The Courage to Hit Record: Finding the Extraordinary in the Ordinary

 Finding the Extraordinary in the Ordinary

    If you spend enough time scrolling through social media, it is easy to get numb to it all. We are constantly fed a stream of highly curated, hollow celebrity culture and viral trends that vanish as fast as they appear. But every once in a while, a creator breaks the mold and reminds you what storytelling is actually supposed to do.

For me, that creator is Kara Lewis (@karaxlewis).

    Kara recently made a massive pivot in her career, walking away from the toxic side of the LA influencer scene to focus on something entirely different: creating positive, meaningful content that makes people feel lighter. But it isn’t just what she is doing; it is how she is doing it that absolutely stops my scroll.

    She walks up to complete strangers on the street—everyday people who are virtually invisible to the rest of the world—and she asks to tell their story. She is the reason we know the individual, real-life stories of a school teacher, a local chicken farmer, and a humble bee farmer. These are three distinct people I never would have noticed walking down the street, but she took the time to stop, hit record, and make them the most fascinating individuals in the room. Her videos feel completely out of the blue, and the raw, unscripted humanity she pulls out of these strangers is profound.

    As a photographer and a storyteller, I am incredibly inspired by her. But I am also humbled by her.

    Here is the truth: approaching people is intimidating. It takes a massive amount of nerve to walk up to a total stranger with a camera. I have the gear. I have the microphones. But getting out of my shell, pushing past the absolute hatred of the sound of my own voice, and finding the brainpower to ask compelling questions on the fly is a massive hurdle.

    Kara’s work is the blueprint that is pushing me to change that. Her courage to make people feel seen is directly inspiring how I want to approach the cowboys and bull riders I photograph. Next weekend at the Rimbey rodeo, instead of just relying on my camera to do the talking, I am going to push myself to step out from behind the lens. I’ll be taking five minutes behind the chutes to just talk to these guys, hear their stories, and build that genuine connection before the gates ever swing open.

    Kara proves that you don't need a famous subject to tell a story worth hearing. You just need the courage to ask the first question.

    Thank you, Kara, for reminding us that everybody has a story, and that it's okay to be perfectly imperfect while trying to tell it. If you ever find yourself on a concert tour passing through Alberta, the coffee is on me.

Lee Kemp

Every Moment Is A Choice Studio

@karaxlewis #EveryMomentIsAChoiceStudio #EmiacStudio #ThePatchworkBear #PerfectlyImperfect #GenuineConnection #ComfortCore #HealingThroughCreativity #KaraLewis #Storytelling #HumanConnection #GrassrootsStories

I believe the raw, perfectly imperfect stories of the western world deserve to be told, which is why these Grit & Grace features will always be free. If you want to support independent western media and fund the Monster Energy it takes to edit these features, you can pitch in below.