sam youkilis (@samyoukilis on instagram) has been a long-time favorite of mine. at the back of his recently published book Somewhere is a beautiful short essay on who he is as a photographer, the impact he leaves on the environments he captures, and the way he has transformed iphone photography. resting in the middle of this piece is a paragraph that resonsates with me deeply:

once you see the world through sam youkilis’s eyes, you can never unsee it. maybe you’ve had this experience: you walk through a city market and find a woman peeling away wilted lettuce leaves, one by one, until they give way to the unblemished head below. you pull out your phone, creep in until she fills the frame, and start rolling. later, when you’re looking back at the footage, you convince yourself you would have always done it this way, always shot from this same angle, always borrowed the same light, but deep down, you feel the touch of sam’s fingers on your shoulder.

so much of who i am and what i find myself wanting to capture is thanks to the inspiration i draw from people like sam. for him, no human goes unnoticed. he has trained his eye not to gloss over the beauties to be found in daily life, and his work has, for many years now, encouraged me to do the same. over time my pace getting from place to place has slowed drastically. and yes, most of the time i have some place to be or a destination in mind, but the smiling fruit vendor setting up for the day! and the afternoon school bell sending a wave of 2nd graders onto the sidewalk to greet their parents! and the old couple wrapped in scarves holding hands one block away! so often is there a minute or two to spare on the way that goes unused; if there is somewhere to be at some time o’clock, leave just a few minutes earlier and you have gifted yourself the ability to slow down and notice. i have taken photos and recorded little clips of people and places for as long as i can remember, and i catch myself watching them back frequently. my camera roll is my virtual safe space, and below are some of my favorites from the 86,000 and counting.