Humans of Grand Rapids

"My uncle is Dick Richards. Bozo the Clown. The very first Bozo the Clown. But you don't see his happy ass on TV anymore. But you can always hear his big mouth on the radio, doing Skywatch Traffic." [Photointerview by Adam]

Humans of Grand Rapids

"What's your future look like?" "I don't know, I'd say... Hopeful? I like to have a positive outlook on things, and I've got a lot of faith." [Photointerview by Adam]

Humans of Grand Rapids

"How long have you been married?" "52 years." "And what have you learned about each other in that time?" "That at this point, it just makes more sense to wait it out." [photointerview by Adam]

Humans of Grand Rapids

“Can you tell me about a time in your life you were really grateful?” “... uh. Well, I’m not like sad but.. You know? I got problems, just like everybody else. I just try to accept it. Accepting can be key whether you can doing something about it or not... and it’s really hard to do. I just thank God when I wake up the next day.”

Humans of Grand Rapids

(1/3) “Now, I know how expensive this shit is! I know how much money you make! You can make a lotta muthafuckin money doing that shit!” “Hey! He’s trying to ask you a question Ron.” “What was the hardest thing you’ve ever had to do?” “Survive out here,” she says. He says, “The hardest thing I’ve had to do out here is be obedient.”

Humans of Grand Rapids

(2/3) “Now, I know how expensive this shit is! I know how much money you make! You can make a lotta muthafuckin money doing that shit!” “Hey! He’s trying to ask you a question Ron.” “What was the hardest thing you’ve ever had to do?” “Survive out here,” she says. He says, “The hardest thing I’ve had to do out here is be obedient.”

Humans of Grand Rapids

(3/3) “Now, I know how expensive this shit is! I know how much money you make! You can make a lotta muthafuckin money doing that shit!” “Hey! He’s trying to ask you a question Ron.” “What was the hardest thing you’ve ever had to do?” “Survive out here,” she says. He says, “The hardest thing I’ve had to do out here is be obedient.”

Humans of Grand Rapids

“What do you think the future looks like?” “I think things looks alright. But I think we might be having a bubble in the market though, we might have a problem there… But it’s hard to tell. Like with my generation, people thought that, with the Vietnam war, we would have to fight Communists and that that was going to be the problem, this country turning Communist… So you just have to keep an open mind and keep moving forward. But I have terminal cancer so I’ve been given 6 months to 5 years left to live…” “That’s an interestingly wide range” “Haha, yeah it is. It’s been a year since they gave me that diagnosis. I mean, I’m in the stage of my life where I’m just trying to enjoy it as much as I can for as long as I can and to not worry too much about anything else.”

Humans of Grand Rapids

“I got really really terrified the first time I ever went scuba diving. My friend talked me into doing it. I’m not a water person at all!”

Humans of Grand Rapids

“I’m an environmentalist, so I think that we are facing a very serious point, I hope that we will be seeing a transformation of the world and people from this over into something more sustainable and positive.”

Humans of Grand Rapids

"One time, when I was a little girl, we were in the back of the car and my mother was late for something. There was some road closing, and she decided to chance it and cut through... turns out it was wet cement!"

Humans of Grand Rapids

"What is your greatest fear?" "Dying with regrets."

Humans of Grand Rapids

"What do you think the future looks like?" "Shitty." "Shitty?" "Yeah, Jesus is coming back. That part wont be shitty though, but for those 10 years..." [sign reads: hungover, need change for hair of the dog]

Humans of Grand Rapids

“What is something you’re very proud of?” “I’m proud of having the ability to have and to show love for everybody equally. I don’t care if they come out of a gutter or a penthouse, it don’t make a difference to me.”

Humans of Grand Rapids

“What’s been the happiest moment of your life?” “When our daughter got married, it was 2 years ago and it was pure joy.”

Humans of Grand Rapids

“How do you two know each other?” “We went to the Grand Valley backpacking club together.” “We spent a week in New Mexico together, we shared a tent.” “What was the toughest thing about the trip?” “Not being hygienic for a week.” “And it was really cold!”

Humans of Grand Rapids

“What was a time when you were really terrified?” “Two years ago… at the Haunt.” “At the Haunt?” “Hell yeah.” “When was a time when you felt most invincible?” “When I’m leavin’ church.”

Humans of Grand Rapids

“Oh you’re recording right now? That’s not fair. I mean I have freedom of speech and everything, but freedom can be taken away from people when they aren’t asked to be recorded.” “Is it ok if I record you?” “I don’t know, is it?” “I just use the recording to transcribe, I don’t post the audio.” “Ok as long as you don’t use my voice.” “So, what are your thoughts on freedom, since you brought it up?” “Freedom should be free.” “Do you feel like it is, or isn’t free?” “The State, shouldn’t be a police state, it should be a free democracy. But, that can get kinda dicey… like if we didn’t have cops, we’d have a lot of problems…” “Do you feel like maybe because we have cops we do have other problems?” “Yeah that too. Sometimes they give bullies badges… it’s like, who’s really calling the shots copper?”

Humans of Grand Rapids

Humans of Grand Rapids

A perfectly reasonable place for a picnic table.

Humans of Grand Rapids

“Tell me about a moment you were most terrified” “I just graduated college, so I’m kinda trying to get out of my parent’s house and do art and make money… which is scary but also really exciting too. I guess I get to figure out which one it is.” “The one that probably has the longest reaching power was, I was on top of the Penicin Ridge Tower in Iowa and it was just so tall. I don’t know why but I felt like I was going to fall through the grates and it was outta control… I made the choice to climb up there, but I was just like completely afraid. Another time I came home one night in Cincinnati and this dude came up with a hoodie and had this humungous gun in my face and wanted my money and I couldn’t, I just couldn’t do anything. I don’t know how I got through that situation.”

