P E R S O N to
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SHAWN MICHIENZI
P E R S O N to
PERSON
J A V I E R A G E 4 7 R E S TA U R AT E U R
SANTIAGO, CHILE SEPTEMBER 21ST 2015
A MESSAGE
TO
GARCIA
BY ELBERT HUBBARD
In all this Cuban business there is one man stands out on the horizon of my memory like Mars at perihelion. When war broke out between Spain & the United States, it was very necessary to communicate quickly with the leader of the Insurgents. Garcia was somewhere in the mountain vastness of Cuba- no one knew where. No mail nor telegraph message could reach him. The President must secure his cooperation, and quickly. WHAT TO DO!
Some one said to the President, “There’s a fellow by the name of Rowan will find Garcia for you, if anybody can.” Rowan was sent for and given a letter to be delivered to Garcia. How “the fellow by the name of Rowan” took the letter, sealed it up in an oil-skin pouch, strapped it over his heart, in four days landed by night off the coast of Cuba from an open boat, disappeared into the jungle, & in three weeks came out on the other side of the Island, having traversed a hostile country on foot, and delivered his letter to Garcia, are things I have no special desire now to tell in detail. The point I wish to make is this: McKinley gave Rowan a letter to be delivered to Garcia; Rowan took the letter and did not ask, “Where is he at?” By the Eternal! there is a man whose form should be cast in deathless bronze and the statue placed in every college of the land. It is not book-learning young men need, nor instruction about this and that, but a stiffening of the vertebrae which will cause them to be loyal to a trust, to act promptly, concentrate their energies: do the thing- “Carry a message to Garcia!” General Garcia is dead now, but there are other Garcias. No man, who has endeavored to carry out an enterprise where many hands were needed, but has been well nigh appalled at times by the imbecility of the average man- the inability or unwillingness to concentrate on a thing and do it. Slip-shod assistance, foolish inattention, dowdy indifference, & half-hearted work seem the rule; and no man succeeds, unless by hook or crook, or threat, he forces or bribes other men to assist him; or mayhap, God in His goodness performs a miracle, & sends him an Angel of Light for an assistant. You, reader, put this matter to a test: You are sitting now in your office- six clerks are within call. Summon any one and make this request: “Please look in the encyclpedia and make a brief memorandum for me concerning the life of Correggio”. Will the clerk quietly say, “Yes, sir,” and go do the task?
On your life, he will not. He will look at you out of a fishy eye and ask one or more of the following questions: WHO WAS HE? WHICH ENCYCLOPEDIA? WHERE IS THE ENCYCLOPEDIA? WAS I HIRED FOR THAT? DON’T YOU MEAN BISMARCK? WHAT’S THE MATTER WITH CHARLIE DOING IT? IS HE DEAD? IS THERE ANY HURRY? SHAN’T I BRING YOU THE BOOK AND LET YOU LOOK IT UP YOURSELF? WHAT DO YOU WANT TO KNOW FOR?
And I will lay you ten to one that after you have answered the questions, and explained how to find the information, and why you want it, the clerk will go off and get one of the other clerks to help him try to find Garcia- and then come back and tell you there is no such man. Of course I may lose my bet, but according to the Law of Average, I will not. Now if you are wise you will not bother to explain to your “assistant” that Correggio is indexed under the C’s, not in the K’s, but you will smile sweetly and say, “Never mind,” and go look it up yourself. And this incapacity for independent action, this moral stupidity, this infirmity of the will, this unwillingness to cheerfully catch hold and lift, are the things that put pure Socialism so far into the future. If men will not act for themselves, what will they do when the benefit of their effort is for all? A first-mate with knotted club seems necessary; and the dread of getting “the bounce” Saturday night, holds many a worker to his place. Advertise for a stenographer, and nine out of ten who apply, can neitherspell nor punctuate- and do not think it necessary to. Can such a one write a letter to Garcia?
