Our next stranger is a fellow photographer that I met while wondering through uptown Charlotte on a Saturday afternoon.
Meet Sharon.
Sharon lives in Charlotte and was out doing some candid street photography. She recently graduated from college and is taking a year off before pursuing her next plan.
What advice would you give your younger self? “Don’t focus so much on the journey that you forget to live for the moment.”
What are your goals? “I’m interested in medicine so I trying to find the next step to get into med school. Short-term goal is to get into med school and then long-term is saving lives both spiritually and physically.”
“Because I feel like so many people are internally broken. Spiritually they are just so hurt. It’s like you can help someone physically, but if you’re not targeting what’s going on spiritually with obesity, heart disease, diabetes and mental health issues… You can use medicine all you want to externally, but internally there’s something that’s impinging on that and not allowing them to completely be healed.”
“A lot of things that happen with cardiology specifically and obesity… you help the person lose ten pounds and then they go right back to gaining another twenty pounds because there’s something going on internally within them.”
We then talked about how healthcare system is guilty of treating symptoms rather than curing patients. “And that’s my goal to change that. It’s horrible that’s all it does is just helps the symptoms and just puts a band aid on someone and then they go back home and do the exact same thing.”
“It’s a whole cycle. It’s a never-ending cycle in the sense that the people in power don’t want to break that cycle. They love it because it’s giving them revenue. And it’s hard for doctors because it’s like we want to be doctors but we can’t go against this policy or else we won’t be able to practice.”
“My long term goal is getting into the World Health Organization to medically and globally impact health.”
It was a pleasure to meet you Sharon. Thank you for brightening my day.
Technical Notes: We were in an open plaza with light grey pavers. The sun was blocked but was reflecting off a nearby building. I normally don’t pose subjects looking straight on, but I chose this shot because it evoked so much power and confidence.
During our photo shoot, I told Sharon in a silly voice “If you want to smile, that would be amaaaazing…” She produced the most exaggerated smile and then proceeded to crack up. As much as I love posed portraits, there’s something special about those natural moments that happen spontaneously.
Dan Russell-Pinson 