Paper Flowers & A Little Patience

Canon 5D Mark II, Nikkor 35mm f/1.4When out shooting around downtown Houston the other night with a few friends we came across this guy on Main Street, full of character and personality. We started talking with him and he began to share his life story and unique art with us.

This man, who lives on the street, makes paper flowers out of napkins and other various pieces of paper garbage that he finds. His work is incredibly detailed. To me, he an artists in the purist sense by taking "trash" and turning it into something beautiful. He said it takes him about a day to make one of these paper flowers.

I regret not buying this rose from him, at the time I didn't have cash to give him it. He offered it to us for free but we did not feel right taking it since he had worked so hard on it all day. My goal is to track him down so I can show him how his short film turned out and also buy one of his pieces of art. To me his art and the rose are symbolic on so many levels.

He was very photogenic and enjoying having us take photos and video of him. I wish more people were able to be this transparent in front of the camera. It was a rare encounter.

As we were about to leave he said he wanted to share a song with us. So holding nothing back he sang this song, a song that tells his story, what he believes, his experiences, and his philosophy for surviving each day.

Paper Flowers & A Little Patience from Donald Kilgore on Vimeo.

Comments

[ZachR.]

This is a very interesting encounter indeed. I hope you find him once again and buy one of these wonderful pieces of art; and show him this short video you made.

Good Luck!

[Monica Heard]

I know this man. He attends 1000 Hills Ministry Church Under the Bridge(ministry to Houston's Homeless) and has given his artwork as appreciation.

[tannerherriott]

Great work with the 5D - I found your site through another friend of mine - http://mocreative.tv

did you record the audio straight into the 5D? also, how did you mount the Nikon lens? I've got a Nikon 50mm f/1.4 for my Redrock M2 setup, so I'm hoping to not have to buy new lenses if/when I get a 5D.

[Amila G.]

Thanks for filming him and sharing the film with us. Seen the clip on vimeo and visited your site to comment. This has inspired me a lot!

[elaine odell]

thank you for sharing this!!! i was telling my collaborator Hassan how that onboard mic is pretty good in a pinch.

[Toralf Ohme]

Donald, this is really a beautiful story. Thanks for sharing this rare encounter and all the best of luck in finding him again.

[bertrand foreau]

Beautiful story and also so sad story - too many of these stories , here in France n where i live _
Can you tell me how you "treat " the image , the colrs , black level : did you used Magic Bullet or a another soft ?
Greetings

[Jennifer]

Wow, so touching and real!! This video really spoke to me, thanks for sharing!

[Gardener]

That is such a cute story! So touching story. I cant stop thinking of this. Love this site...! Thanks for sharing your story with us.

[Alex]

Amazing... sometimes in London I met some very interesting people leaving on the streets and some of them don't even want to go back home or to have a "normal" life...

[Mary]

Love this post.