Sara Earle

When I was younger, I used to carry around a camera at events in my hometown just to take photographs of other people. I enjoyed practicing playing around with composition as well as capturing certain moments in time -the very moment that a wrestler pins down his opponent.

In an era where selfies and novelty pics (look at me putting my finger on the tip of the Eiffel Tower) dominate the social media forum, I focus on other people. Not just people, but things that say something about a certain culture -a "picture's worth a thousand words" as it were. When I visit a different country, I want to photograph something that tells the viewer something about that particular person, place, or thing and leaves them with questions. For example, I have taken a photograph of a cigarette machine sitting outside a shop in Munich, Germany (right). It may say something about the smoking habits of Germans. Or the accessibility of cigarettes in Germany. It certainly leaves the mind wondering more than it would had I taken a picture of myself with my finger of the Eiffel Tower.