Looking Up: The Happiness Project
"Looking Up: The Happiness Project." is a personal project I hope picks up some serious steam. It's name comes from Michael J. Fox's 2nd book, "Always Looking Up: The adventures of an incurable Optimist."
What I do is stand a few feet above a person & photograph them looking up smiling. It's that Simple, easy and fast, with most shoots taking no longer than 5 mins.
It's a way to help deal with my Parkinson's diagnosis and my depression. I want to show people that there's still things to be happy about in their darkest moments. It's also meant to remind everyone to take a few moments to put the device down & appreciate life.
I do them as environmental portraits, that is too say, people in their own environment; doctor's in their office, chef's in a kitchen, actors on a set, etc.
I also figure it'll be an interesting attempt to get over my fear of heights if it to get shot an ironworker standing on an I-beam in the 50th floor of an under construction high rise, haha.
The goal is to make a book & a gallery featuring the photos & give the proceeds to Dr. Katie Leaver and her team of movement disorder specialists at Mount Sinai Union Square, where it will go to assisting patients currently living with the disease.
It would be a real honor to include you and anyone you think would be interested in this project, as I believe everyone will benefit from a little positivity, especially these days. If you are interested in joining in the fun, I will come to you at your earliest convenience.
