59 images Created 25 Oct 2020
l'Amitié Éclairant le Monde : La Relation Franco-Américaine dans la Ville Lumière
People are different. Cultures are different. Nations and their traditions are different. France and America are different.
It is easy to see what divides people, cultures, and nations from one another. Emotions rise when we become divided. What isn’t always so apparent is what binds people and countries to work together. What makes us cooperate with one another to reach common ground? How can two nations and their peoples help one another to pursue a collective goal beyond their individual interests? I asked myself this question about the French-American friendship, which dates back to the very founding of the United States.
Born in Ohio and raised in Arizona, I grew up very American. My hometown of Tucson never provided the opportunity to look further out into the world than where my next four-hour bike ride could take me. Thus, my upbringing was not unique nor extraordinary—except my mother was French. She was born and raised in Paris and immigrated to America when her own mother married an American GI after the Second World War. The roots of her French childhood have always been part of my own life. Two large maps of Paris cover most of our living room wall. Those maps and the stories of my mom’s childhood taught me that the world was larger than the one I was living in. After graduating from university, I traveled to Europe for what was supposed to be a three-month European tour. In the more-than 20 years since that trip, I have only returned to the States on vacation. I found my home in France, and soon after in Paris.
Differences in people and cultures have always interested me. Listening to people’s stories and how they arrived at where they are now fascinates me. Listening to their stories of their origins helps me understand them, and by extension, myself.
Going one step further to understand the relationship that the United States and France have developed, I am now examining the connections between my native country and the country I have adopted. How have they built a better alliance over the years? My essay, told with photography, focuses on the individuals, the stories, and the interwoven partnerships between the New World & the Old World.
My medium of expression has always been visual. Over time I’ve to get past the technical and mathematical hurdles of photography to learn how to really look at my subjects to capture the feelings they create. I want to take the time to study my subjects—in portraiture, still life, or architectural photography. Through the darkness, I search to find the light behind a person’s eyes. The beauty of an organic being and its relationship with its surroundings. The meaning of the interplay of the lines of materials of a manmade structure to its environment. How do I represent the feelings that I have about a certain subject and represent that through my lens? By looking closely, seeing the interplay of light and darkness, I search to understand the subject, and thus myself: a citizen of two countries.
It is easy to see what divides people, cultures, and nations from one another. Emotions rise when we become divided. What isn’t always so apparent is what binds people and countries to work together. What makes us cooperate with one another to reach common ground? How can two nations and their peoples help one another to pursue a collective goal beyond their individual interests? I asked myself this question about the French-American friendship, which dates back to the very founding of the United States.
Born in Ohio and raised in Arizona, I grew up very American. My hometown of Tucson never provided the opportunity to look further out into the world than where my next four-hour bike ride could take me. Thus, my upbringing was not unique nor extraordinary—except my mother was French. She was born and raised in Paris and immigrated to America when her own mother married an American GI after the Second World War. The roots of her French childhood have always been part of my own life. Two large maps of Paris cover most of our living room wall. Those maps and the stories of my mom’s childhood taught me that the world was larger than the one I was living in. After graduating from university, I traveled to Europe for what was supposed to be a three-month European tour. In the more-than 20 years since that trip, I have only returned to the States on vacation. I found my home in France, and soon after in Paris.
Differences in people and cultures have always interested me. Listening to people’s stories and how they arrived at where they are now fascinates me. Listening to their stories of their origins helps me understand them, and by extension, myself.
Going one step further to understand the relationship that the United States and France have developed, I am now examining the connections between my native country and the country I have adopted. How have they built a better alliance over the years? My essay, told with photography, focuses on the individuals, the stories, and the interwoven partnerships between the New World & the Old World.
My medium of expression has always been visual. Over time I’ve to get past the technical and mathematical hurdles of photography to learn how to really look at my subjects to capture the feelings they create. I want to take the time to study my subjects—in portraiture, still life, or architectural photography. Through the darkness, I search to find the light behind a person’s eyes. The beauty of an organic being and its relationship with its surroundings. The meaning of the interplay of the lines of materials of a manmade structure to its environment. How do I represent the feelings that I have about a certain subject and represent that through my lens? By looking closely, seeing the interplay of light and darkness, I search to understand the subject, and thus myself: a citizen of two countries.
