Christian
Christian and I have been friends for a couple of years by now. He used to own "Phoebe's" my favorite coffee shop in Williamsburg. One day we started talking while I had breakfast there and we have been friends ever since. Christian is a musician. Because his dream always had been to own a place where musicians could perform he bough the coffee shop. People were performing but it was tough to make money so unfortunately (for me!) he sold the place a couple of years ago.It took a while for us to get together to do the interview and picture but it took even longer for me to post it. We met in May.Christian and his wonderful girlfriend Stacy invited me over that night and after a fantastic dinner and him playing some songs on the guitar he gave me his interview. Happiness combined with simplicity is what he strives for in life.It was a great last (at least for the moment) interview in NYC and in the United States.
Francheska Lopez
I've known Francheska for a couple of years by now. She is a fantastic contemporary modern dancer that has helped me with other projects in the past. She was part of a series of dance photographs I shot last year and her image is at the moment the opening photograph of my website. Self judgement is something that she, a lot of dancers and in some way or form we all are facing but for her it completely disappears when she is on stage dancing. She calls it her truest form and longs for feeling that way all the time.Francheska thinks that happiness is the meaning of her life and that people often forget that they are not happy but settling for the what they have. She talks about the struggle to live in New York City and that people have to work jobs they don't like (shit end jobs :-)) to make ends meet but do so to live in a city where there is more opportunity while they forget that they could be happier. She concludes by saying that whatever has created this existence is not a terror, is not scary or negative. Having a life is beautiful and that she guarantees that whatever is beyond this got to be beautiful.