Patrick Toney . Living Statue . Street Performer

click to view the video

Patrick Toney
Living Statue . Street Performer

Patrick is an incredible person and was gracious enough to allow me to follow him around for a day.   He is a street performer working as a weathered statue in Seattle, WA.  He can be found outside of the West Lake Center and around town during events.   In addition to his performance work, Patrick is also a talented artist, musician and an all around nice guy.  You can find out more about his music at www.garagevoice.com



Why I started the project:

My background in photography is photojournalism.  Since I haven’t found a newspaper to call my own, I have tried different venues of photography over the past three years with little luck.   I have wanted to get back into creating stories with my images, shooting for content with a deeper meaning and not just for visual appeal.   I have also wanted to invest time in long-term documentary stories.  I’ve never been much of a writer so I decided to start working on a series of short multimedia pieces for the year of 2011 - a character series.  

I’ve paired still images with audio and some film clips to create the following video.    It is the first multimedia piece I have ever attempted and in the process I have learned a lot and realized just how much more I need to learn.   I am excited to start sharing these stories with you.   I hope to create at least ten similar pieces.  Please feel free to like, share, tweet the project if you enjoy what you see.    Feedback is also welcome; let me know what you think.    Thank you.  I appreciate you taking to view my work.        

Characters

Anyone who knows me well knows that I have incredible friends in many walks of life.   I like characters and have been lucky throughout my life to meet some fascinating people.   I have always said that the most interesting people are those you meet every day.   If you take the time to talk to a stranger and talk about something other than the weather, you are bound to hear a few remarkable stories and experiences.    It is amazing the different paths we take and what experiences result in those choices.   I have decided to try and document a few of these characters over the next year.  These multimedia pieces will simply be snapshots in the everyday lives of people who have let me be a witness their stories.    I only hope to do them justice and provide a platform for others to appreciate the uniqueness and beautiful quirks and personalities of others.    

I will be releasing my first story this week.  An interview with Patrick Toney, Living Statue.