but the LORD made the heavens.
6 Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and glory are in his sanctuary.
7 Ascribe to the LORD, all you families of nations, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.
8 Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; bring an offering and come into his courts.
9 Worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness; tremble before him, all the earth.
10 Say among the nations, “The LORD reigns.” The world is firmly established, it cannot be moved; he will judge the peoples with equity.
11 Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let the sea resound, and all that is in it.
12 Let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them; let all the trees of the forest sing for joy.
13 Let all creation rejoice before the LORD, for he comes, he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in his faithfulness.
“I used to wake up some days and wished I’d have stayed asleep, because I went to bed on top of the world - Today, the world is on top of me,” she wrote after telling me that she has a story to tell. “I want to write a book,” she explained. She then said, “People wouldn’t believe what I have been through.”
She is quiet, yet strong. She is a domestic violence survivor who lives in Middle Tennessee.
The young lady, probably in her mid-twenties, then wrote, “These hands and I are headed for GREATNESS and touching everything I was told I would never see.”
Domestic violence is very real.
His hands helped to defend domestic violence. Today, he writes music and learns from the past.
Domestic Violence has a massive impact on society, all of which is negative. Did you realize, “Most cases of domestic violence are never reported to the police.” Source: Frieze, I.H., Browne, A. (1989) Violence in Marriage.
Tonight I met the man behind the curtain... The songwriter for the Tim McGraw song "Live Like You Were Dying." His name is Tim Nichols and that song holds some of my favorite lyrics within the notes:
"I was in my early forties
With a lot of life before me
And a moment came that stopped me on a dime
I spent most of the next days
Looking at the x-rays
Talkin' 'bout the options
And talkin' 'bout sweet time"
I asked him
"When it sank in
That this might really be the real end
How's it hit you
When you get that kind of news?
Man, what'd you do?"
He said
"I went skydiving
I went Rocky Mountain climbing
I went 2.7 seconds on a bull named Fumanchu
And I loved deeper
And I spoke sweeter
And I gave forgiveness I'd been denying"
And he said
"Someday I hope you get the chance
To live like you were dying"
He said
"I was finally the husband
That most of the time I wasn't
And I became a friend a friend would like to have
And all of a sudden going fishin'
Wasn't such an imposition
And I went three times that year I lost my dad
I finally read the Good Book, and I
Took a good, long, hard look
At what I'd do if I could do it all again
And then
I went skydiving
I went Rocky Mountain climbing
I went 2.7 seconds on a bull named Fumanchu
And I loved deeper
And I spoke sweeter
And I gave forgiveness I'd been denying"
And he said
"Someday I hope you get the chance
To live like you were dying
Like tomorrow was a gift
And you've got eternity
To think about
What you'd do with it
What could you do with it
What did I do with it?
What would I do with it?
On a cool May morning he quietly sat next to the sidewalk in front of a McDonalds in Nashville. As cars pulled away with their breakfast, he would smile and give a wave. But, I wanted to know more about him than his simple wave.
As we talked he would lean his head back as if that helped to recall old memories. “I started drinking when I was 2 years old,” he told me. Unable to believe him I had to ask if he meant 2, as in the number after 1. He smiled and reconfirmed, “2.”
“I’m from Mississippi and my parents were cotton farmers. When I was 2 (in 1955) they’d feed me a shot of whiskey and I’d fall asleep while they worked the fields,” he explained.
He gave me insight into his life and told me he eventually landed in Memphis, TN and got married. His wife died in the not so far away past. After she passed away he moved to Nashville in search of employment and sobriety. He went through a program in LaVergne, Tennessee where he got sober, but the employment didn’t last. But, he has been sober for 8 months now.
Albert is 64 years old and sober for one of the first times in his life, which is huge.
"The best way out is always through."- Robert Frost
Memorial Day, a time to remember our fallen veterans.
Photo of headstone for US Army Vietnam Veteran James Albert Thornburg of Tennessee. He served under the 1st Infantry Division, Battalion 8 in the 6/15th Artillery Company, Deadly Alpha from April of 1967 until April of 1968.
Thornburg received the National Defense Medal, Vietnam Service Medal, Vietnam Campaign Medal, Bronze Star with V Device and Two Oak Leaf Clusters, Army Commendation Medal, Good Conduct Medal, Unit Citation, and the Presidential Citation.
He died at age 56 in year 2002.
Slowly we sunk into the depth of the deep aqua colored sea descending about 28 feet for the first sculpture which appeared to be an explosive mind ready to detonate. As I swam north towards Isla Mujeres I came upon what looked to be a group of people frozen in time.
I noticed a small child sitting on an overturned bucket, a woman with her arms above her head as if she had just ran a race and was tired, unable to catch her breath. As I swam closer and deeper towards the silent crowd I witnessed what appeared to be a young man looking upwards in pain.
My scuba tank supplied my air and as I exhaled it almost gave life to some of the statues as bubbles of oxygen swarmed around the heads of the sculptures before me.
English sculptor Jason deCaires Taylor constructed over 500 life sized statues that were lowered into the Caribbean to demonstrate the interaction between art and environment. Each statue is attached to the seabed with material that promotes coral life allowing for the underworld of the sea to inhabit every square inch.
The exhibit is between the coast of Cancun and Isla Mujeres in Mexico.
The exhibit is called MUSA or Museo Subacuático de Arte. It was founded by Roberto Díaz Abraham, former President of the Cancun Nautical Association and Jaime González Cano, Director of the National Marine Park.
He is holding up a silver chain explaining the difference of his jewelry verses the jewelry many tourist buy on the streets. “This is real, see the weight difference,” he said as he weighed the chain offered in his store and then weighed a chain that is sold on the street.
Visiting the small shops is always a pleasure in cities throughout Mexico as you can see the definition of family. In this case, he works with both his mother and father at the family run business. His daughter watched TV as he waited on customers in the store. This is true for many of the businesses there.
Like many cemeteries in other countries, the handmade casket is in a vault above ground. Families often add their own taste of elaborate decorations and tiles to make each marker stand out and look unique.
Many of the cemeteries in the larger cities of Mexico are out of space. Therefore, when what are called burial rights expire, the remains will be dug up about 5 to 7 years after the original burial. At that time, the remains will be given to a family member in a black plastic bag. The family will then cremate the remains.
Sad, but true in the much more populated areas of Mexico.
She was walking up and down the beach located on Isla Mujeres, which is a 20 minute boat ride from Cancun, while holding the head of a white female in her right hand. At first glance, it may appear to be a bit odd. But, on closer inspection the head was simply modeling the braids that she aims to put on long haired tourist for a small fee. The money that she makes helps to feed her family.
