Humans, Not Resources

I became a photographer because I was frustrated. I was looking for a job and I was not being seen. It’s still that way. We don’t see people, we see names, job titles, buzzwords. And I thought, there’s got to be a way to break through all this. We are human beings, not cogs in machines. I want to feel people, experience their warmth. So I thought that maybe I could capture that in photographs, in portraits.

I started the Humans not Resources campaign in order to make the point that we are so much more than slots on org charts. And there’s no one who knows this better than the human resource people themselves, so I am not maligning them. But it’s easy to forget about the people we work with, we work for, who work for us. My goal is to remind us that we are surrounded by multi-dimensional beings who glow with an inner light that transcends jobs, work, money.

Years later I continue to seek out and reveal humans. I’ve now done hundreds of portraits. I’ve done people’s dating sites, their LinkedIN pages, and many corporate websites’ About Us pages. That’s my favorite thing to do. Whole teams. I miss being part of a team, but when I do one of these shoots I experience the vicarious thrill of that esprit de corps. For an hour or so, I’m on the team.

I’m still taking photos for the same reason. It helps me to see people, to get to know them. This is not a job for me, it’s a calling. And that makes it hard sometimes because I do have to eat and pay rent. I don’t always get to photograph people. I don’t always get to be part of the team. And sometimes that’s lonely. But that’s part of being human. We all want to be part of something greater than ourselves. I think we want to be resources for other people. We just want to be recognized once in awhile. We want to be seen.