I am..., I regret..., Before I Die...

See why the answers to these three simple statements can be complex, funny, & often times, beautiful.

Photographer Jim Livingston
Amarillo, TX
Website: https://www.jimlivingstonart.com/the-i-am-project

Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TCRbob

Video Script:: 

the first time I heard them he's playing flamenco Spanish guitar okay I wanted to be a photographer from early on but the way my parents were you know if you weren't a lawyer or a priest or a social worker if you weren't doing something to make America better there was no value in your life and so I became a social worker a complicated question we often face in life is how do we balance our passions and the pursuit of big dreams with reality do you keep that structured nine-to-five job or give it all up for something less stable that fills your soul now Jim Livingston thought he knew the answer but despite spending years doing social work and legal work it was photography that he fell in love with part of what happened was the social work that I did was largely in the middle health field and some real serious mental health issues really serious schizophrenia and stuff like that I had come to see America in a really dark light I saw the worst parts of America and I was becoming really cynical and jaded and you realized yeah and so I needed to see the beautiful part of America again and so my my little viewfinder my little half-inch viewfinder became the magic window for me to look for the beautiful parts of America so I got my car and I drove around the United States and I took pictures and that's how I got into photography [Music] using his viewfinder to reframe the world Jim captured stunning images of landscapes and night skies he has a unique style and says that whether it's a sweeping sunset over Cadillac Ranch or the blue swallow motel the most important aspect of any picture is how it makes you feel there's about five to 20 hours of editing time in every photograph that have been crossed they've been processed and they've been reprocessed and they've been gone over inch by inch by inch I don't care to show you what I saw I don't care if you saw what I saw at all what I want you to experience when you look at this image this piece of art and I I'm more comfortable calling them art in images than photographs as I want you to experience what I felt [Music] Jim quickly created a name for himself in the photography business filling up art galleries and selling prints worldwide but it was after a visit to a coffee shop on route 66 that he got the idea for a new way to show the beauty of America there's a coffee shop here in Amarillo the 806 coffee shop which is right on route 66 so you know you've got a biker sitting there and I'm not talking like a doctor riding a Harley Davidson I'm talking about a guy who's got a real look like yeah thick knuckles and scars on his face yeah yeah but exactly in the table right next to him is a soccer mom from Minnesota and on this table over here is a banker in a three-piece suit now I'm sitting there thinking this is really weird they're sitting here and they're having a conversation and they're not spitting at each other you know and so I talked to the the coffee shop about doing in our show you just walk up to people while they're buying you know their latte and say well I want to take a picture or what that's exactly what I did so I did sixty-four portraits just like these of the people who came into the coffee shop every make color creed belief system economic you know homeless multi-millionaire I thought it was gonna be a one time Art Show and six months later I had 600 portraits these days Jim holds photo shoots where people line up to be a part of the I am project first time you told your husband you love you black and white photos that capture that quality that makes each and every one of us unique but it's the answers to Jim's questions that have made this project so I open [Music] where did the whole I am thing come from I am Jim Livingston and I'm a photographer Oh I'm Bob Phillips I'm his storyteller there you go the original art show wasn't going to have the questions at the original art show is just gonna be portraits but I learned a real valuable lesson really fast a portrait of a stranger is just a stranger so unless you've got something to connect your connect that person to you it's kind of boring I don't care how interesting they look right and so that's the beginning of where the questions came from that's where the header responses did you get I'm good some are there some that's stuck in your mind that when you read them you oh wow yeah there's a lot like that I mean I really was surprised at the humor the one that sticks out in my mind the most this guy curls his hands up and he's looking at me and he's looking at me like he's gonna eat my liver and I'm thinking to myself oh this is kind of creepy you know and then I read his answers I am NOT a Batman villain ha ha ha ha ha I regret having never made anybody laugh hee hee hee hee and before I die I shall reveal to Amarillo the true identity of Bruce Wayne he's in the comic books and you know the his answer wasn't serious it was funny but at the same time that said everything about his interest [Music] okay who's next [Music] what about some of the really heartfelt or the maybe I have melancholy or are there saying things that you read that made you just go wow I regret not spending more time with my children I regret not telling my dad I loved even before he died the regrets are the ones that really get you and one of the things I think one of the lessons that I've learned from this there's a lot of people who redirect what they did most people regret what they didn't do most people regret not making the art not seeing a song not getting the degree not marrying not marrying the love of his life yeah you know I think most graveyards are the richest places in the world because they're filled with masterpieces that have never been painted they're filled with novels you know peelers surprise many novels that have never been written and I want to be wore out so one of the things that has come out of this for me is I'm traveling route 66 and I'm taking pictures all over America and I'm living life every single day like it's my last because there's a good chance that it is okay look look over here when was the first time he told your wife you loved her I am a warrior of life storms I regret being a smoker before I die I want to figure out what this is all about the responses to the IM project have been funny moving and sometimes emotional and each and every portrait gives you a glimpse into the life of someone else who they are who they want to be and a peek at their journey to get there and Jim's hoping that will make everyone stop and ask themselves Who am I if you think of any great story any great story that you've ever read true or untrue it's the challenges that we face in life that cause those stories to be interesting it's those challenges in life that caused us to have character it's those challenges that cause us to have depth in to have compassion for people who are going through stuff and so part of what this is is I want people to read those regrets and reflect that's what makes this so rich look over here look straight at me perfect that's it easy breezy [Music] you