Humans of Grand Rapids

“What’s the hardest thing you've ever had to do?” “Break up with my girlfriend.” “How about you?” “I don’t know.”

Humans of Grand Rapids

“If you go back in time and give yourself advice, what would you say?” “Hmm, that’s tough. I guess to just… Well I don’t really have regrets though… I guess I would say to just keep following my heart.”

Humans of Grand Rapids

“If you could change something about the world…” “Less violence.”

Humans of Grand Rapids

Breaking on Monroe.

Humans of Grand Rapids

testing 1.2.3. #hashtag

“What do you make of all this?”
“I think it is interesting that you want to document strangers and if photography is your artform then that is the best means of communicating what you’re experiencing day to day… and I think it might be particularly interesting what you choose to document, because there is always this constant stimulus around you… so you have to go through that and make a decision about what you think is important or what you think is interesting or interesting looking. There’s just a ton of choices you have to make, constantly, as a photographer."

“What are you most grateful for?”
“Waking up every day and having family.”

Drumming on Rosa Parks Circle.

“If you could give a large group of people a piece of advice what would it be?”
“Be part of a community.”
“Are you part of a community?”
“Yes! this one. I live downtown, go to events downtown, I love it!”

“This is my girlfriend.”
“What’s your favorite thing about him?”
"His laugh.”
“What is your favorite thing about her?”
“She’s spontaneous.”

“Do you have any regrets?”

“I regret not traveling more in my 20s.”

“What are you grateful for?”

“My family.”

[meanwhile, the kids rolled their eyes and let out deep sighs as I kept them from their business.]

"How would you like to be remembered?"

"I don’t know."

“What did you want you want to be when you grew up, when you were a kid?”
“A veterinarian.”
“Are you a veterinarian now?”
“Haha, no.”
“How do you feel about that?”
“I feel okay about it, I like what I do now. I manage a restaurant.”

“Can I take your picture?”
“What for?”
“I’m doing this project called ‘Humans of Grand Rapids’ where I photograph strangers on the street and ask them a random question.”
“Well, you can certainly ask me a question.”
“That wouldn’t really work without a picture too though.”
“Hmm, ask me the question first.”

“If younger you visited current you, from the past, what would he say about you now?”
“Start taking karate and yoga earlier… I wanted to make sure your question wasn’t going to be dumb before I let you take my picture...Wait what would I say to younger me or what would younger me say to me?”
“What would young you say?”
“Shit that’s a good question…”
“Do you think they’d be satisfied or disappointed or?”
“The younger version would say, I’m glad you’ve changed from what you were to what you are now.”

“If you could give the whole world a message, what would it be?”
“Try to live.”
“Is that what you’re doing?”
“I’m surviving, but I’m trying to live too.”

“What is something that has changed for you?”
Sunglasses: “I just got back from Afghanistan.”
White hat: “He’s gotta much bigger change than myself, I’m just going from college to, I dunno like, white collar society and that type of deal.”

“Can I take your picture?”
“Sure, we’re not big on privacy, we’re kind of sitting on a roof.”
“What is your favorite thing about the person sitting next to you?”
“Do I get to choose which person?”
“Yeah.”
“Haha, this is awesome!”
“Well, Kelly, my favorite thing is that she’s a free spirit.”
“Oh that’s so generic”
“No but she really is. She don’t give no shits”
“My favorite thing about Alisa is that she’s always so happy and she’s always in such a wonderful mood and always puts everyone else in a wonderful mood.”
“My favorite thing about Ronald here, is that he could care less about what everyone else wants him to do to be happy…”
“He couldn’t care less…”
“Right, he couldn’t… he physically tried and can’t… he can’t.”
“It’s true!”
“The thing I love most about Jacob here is that he can do anything...anything he sets his mind to. It’s fucking incredible.”
“Thanks dude.”
“And he has a great beard!”

Getting the story in East Hills

“This is my son Sirus.”
“What do you like about your dad?”
a pause.
“Sirus is the strong silent type.”
“What is your favorite thing about him?”
“He’s really creative, I really dig that.”

"What does the future look like?"
"The Twilight Zone."

Busking on Ionia.

What do you believe in?

I believe in ‘safety first’ and then teamwork.

What’s a time when you were really scared?

When I broke my leg snowboarding, I flew 20 feet in the air and hit a tree and my leg broke the fall and I snapped my shin.

Was it worth it?

Yes. It made me a stronger person.

Pretty much anytime you’re in the sun… it’s hard to NOT be happy when you have a beautiful thing shining in your face.

“What does the future look like?”

She says, “You go first!”

“I have no idea…”

“It looks like I’m going to win this game!” she said.

Seen in the AM on Fulton.

Seen in Midtown.

"What about me!? Woooooooo!!"

“How would you like to be remembered?”

“Where will you be using this?”

“Online, it’ll be public.”

pause.

“Someone who was a good dad and a fun guy, I dunno, how’s that?”

“That’s good, what else is there.”

“Yeah, what else is there?”

“What would you do if you had a time machine?”

“Go back in time. Yes. Flirt with all the ladies that I saw that were beautiful that I never put myself out there in front of.”

“To like, eliminate regrets you have?”

“No not to eliminate regrets… but to be more of a people person.”