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.