[Music]
pick somebody near you and I want you to
face them I know you’re it’s like
awkward eye contact yes please this is
an interactive time for a second here
face them and what I want you to do is
in just a second I want you to get ready
to look at that person’s face and tell
them what you think is their best facial
feature do not tell them yet Shh
don’t tell them yet I want you to wait a
second and and when I say go ahead and
you might have seen some eyes that you
like maybe a nose maybe you saw some
earlobes that look really good okay okay
okay okay you guys must have had really
nice faces this is good you saw all
kinds of things hopefully you weren’t
talking about anything below the neck
we’re just focused on the face in here I
think one of the things that you just
did I mean what did you do you looked at
the face and you saw that person’s face
but eventually you zoomed in and focused
on one thing right
you saw something specific and you were
like okay that thing right there is what
I like and if there’s anything that I
want to leave you here with tonight it’s
that focus frames the future focus
frames not only your future but
everybody’s future in here it’s just how
we work we have this internal lens
that’s like our perspective and and for
me I can tell you I’ve been a commercial
in editorial photographer for the last
12 years and so communicating visually
is what I do that’s what I do everyday
and the interesting thing is there’s no
two perspectives in here that are the
same physically where you’re sitting but
also personally it’s your it’s your
personal background so if I were to give
you my personal lens my personal
background you need to know my mother
she’s
black and Jewish and then my father is
is black and he has some Native American
heritage as well but then my grandfather
before him he’s from a place called
cotton plant Mississippi which is a real
place he was a farmer there in cotton
plant Mississippi I don’t think I need
to tell you what he farmed but that’s
where he was from so to even even
complicate things more I then got
married to this beautiful woman right
here and about a year in almost two
years ago we got married and she’s
Mexican and Irish so one day when we
have kids we’re just going to tell him
you’re Brown and that’s all you need to
know you don’t need to know anything
else you’re just let’s just keep it
going so I can think of a lot of my my
formative years were actually spent here
in Naperville and the reason why is
because my parents met a couple blocks
down the road at the cafeteria here on
North Central College’s campus I know
it’s crazy I’m like my life is here
because of North Central thank you
so it’s crazy it’s crazy to think about
like my my my formative years being
spent here going going to school in
Naperville but then at the same time my
family by way of the great migration in
the 40s and 50s made their way to the
south parts of Chicago and I think about
that because I would actually move
during the week I’d be in Naperville
which is one of the safest places in
America by the way and then I’d be on
the south side of Chicago which is known
as one of the more dangerous places in
America and in between these two places
I realized that I basically grew up in
two cultures and I was never black
enough and I was never wide enough I was
never suburban or urban enough and I
think about that and I remember my
friends like here in Naperville when I’d
be hanging out they’d be like yes we
finally have a black friend and then and
then when they found out that I couldn’t
rat
or that I didn’t like we’re like FUBU or
other urban clothing they were like
confused and like disappointed they were
like why can’t you flow and then over
here I’d be on the south side with my
cousins and all my family and they’d be
like why do you talk like that or they’d
be like why your pants so tight and I’d
be like I don’t know why my pants are so
tight but that was that was just a
reality I lived in and I didn’t at the
time it was really difficult for me I
really didn’t enjoy that I wanted to fit
in in both places but over time I
started realized at this multi-ethnic
multicultural multi everything thing was
a gift for me and that gift was
perspective that gift was a way to see
people in the city and people in the
suburbs did you know that oh I forgot to
show you there I am when I was little I
know so crazy what happened to me so I
just think about I just think about
growing up and then getting to this
point where I’m using my perspective and
so in our perspective we actually we
actually find ourselves needing to
communicate that perspective and we’ve
gone throughout history primarily
communicating our perspective verbally
or maybe through the written word but
now we we’ve just started and are living
through a digital revolution in which
most of what we communicate is visual
1.8 billion images a day we upload and
share every day I know it’s crazy
six to eight hours a day folks were
spending consuming images that’s like
half a day and I’m just as guilty as
everybody else and so I think about that
and then I think about the fact that I
have like sixteen thousand I checked the
other day sixteen thousand photos on my
phone and a lot of times they’re photos
that like you know that feeling and that
when you’re taking a picture you feel
like you’re like creating art or you’re
like this is a moment in history and
everyone will thank me for it but then
it’s just a piece of cheese cake
and you didn’t realize that no one was
really going to care about that but I
think some of the photos aren’t so
pointless some of the photos actually
are of people that matter to us a lot
some of the photos are of moments that
really matter to us a lot and so I think
ultimately we have to acknowledge the
fact that these that these photos say
something to us even if they’re in
ordinary places they say something to us
about what attracts our focus what what
