The 74nd GRist is Sarah Simon, one of the judges for 「GR PHOTO FESTIVAL 2023」!

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I first bought a GR III in 2020, and immediately fell in love with how fun it was for me to shoot with such a minimal set up.  After many years of being sick with Lyme disease, I bought my camera and headed out into the world to take snapshots, which became a big part of my recovery.  I feel blessed that I’m healthy enough now that I even have days where I can go out on photowalks, and It has become my therapy and my art.   I still suffer from extreme brain fog, and it is hard for me to articulate my thoughts into words, so creating images with the GR is a better way for me to explore my love for the human journey and the cities I visit, and also explore my intense feelings and point of view.    
 
Currently I shoot street photography with a GR DIGITAL Ⅳ, GR III HDF, GR IIIX, and a Leica Q2.    I don’t exactly know why I shoot, and I also don’t think I need to know.  I have a lot of questions, and street photography helps me work through them.    I believe there are symbols and archetypes and stories all around us, and the snapshots I grab shooting intuitively with a compact camera are full of messages and deeper meaning.   As AI becomes more integrated into people’s lives now and going forward,  I aim to take photos that seem beyond what a computer could generate because they capture something only the soul could have noticed.   
 　

　　
Sarah Simon
Sarah Simon (1977) is an American Artist born in Queens, New York. She graduated from Washington University in St. Louis, and The University of Miami School of Law.  Sarah is a mom to three sons, and previously worked as a Scuba Instructor and an Attorney.   She is a self taught photographer and has been shooting street photography with the GR III for the last five years, mostly in and around New York City.    She is a Ricoh GR Ambassador, curator of the Ricoh GR Women instagram gallery, and a member of the Street Badass Collective.  In 2024 she was a juror for the Ricoh GR Photo Festival and the Rome International Photo Festival.  Her work has been shown in international exhibitions, including as a finalist in the Women Street Photographers Exhibition, and the Mexico Street Photography Festival.  She is currently working on a book project. 
Instagram: @_sarah_simon