Either my passion in life is greater than everyone elses, my local readers and their friends and family have a distinct lack of passion, people are very camera shy, or I've been quite misunderstood in what I'm looking for.
*_Dum Vivimus, Vivamus!_*
h2. the past.
Some time ago (over 4 months now) "I set out to find an unconnected group of people alive with passion":http://djamesphoto.com/articles/2006/02/10/models-wanted for some aspect of their lives. Unfortunately, other than a recent lead with a writer, the few remaining responses I've received have involved objects or things that are enjoyed in the respondants life, but not anything that affects their life in a large way or occupies even a portion of the majority of the days in any given year.
h2. artists.
The only real difference between an "artist" and someone with passion is that the artist is capable of focused his passion into a medium that can be digested by one of the 5 human senses. That doesn't make non-artists any less passionate.
Nearly all artists have day-jobs. Even those that get paid to produce thier art still have aspects of their day-to-day requirements that venture from what they really want to be doing: the day-job. Even the most successful portrait photographer finds himself prefering to create fantastic photographs of people in a giant box lined with pillows than to photograph the "next big thing" author for the back cover of her new book. The difference between the day-job and the art is the passion.
h2. I want your passion.
I want to know what you do when you're not doing your day-job. I want to know how you'd spend your time if you had no obligations. I want to know what you think about when you've got nothing more important to consider. I don't care if you don't think it's photograph-able… that's my job. I just want to know what it is.
So, right now — right this very moment — if you're willing to allow me to photograph your passion some time in the near future, email me and tell me what it is you are passionate about. Don't just tell me what it is… tell me why you're passionate about it, how it affects you, what it makes you feel, how it changes your life, how you fold it (willingly or otherwise) into your every day life.
Just in case there's still some confusion, let me give you some examples of what I would write to me if I were doing what I'm asking you to do:
h2. some of my passions.
People.
I'm passionate about people. As nervous as it makes me, at times, I love meeting new people. I like watching complete strangers interact with one another. I like interacting with people I don't know even when I know I'll never get a chance to speak to them again. Before it was forbidden by federal law, I used to spend hours sitting at the airport watching people meet one another in the terminal, watching their reactions: from tight hugs and passionate kisses, hearty handshakes and big smiles, to rolling eyes and twirling hair. I use photography as a means of focusing in on this passion… as an introduction to more people, and as an excuse to dig deeper into human nature.
Communication.
Tied into my passion for people, I'm deeply interested in communication. I believe that this world is filled with people with so many interesting things to say wanting so deeply to find other people interested in those things. I enjoy reading old letters, eavesdropping on conversations on buses, and talking to people about their lives. From text messaging to IM to email to hand written letters to phone calls to website comments… I love reaching out to people and finding a common bond.
Technology.
Some people look at technology as something that will eventually take over the natural world. I, however, look at technology as the next natural progression. I am fascinated by the sheer number of tasks that have been rendered obsolete in my short lifetime alone, let alone in the thousands and thousands of years before me. I'm not only interested in what's around the corner, but I'm also interested in learning what has been forgotten over the years thanks to technology. For instance, how did someone make a cake 1,500 years ago? Where did they get their supplies? What did they cook it in? My passion for technology often tends to center around my passion for communication as I look for new ways that technology can help people communicate better.
Honesty.
I regard truth and honesty above all things. This ties in to my passion for Communication. I wish to never be lied to and I wish to never have to tell a lie. I wish to never have an opinion muted so as to not hurt my feelings. I want to understand every inside joke. I wish to never be misunderstood. I wish to not have to play games where I know what I want and I know what you want and yet neither of us is willing to tell the other. I want to no longer see you pretend to feel or believe one way because you're afraid of what society or your friends or your spouse might thing if you believed another way. I wish to live without ambiguity.
*_Dum Vivimus, Vivamus!_*
