"This Wild Idea"

Day 123: 9475 miles driven; 7930 photos taken; 30 cups of coffee; 25 places camped; 70 folks met.

That’s the most current tally for “This Wild Idea,” photographer Theron Humphrey’s one year road trip around America to find, photograph and record the stories of the people he meets.

“The idea is simple, the goal is straightforward, but I need your help! I’m going meet 1 new person a day, everyday, for 365 days. The goal is to makes images that age well and increase in value over time; images that will become part of your family story, which we can pass on to the next generation.”

It’s long been my belief that Americans feel no one listens to them (just check out the Occupy movement for more proof of that) and they want to feel connected to others. That is exactly what “This Wild Idea” is about. It’s a fantastic example of what you can do by just stepping right outside your door.

As Theron says,

“One day I woke up and realized how amazing it would be to hear my moms voice before she had me, or to hear my great-grandparents voices. To see them living their everyday. And I’ve always admired folks who’ve traveled the country and photographed the world, a lot have done it. And done it better than me. But something that was missing for me were folks’ names, I wanted to know that the photographers loved their subjects, that they shook peoples hands and told ‘em that they matter. So This Wild Idea is me getting out there and doing it, living my dream.”

And you can become a part of This Wild Idea is you like.

“The cool part of the project that it’s alive now,” says Theron. ”It’s free to access and look at and remember. Anyone across America can “Change my Route” and become part of the project. That’s pretty powerful. Instead of folks just being voyeurs to a photo project after the fact, we wanted to use social media to connect folks now.”

All photos Theron Humphrey