“My Bandanna Girl.”

One photograph I captured in the mountains of the Seguin Plateau, Haiti, stands frozen in time for me.  A reminder of the intricate dance of circumstance and chance that my adult life has been. I often find myself staring into the image, hypnotized, as it’s without question my favorite of the thousands I’ve taken. It captures a moment of beautiful happenstance, a single recording after an interaction with this striking little girl that lasted an entire 2 hours, at the most.

I was high-up and knee-deep in the mountains trekking across the lush landscape. She was without the vibrant red bandanna on her head when she ran along side and took my hand to walk with me. It wasn’t until I stopped to drop my backpack and take a break that I took the cloth from my head and tied it around hers and snapped the image. And then, immediately after recording the moment in time, she dashed off and was gone. No name given, forever “my bandanna girl” as I’ve come to describe her.

Since that moment, I have not photographed a more beautiful pair of eyes nor a gaze that has felt so incredibly soul piercing. The image has become a poignant reminder that life’s most exquisite moments are often transient but have the power to create a lasting imprint, and are testament to the strength of a simple human connection. ~ Jamie