I’d love to tell you that I had some grand mission or purpose for my time in India. It’s much more simple than that- I was only trying to create the reality I promised my younger self. Life is funny in that way- once you speak something into the universe, the universe will often do its best to make sure it happens.

At seventeen years old, I may or may not have stolen a book. Why a book? I honestly couldn’t begin to say. I was only trying to fit in with the other idiots around me at the mall and it fit easily into my pocket. I’d honestly forgotten all about it until I got home that night and felt the sharp corners of the small hardcover portfolio dig into my leg when I flopped onto the couch in my parents’ basement. I removed the book from my pocket and figured it would make a good surface to roll a joint on so I placed it onto the table and began my evening ritual but before I could fully commit, I felt compelled to pick the book back up and flip through its pages. I must’ve spent ten minutes studying each page of National Geographic’s “The Photographers” before realizing there was a DVD tucked in the back. I carefully removed it from its sleeve and slid the disc into the slot on the side of my macbook. That was the moment when everything changed. The sirens and gunshots outside all went silent; drowned out by the sense of overwhelming wonder that engulfed my entire body. I studied the way each photographer moved through the world with their cameras as if performing choreographed dances through war torn cities or dense jungles and decided that my future would look something the like. But that was just a child’s dream, right? I mean, who actually becomes a Nat Geo Photographer and travels the world documenting and cataloging the human experience? Well, not me. Not yet, anyway- but I was determined… or so I thought. Somewhere between trying to fit into the predictable and stable corporate box my adoptive parents wanted for me and a marriage that stressed me out so badly I was taking baby asprin at twenty-six years old to keep from having a heart attack, I forgot what I promised myself that night laying across my parents couch a decade earlier. God, however, did not.

There comes a time in every young Black man’s life when he must make a choice; stay in a physically and verbally abusive marriage while attempting to balance a soul crushing nine to five job in the name of maintaining the illusion of stability and purpose… or… sell everything he owns to book a one way ticket to the other side of the planet with no plan, no place to stay beyond the first night, no connections, and no idea what to expect.

I chose the latter and within a few days, I was stepping out into the streets of New Delhi, inhaling smoke from burning crop fields and smog from the cards and scooters that flooded the streets even at 1am. Still with no plan, I hailed a cab and found myself spending the next several weeks wandering congested alleyways to enjoy chai and climbing buildings with kids excited to have me document their adventures. I learned that “In India, guest is god” and that even when the world feels like it’s in a hurry around us, we need only be present and in the moment to appreciate life and all of its beauty. More importantly, I learned that if we are to do anything at all, we must do so with love for the only valid reason for any of our actions should be that “Love Made Me Do It’.

These photographs, then, are not necessarily the story of India and the beauty that lies in all it’s beautiful mountain ranges, shimmering lakes, and bustling cities have to offer but rather, they are a self-portrait. They are photographs of a teenage dreamer’s imagination manifest into reality and proof that when you move with love, the universe will reciprocate… even when the mafia says they want to pour gasoline on you and set you on fire because you refused to let them con you out of your money because you tried to buy a train ticket into an active conflict zone. (yes… that happened).

That seventeen year old kid who cracked that book open on that couch was depending on me and every now and then, when I need that reminder of how beautiful life is, I come back to these photos to remind myself that in every decision I make, I want to be able to honestly and wholly say that “Love Made Me Do it” and to never forget that spirit of empathy, curiosity, and adventure that comes with moving through the world with that same love.

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