They say a picture is worth a thousand words.
For Sean Sheridan, that picture was watching a live U2 benefit concert in a devastated Sarajevo when only a few years earlier, the city had hosted the Olympic Games.
“How did this happen so quickly,” he thought to himself.
After college, Sheridan had landed a job working at Microsoft, marketing Bill Gates’ first book The Road Ahead. It was an exciting time in technology and Sheridan was excited to be using his Business Communication and Journalism degree for such an endeavor. Congruently, it was also a contentious time on the other side of the world, and Sheridan watched history unfold as the people of the Balkans were devastated. He watched as his fellow humans underwent various hardships including blockades and being left without food, water, electricity or gas for upwards of months at a time.
Gut Check
It was a gut-check for him. “What am I doing here,” he thought, evaluating his impact on the world.
“I had just seen and experienced images that made me want to get out of my seat and foster massive change,” he explains. Technology was doing amazing things in being able to bring those images to light for more people, but Sheridan was changed and could no longer sit on the sidelines. He desired to impact others for good, to bring hope in dire situations, and to use his skillset to arrest, inform and open the eyes of those around him to the history taking place in their midst.
So, he quit.
Documenting Human Stories
He picked up a camera and went to market himself in a way only a marketer knows how. He went looking for the experience that would get him where he knew he needed to be. “I didn’t start out working for Associated Press,” he chuckles. His first trip was to Kenya with World Vision–and he was offering his services for free. Working for a non-profit gave him the opportunity to fully immerse himself in the situation and “craft the story outside of the news scope,” he recalls. He goes on to explain how he was offered the opportunity to connect with fellow humans and hear their stories. It was the ability to build relationships with people in a powerful way, to truly see people in their present situation and as they were.
Over the next few years, he was present in documenting the AIDS crisis around the world as well as for the earthquake in Haiti. Sheridan recounts journalist Anderson Cooper giving an account of his time in Haiti, where Cooper recalls crossing the line between reporter and active member of the humanitarian movement. Sheridan says he relates to the sentiment, stating, “I couldn’t ignore what I was seeing and hearing.”
There is deep fulfillment in his voice as he recounts his experiences and the people he had the honor of meeting. He lays bare his heart for people in the way he recalls these experiences.
“We are far more alike than we are different,” he states poignantly, “we’re all just trying to carve out a decent existence.” He pauses, reflecting. “We are humans first; and that transcends politics, culture, religion or anything else.”
Capturing Raw Emotion
He explains he feels fully himself when he is in these situations and vows that as long as he can pick up a camera, he hopes to be capturing images that cause people to stop and reflect on what is really going on and how they can use their time and talents for the utmost impact.
“I don’t leave an assignment until I feel I have captured the raw, unguarded human emotion,” he explains. “When people see my photographs, I hope they feel a weight and a depth there that is unusual.”
He knows from experience that “a single image can cause someone to redirect their lives,” and he invites readers to visit his website to interact further with his work.
Website: https://www.seansheridan.com/
Facebook: @SPSheridan
Instagram: @TheSeanSheridan
Sheridan offers marketing opportunities through his company 4:Minute.Media as well as a gallery of images. Historic images that have been featured on CNN, USA Today, Food and Wine and in SMITHSONIAN to name a few, as well as images for purchase detailing some of the beauty he has experienced around the world.