DENIZ AGE 23 ACTRESS
ISTANBUL, TURKEY OCTOBER 12TH 2015
“You see that bookkeeper,” said the foreman to me in a large factory. “Yes, what about him?” “Well he’s a fine accountant, but if I’d send him up town on an errand, he might accomplish the errand all right, and on the other hand, might stop at four saloons on the way, and when he got to Main Street, would forget what he had been sent for.” Can such a man be entrusted to carry a message to Garcia? We have recently been hearing much maudlin sympathy expressed for the “downtrodden denizen of the sweat-shop” and the “homeless wanderer searching for honest employment,” & with it all often go many hard words for the men in power.
G E E T H A AGE 26 INVENTORY CONTROL
SINGAPORE, LITTLE INDIA OCTOBER 1ST 2015
Nothing is said about the employer who grows old before his time in a vain attempt to get frowsy ne’er-do-wells to do intelligent work; and his long patient striving with “help” that does nothing but loaf when his back is turned. In every store and factory there is a constant weeding-out process going on. The employer is constantly sending away “help” that have shown their incapacity to further the interests of the business, and others are being taken on. No matter how good times are, this sorting continues, only if times are hard and work is scarce, the sorting is done finer- but out and forever out, the incompetent and unworthy go. It is the survival of the fittest. Self-interest prompts every employer to keep the best- those who can carry a message to Garcia.
ASMAH AGE 38 MOTHER
DUBAI UAE OCTOBER 9TH 2015
J O R G E A G E 3 2 WA I T E R
SANTIAGO, CHILE SEPTEMBER 21ST 2015
I know one man of really brilliant parts who has not the ability to manage a business of his own, and yet who is absolutely worthless to any one else, because he carries with him constantly the insane suspicion that his employer is oppressing, or intending to oppress him. He cannot give orders; and he will not receive them. Should a message be given him to take to Garcia, his answer would probably be, “Take it yourself.� Tonight this man walks the streets looking for work, the wind whistling through his threadbare coat. No one who knows him dare employ him, for he is a regular fire-brand of discontent. He is impervious to reason, and the only thing that can impress him is the toe of a thick-soled No. 9 boot.
M U R A T A G E 2 4 WA I T R E S S
ISTANBUL, TURKEY OCTOBER 12TH 2015
N U R T I L Y E K AGE 36 ARTIST
ISTANBUL, TURKEY OCTOBER 11TH 2015
CHOI AGE 49 SHOP OWNER
SEOUL, KOREA, OCTOBER 4TH 2015
HUH & JANG OFFICE WOMEN
CAN AGE 45 FISH MONGER
SEOUL, KOREA OCTOBER 4TH 2015
ISTANBUL, TURKEY OCTOBER 11TH 2015
C H A R L E S A G E 3 7 P H O T O G R A P H E R / R E TA I L S U P E R V I S O R
LONDON, ENGLAND SEPTEMBER 25TH 2015
LEE AGE 18 STUDENT
SEOUL, KOREA OCTOBER 5TH 2015
Of course I know that one so morally deformed is no less to be pitied than a physical cripple; but in our pitying, let us drop a tear, too, for the men who are striving to carry on a great enterprise, whose working hours are not limited by the whistle, and whose hair is fast turning white through the struggle to hold in line dowdy indifference, slip-shod imbecility, and the heartless ingratitude, which, but for their enterprise, would be both hungry & homeless. Have I put the matter too strongly? Possibly I have; but when all the world has gone a-slumming I wish to speak a word of sympathy for the man who succeeds- the man who, against great odds has directed the efforts of others, and having succeeded, finds there’s nothing in it: nothing but bare board and clothes.
