Street Photography Awards 2015

The Music between Us Music is the universal language of mankind.” ― Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Music is the great uniter. An incredible force, from hearing our first lullabies as infants to the funeral rites that mark our passing, music plays an important role in our lives, forging connections, one person to another. Inspired by my passion for music and performance, I wander the streets, more than a spectator, beyond the listening, seeing and feeling, I’m absorbing, seeking to capture the spirit and emotion music evokes in the human psyche. The artist performs for money, for fame, for the love of the art. Street performers “buskers” entertain multitudes each year — their stage the sidewalks and the parks. Their existence adds richness and complexity to the canvas of their cities’ cultural landscape all over the world. While the money ebbs and flows, there is one thing for many of the street artists that’s lasting: the positive impact they have on the crowds they spellbind, breaking down global barriers and becoming the intersection between people of every race through the power of music and performance. For a few of the spectators, a street performer’s act is the realization of the impossible made possible…the fulfillment of their discarded dreams of traveling that road not taken. Giving life to that long-ago fantasy of being an artist: a singer, a dancer, a poet. “I couldn’t take the risk,” they think. “But look — Someone’s doing it. Someone took that leap of faith for the love of the art. They’re singing the song, doing the dance, speaking the words…and the world is their audience.”