Learning From Inmates Reflect

I think we all realize we make mistakes.  If I stopped to count I would guess that I’ve already made a handful today and its only lunch time. None of them very significant really.  A joke that went too far.  A dropped deliverable at work.  An oversight or a social blunder.  Mistakes.

The uglier mistakes amongst my life come back and replay in my mind’s eye occasionally.  Nothing enormous, but they are still significant enough to me to make me cringe at the memory of them.  The mistakes I regret the most are the ones that have weasled into my consciousness and bubble up from the bottom of my suprasubliminal mind.

[pullquote]Be honest.  We all have these moments that haunt us.  But have your moments of embarrassment haunted you your whole life?[/pullquote]  That brings me to this project by Trent Bell.  Trent Bell is an architectural photographer that decided to photograph inmates and then asked them to write a letter to their former, younger self.  The results are hypnotic.  The photos are amazing, but the effect of the photos combined with these amazingly honest letters are just stunning.

As I read the letters I was just struck by how quickly we all could end up in their position.  One moment of extreme anger.  One moment of being caught up with the wrong people and the wrong time.  None of us are above these guys.  None of us.

Learning From Inmates Reflect

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