RAMI AGE 26 ENGINEER
DUBAI, UAE OCTOBER 8TH 2015
SEO AGE 21 CLOTHING DESIGNER
YOSHITA AGE 43 DANCER
SEOUL, KOREA OCTOBER 6TH 2015
SINGAPORE OCTOBER 1ST 2015
S A L M A A G E 2 9 R E TA I L S A L E S
ECEM AGE 26 TEACHER
DUBAI, UAE OCTOBER 9TH 2015
ISTANBUL, TURKEY OCTOBER 12TH 2015
BERNARDITA AGE 58 DENTIST
SANTIAGO, CHILE SEPTEMBER 22ND 2015
I have carried a dinner pail & worked for day’s wages, and I have also been an employer of labor, and I know there is something to be said on both sides. There is no excellence, per se, in poverty; rags are no recommendation; & all employers are not rapacious and high-handed, any more than all poor men are virtuous. My heart goes out to the man who does his work when the “boss” is away, as well as when he is at home. And the man who, when given a letter for Garcia, quietly take the missive, without asking any idiotic questions, and with no lurking intention of chucking it into the nearest sewer, or of doing aught else but deliver it, never gets “laid off,” nor has to go on a strike for higher wages. Civilization is one long anxious search for just such individuals. Anything such a man asks shall be granted; his kind is so rare that no employer can afford to let him go. He is wanted in every city, town and village- in every office, shop, store and factory. The world cries out for such: he is needed, & needed badly- the man who can carry a message to Garcia. THE END-
G E M M A A G E 2 7 L AW Y E R
LONDON, ENGLAND SEPTEMBER 25TH 2015
VALENTINA AGE 25 ENGINEER
SANTIAGO, CHILE SEPTEMBER 21ST 2015
DIEGO AGE 24 PROGRAMMER
SANTIAGO, CHILE SEPTEMBER 21ST 2015
K A D E R AGE 20 ARTIST
ISTANBUL, TURKEY OCTOBER 12TH 2015
SANTIAGO / LONDON / SINGAPORE / SEOUL / DUBAI / ISTANBUL TRAVEL LOG LA TO SANTIAGO 19 SEP 15 - SATURDAY LV: LOS ANGELES 1233P NONSTOP MILES- 1943 AR: ATLANTA 759P ELAPSED TIME- 4:26 LV: ATLANTA 958P NONSTOP MILES- 4715 AR: SANTIAGO 830A ELAPSED TIME- 9:32 ARVL DATE-20 SEP
DAYS 26 10 FLIGHTS TOTAL MILES 34,938 FLIGHT HOURS 77:55 PORTRAITS : STILL & VIDEO : 120 TOTAL MILES 6,658 HOURS 13:58
SANTIAGO TO LONDON 23 SEP 15 - WEDNESDAY LV: SANTIAGO 1225P NONSTOP MILES- 6661 AR: MADRID 620A ELAPSED TIME-12:55 ARVL DATE-24 SEP LV: MADRID 830A NONSTOP MILES- 786 AR: LON / HEATHROW 950A ELAPSED TIME- 2:20 TOTAL MILES 7,447 HOURS 15:15
LONDON TO SINGAPORE 29 SEP 15 - TUESDAY LV: LON / HEATHROW 640P NONSTOP MILES- 478 AR: ZURICH 920P ELAPSED TIME- 1:40 LV: ZURICH 1045P NONSTOP MILES- 6404 AR: SINGAPORE 520P ELAPSED TIME-12:35 ARVL DATE-30 SEP TOTAL MILES 6,882 HOURS 14:15 SINGAPORE TO SEOUL 04 OCT 15 - SUNDAY LV: SINGAPORE 110A NONSTOP MILES- 2883 AR: INCHEON/SEOUL 825A ELAPSED TIME- 6:15 TOTAL MILES 2,883 HOURS 6:15 SEOUL TO DUBAI 06 OCT 15 - TUESDAY LV: INCHEON/SEOUL 1155P NONSTOP MILES- 4203 AR: DUBAI 425A ELAPSED TIME- 9:30 ARVL DATE-07 OCT TOTAL MILES 4203 HOURS 9:30 DUBAI TO ISTANBUL 10 OCT 15 - SATURDAY LV: DUBAI 1120A NONSTOP MILES- 1861 AR: ISTANBUL 255P ELAPSED TIME- 4:35 TOTAL MILES 1861 HOURS 4:35 ISTANBUL TO LA 14 OCT 15 - WEDNESDAY LV: ISTANBUL 1245P NONSTOP MILES- 6865 AR: LOS ANGELES 430P ELAPSED TIME-13:45 TOTAL MILES 6865 HOURS 13:45
