SOULS of MIAMI

I was in New York on April 2010, in a plaza don’t even know the name, I saw among a lot of people this cute, old, white hair and long beard man, which I photographed for a while and he smiled back when he caught me .

I was happy with that , I loved the guy and the picture 

Years later, while looking through the photography book  “Humans of New York” by Brandon Stanton, I found MY same guy and I learned …

“My wife’s name was Barbara, I used to call her Ba.
My name was Lawrence, she used to call me La.
When she died, I changed my name to Bala”

I felt completely different about this kindhearted man, I connected with him.
That was the turning point, inspiring me  to start my personal project.

In Spanish I would say “salvando las distancias” =)  I decided I would get over my shyness, and instead of stealing people’s photos ( like I usually do), I will talk to them adding that piece of life to my images while showing the soul of the city that I am in love with, MIAMI

I waited until I had the picture of this South Beach icon, to start this 52 week project titled Souls of Miami (SOM)

I have seen him for MANY years, wearing those shoes and a skirt, singing, smiling, talking with people and dancing….

 “why are you always this happy?” 
 “because I have Jesus and my music. When I’ll die I will be up here (pointing finger to the sky) dancing for you”

He asks passers by, to tell him the title of a song they like, and he immediately tells them the author and its release date... 

This is the mystery That I have  been watching every Saturday I pass by Lincoln Rd .