Photo taken by contributor Elijah Weerts, a 20-year-old photography student. People have always seen him as the outgoing, fun to be around, positive kid all through his life. He wasn’t ever “allowed” to be sad or at least he felt that he had to be the person who made everyone feel better. He thought that if he showed that he was sad that he was letting people down. Elijah has been a photography major for the past four semesters of college. He especially enjoys doing self-portraits because people seem to respond to them very emotionally. Photography allows him to show how he is feeling without having to say anything. It lets all of him be shown in a way people can somehow relate to and that’s what he gets passionate about. He wants people to feel something when they see his images. He wants people to actually stop and think about who they are.

About this photo: “My mom recently invited me to come with her on one of her visits to the chiropractor.  She runs on a lot of trails now so it’s a lot different on the body than just running on the sidewalk.  I gladly went along seeing as there might be some cool things to photograph.  Well, while I was in the room with my mom and the chiropractor he started to do his normal routine I’m guessing.  Well, I don’t necessarily enjoy seeing people get their feet or limbs contorted in weird ways that look like they are about to snap so I decided to distract myself. I saw this little spine model and it was interesting to me.  I love the way all of the emptiness on the left draws your attention to the spine. It’s odd to look at, but I guess that’s the same way I felt about looking at someone getting their feet twisted around.”

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