street photography based in Buffalo, New York by Rachele Schneekloth
Han-Shan, that great and crazy, wonder-filled
Chinese poet of a thousand years ago, said:
We’re just like bugs in a bowl.
All day going around
Never leaving their bowl.
I say, that’s right! Every day
climbing up the steep sides,
sliding back. Over and over again.
Around and back down.
Up and around.
Sit in the bottom of the bowl,
head in your hands, cry, moan,
feel sorry for yourself.
Or.
Look around.
See your fellow bugs.
Walk around. Say,
Hey, how you doin’?
Say, Nice bowl!
By David Budbill
My Buffalo street photography project is a love letter to this place and to all of the people who live here. I see street portraits as invitations; they welcome curiosity, insight, empathy, alignment, imagination… The images in the series originate with a spark of connection between the humans on either side of the camera, and are created in a context of mutual respect and appreciation. My goal is to portray the authentic person before me, as they wish to be portrayed, and show them how beautiful and interesting they are. The relationship continues when I am able to find this person again to gift them their prints. We talk, we take more pictures, we are delighted to see each other, until next time! The love letter is from all of us, to all of us.
Though I have lived in Buffalo for most of my life, I have never truly seen it before now… this project nestles me into this place and shows me, and hopefully you too, the friendliness, human dignity, and joy in our gorgeous and gritty neighborhoods. Thank you to all of the people who have welcomed me into their lives by allowing me to photograph them and create these images to share with the world!
Rachele Schneekloth