B I S M I A G E 3 3 B O AT M A N
DUBAI, UAE OCTOBER 7TH 2015
SANTIAGO CHLIE
SEOUL KOREA
SINGAPORE
DUBAI UAE
ISTANBUL TURKEY
LONDON ENGLAND
ALL PHOTOGRAPHS ARE MEMENTO MORI. TO TAKE A PHOTOGRAPH IS TO PARTICIPATE IN ANOTHER PERSON’S (OR THING’S) MORTALITY, VULNERABILITY, MUTABILITY. PRECISELY BY SLICING OUT THIS MOMENT AND FREEZING IT, ALL PHOTOGRAPHS TESTIFY TO TIME’S RELENTLESS MELT. -SUSAN SONTAG
IT’S NOT THE PHOTOGRAPHER WHO MAKES THE PICTURE, BUT THE PERSON BEING PHOTOGRAPHED. -SEBASTIAO SALGADO
MY EM EARLY DEPPIUCHILDHOOD QE DOOHDLIEQUIPPED HC YLRAE ME YM REALLY :KROW WELL TIARTRFOR OP YMY MR PORTRAIT OF LLEW WORK: YLLAER THE UOYQUICK EREHWENCOUNTER, ,RETNUOCNEWHERE KCIUQYOU EHT ARE TCENOT JBUSGOING EHT WTO ONK KNOW OT GN THE IOGSUBJECT TON ERA FOR HCUVERY M MALONG. I SYADTHESE ESEHTDAYS .GNOILAM YRMUCH EV ROF MORE NEETFCOMFORTABLE IF EHT HTIW ELB WITH ATROTHE FMOFIFTEEN C EROM MINUTE HTIW MRELATIONSHIP, A I NAHT ,PIHSNTHAN OITALIEAM R ETWITH UNIM A LIFE LONG RELATIONSHIP. .PIHSNOITALER GNOL EFIL A - ANNIE LEIBOVITZ
ZTIVOBIEL EINNA -
EPILOGUE:
THE PROJECT
I was commissioned to shoot both moving and still portraits of the people of the world for a global insurance company. This was my second time shooting a global library project and fortunately in knowing the challenges ahead of time, ensured my selection of the right core team. So with a lot of hard work and a singular focus by many along the way, miracles did happen. Our Itinerary: Chile, England, Singapore, Korea, Dubai and Turkey. Six countries, three days from award to travel. Two days in each city. The Brief: Find and capture 20 real-people in each city; shoot 3 print ads and take time out for a separate video shoot. To deliver moving and still portraits that had consistency in framing, lighting and posing. The Biggest Production Challenge: Work through translators to real-time street cast for diversity across age, race and gender. The Three Big Unexpected: Landed in Santiago, Chile the day after an 8.3 earthquake. Arrived in a Singapore blanketed in smoke from the annual Indonesian sugar-cane field burnings. Wheels down in Istanbul 2-hours after a terrorist attack in Ankara. The Reward: One of the hardest and most fulfilling jobs I’ve ever done. We met some incredible people who opened themselves to us and allowed me to capture a collection of images that reminded me once again that in all our diversity and uniqueness, we are not so different from each other. At the end of the day, we all could use life insurance. Special Thanks Michelle Mintz Kate Chase Matt Nycz Jessica Ruiz Gyorgi Sapojnikoff Russ Lamoureux Alison McCreery Dave Damman Rick Haring Brad Palm And all the kind people who gave me their time to make these portraits.
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