An image can leave behind a stain for all eternity.
You have to be very careful at the things that you photograph, and so imagery plays a
huge part in my creativity.
My name is Eugene Yarbrough III. I'm 17 years old, and I'm a high school senior at Washington
Metropolitan High School. And so things that inspire me is everyday life. I'm inspired
by living things. I'm inspired by my race. I'm inspired, and when I say race, I mean
mankind, the human race. I'm inspired by buildings, architecture. I'm inspired by moving cars.
So you can photograph all of those things, and this is different types of imagery that
can be shared with generations upon generations.
I'm very passionate about art. Any way I can affect the people around me by something that
goes on in my head, artistically, I'm all for it. So if I can leave behind a photograph
that talks about gentrification, if I can leave behind a t-shirt that talks about racial
epidemics that goes on, if I can leave behind a film, a short film that talks about food
and the power that food has on a person, the power that it has on the mind and the body.
So I'm very, very passionate about living, about people who live around me because we
are all here for a reason.
I first met Eugene on the first day of our class, actually, this year. The first thing
that struck me about him was his attitude. He was very cool. He was very relaxed. A lot
of high school kids have a surplus of energy, but Eugene kind of hang out in the back. At
the beginning, I thought he wasn't so into what we were talking about, but I found out
slowly but surely that he really was taking it all in. And when we asked him for his opinion,
he would always share it, so he always had something to say.
I've been interested in photography for a very long time, and so when I found out there
was a course that I could take to enhance my photography skills, I was all for it. Critical
Exposure is definitely a great program. It helped me a lot because it helped me not only
take pictures but take pictures for causes and for things that goes on in the community.
And so I was able to express my opinion through photography.
I also have seen him become more of a leader as the year has gone on. He's always been
really well-spoken. He's very articulate. He has a great vocabulary, but this has really
given him an opportunity to take what he has to say and be able to express that for this
positive message and express that to his peers.
An image is something that dictates not only the way that one person feels, but how the
unknown feels. So when an image is considered universal, it speaks louder than a language.
It speaks louder than a emotion. It speaks louder than that second that you're looking
at that image. You can look at an image for one second, or you can look at an image for
years. And it is still, and every time you look at it, you'll find something new, or
you can find a better understanding within that picture, or find a better understanding
within yourself. How does this affect me? How does this apply to my life?