exactly is attracting what we care about
and that focus actually winds up
impacting our lives in the future and
impacting the lives of those we love in
the future too I can remember being 15
years old I was diagnosed with attention
deficit disorder and dyslexia
double-whammy and I had to take ritalin
and it was really frustrating for me
because I was I I wasn’t a very good
student couldn’t fly was either focused
on the wrong thing or focused on too
many things and then I remember about
five years later my youth pastor at the
time Steve he invited me to go on this
this Spring Break missions trip to El
Salvador and I agreed and my job on that
trip was to document the trip and help
us remember what happened wasn’t a
photographer they just like here’s a
camera make sure you don’t screw it up
and so I for the next two weeks
I’m just looking through a lens the next
two weeks I just start to see people and
I start to see things and I start to see
the life and the world in a way that I
had never quite seen it before and it
was something that just started to come
alive for me
Archbishop Timothy Dolan said we hold in
our heart the spark of the divine and it
was that spark that I started to see in
people’s lives I started to see
something that wasn’t just a normal
person walking by but there was
something divine in there too and I was
catching it with my eye the discipline
of focus started to become the framework
for my calling
this focus thing started to be a vehicle
that drove me past a DD and past
dyslexia and then all of a sudden I
found myself actually standing on the
steps of my calling people eventually
started letting me take portraits of
them here and there and then after that
I started to get a few publications and
a few just local editorial jobs here and
there
then before I knew it I found that I
always thought that lady looked like a
DJ before I knew it it was like my my
life was starting to be taken along this
ride by the focus that had happened she
could see herself in the lens and so
that’s why she made that face but all of
a sudden photography started to take me
all over the world and it wasn’t because
there was anything so special about me
it was because this focused thing
started to literally frame my future I
went from doing small publications to
eventually doing larger national
campaigns and then at some point I was
doing I was doing global campaigns as
well and it was crazy because I went
from this kid who needed to be medicated
for his inability to focus to this guy
who this photographer who all the sudden
had photos up in Times Square and a lot
of people stopped at focus on their own
self and I think that that’s that’s
where we trip up because I think it’s
most important for our focus to get to
the point where we start to look beyond
ourselves and into the lives of others
I’ll give you an example there’s a lady
named Sally Hazel Grove on the south
side of Chicago who started a youth
program who teaches boys 8:18 boxing and
as they’re learning boxing they learn
discipline and they learn life lessons
and how to get along with one another
but this program actually has a 90%
success rate at kids who’ve had a
criminal background that helping them
never never be arrested again just
because of the way that they can come to
a place like this and all of a sudden
belong and all of a sudden realized that
they have a connection and this wouldn’t
be possible unless somebody invited them
into something more than an after-school
program but instead a space where focus
could start to frame their future I
think about this and I always remember
this quote Bill Withers said men crave
dignity like water and in this space you
see boys being dignified being made
worth something
I always think of my grandmother when I
was eight years old god rest her soul I
remember she she told me I can’t wait to
be at your college graduation and then I
remember when I was in high school and
struggling with my disability she
actually said I can’t wait to be at your
college graduation and then again when I
was a sophomore in college here about to
fail out of some of my classes and
wanted to drop out I remember her
telling me I can’t wait to be at your
college graduation do you know when this
woman was 93 she could barely walk talk
or see on a hot day in July there was my
grandmother in the first row and my
her focus literally framed my future it
literally brought something out of me
and I think of this if we’re if we’re
talking about what’s the secret to live
a good life what’s a secret to live a
full life I think part of it is
acknowledging the fact that we have a
finite number of opportunities to serve
and love people and call out that focus
and I’ll end with this
I just think of there’s there’s there’s
lion tamers that use a stool and they do
this because they don’t want to have to
just go into the the lion cage but
instead they use a stool because the
lion actually
starts to focus on the four legs of the
stool and as the Lions focusing on these
four legs all the sudden its focus
becomes fragmented its attention starts
to go all over the place they have a
whip and they have a gun but the best
tool that they have is their stool this
lion that is strong and capable all of a
sudden goes from being a mighty animal
to being paralyzed and I just wonder do
we have anybody who’s like a lion who’s
being tamed in here today do we have
anybody who from that 1.8 billion images
has found themselves paralyzed who
otherwise would be mighty otherwise
would be strong otherwise would be
powerful otherwise would have something
to say to somebody to focus their life
but instead has been drownded out you
live among communities cities and most
importantly people that don’t know their
purpose and I think part of our job just
like we did earlier today
does it look somebody in the eye and
decide to focus and call out their
future thank you
[Applause]
[Music] [Applause]