Meat Vendor
Bâlea Lac, Romania (October 2018)
Our journey begins in Romania, in a hilltop village in the Carpathian Mountains. I’m stretching my legs after a long car journey, and I notice this meat vendor selling his wares. And I feel this urge to show him a trick, so I do. But what happened after that—in a split second—started me on a journey that has taken me to 40 countries and has brought me into contact with some of the most fascinating people I’ve ever encountered.
I take this photo. Click.
It’s the moment after the magic; it’s what I see.
I think about this man a lot. Is he still on that mountain top? Does he have children? A sweet tooth?
Author John Koenig invents words for uncharted feelings, and my favorite is “sonder”: the profound realization that each stranger has a unique, rich, and intricate story that is constantly unfolding, whether or not you are aware of it.
What draws me into this photo, even now, is its permanence. It takes me back to that mountain, to that moment, when I shared magic with this lovely stranger. Ours is an ephemeral craft. When the show is over, there’s no evidence it ever existed. But this! This is what I see as I perform magic.