Have you ever wondered what it would be like to hear the stories from those right within your city, those that you might pass in the grocery store or walk by on the street? I wondered that myself, and that is why I started a local photo series called #ThePeopleOfGrandRapids. I will be sharing this series with our community here on The Rapidian.
Photos from the series will be featured on The Rapidian as a front page Photo of the Day each Monday and Friday, and will be shared by The Rapidian on Instagram and Facebook.
How did I get to this series? Well, first we have to go back to understand a little bit about me. I'm originally from Monrovia, Liberia on the west coast of Africa. I have lived in Grand Rapids pretty much most of my life since my family and I moved over here when I was of the age of three. I was blessed to spend my collegiate years in Kalamazoo at Western Michigan University, where in 2014, I graduated with a degree in Creative Writing. While at Western Michigan my love for taking pictures, influenced by other creatives and photographers, slowly grew into a business.
Besides photography and writing, I love the boldness and individuality of fashion, the joys of shopping and finding that one piece of clothing you've been looking for that goes with that one outfit, occasionally reading, doing spoken word and pretty much delighting in all things creative. That delight in creative things and boldness and individuality lead me to start learning more about the people I was seeing on the street, and photographing them to accompany their stories.
#ThePeopleOfGrandRapids photo series was birthed from the collaboration of a collection of things, my love and desire for perspective and wisdom, my passion for photography and writing intertwined with my discontentment of living in Michigan- pretty obscure combination huh? So I started this series intending to bring perspective, wisdom and insight from those I don't know, not knowing that would also gain acquaintances and connections from other creatives and artists.
Since I have started the series in early May, I have had numerous people that I've never met mention me on Twitter. Their excitement and appreciation for the series, along with friends and associates saying how much they love the series and offering their help in collecting stories, helped me continue on in my pursuit of capturing our local people.
I also had the privilege and honor to be the second person to do a week long Instagram takeover for Grand Rapids Magazine, and was featured on @iheartgr Instagram for their edition of #FollowerFriday.
As a creative it would be easy for me to give you what I want you as the reader to take from reading these stories that I present. That would limit both of us. I feel comfortable and confident that whatever you take from this series will be beneficial and of value to you.
Along with following along on The Rapidian, be sure to search the hashtag #ThePeopleOfGrandRapids on @instagram or Twitter to check out past stories and be introduced to new ones.
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