Today we’d like to introduce you to Ibrahim Carson.
Hi Ibrahim, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
It started when I was young, the same way every adventurer or storyteller begins a story, finding someone that inspires them to the point that they long to be just like them. For me, my inspiration was my mom. A traveler and adventurer who saw the world soaked up what it had to offer and allowed it to change her life. I grew up gawking at her passport listening to her stories. The daring adventures she had been on. I longed to hold a passport with as many stamps has hers held. And one day, I knew I would. My name is Ibrahim Carson, an American journeying solo through every country on the world, breaking boundaries all in hope to quench the thirst for learning and understanding what this world has to offer, to shed light on the issues that manifest in hope for creating a better tomorrow and showcasing it to the world.
As time progressed, my early adolescence days turned to young adulthood. Going through school and such and it was in 10th grade that I met my next inspiration, my 10th grade literature professor. We were close, sharing philosophies on what we thought the world could be one day, and I remember one time during one of our many discussions, she told me “Ibrahim, never forget that every single person in the world big or small has something to offer you” at the time it didn’t mean much, but as I progressed through life meeting a plethora of people from different places I knew exactly what she meant. Everyone in this world has something to offer you something to teach you. Even if that something is about yourself. I hold those words close to my heart and apply them as journey across the globe to every country because everyone has something to teach me something to offer me and as I’ve continued to see and learn more and more, it holds true.
I’ve always had a longing for adventure, maybe it’s hearing my mom’s stories of how she backpacked across Europe or Asia. Now that sense of adventure is rooted deep within my core. To get off the beaten path, climb the tallest mountains, soak up the beauty that this world has to offer and to really live. I remember watching the sunrise from the summit of Kilimanjaro, the feeling of accomplishment that it brought, the sense of journey we still reflect on to this day. There’s no greater feeling. I think I feel the most at home in the mountains. Around something that makes me feel so small, its raw untouchable beauty gives me a sense of perspective and beauty, it gives me the ones of adventure I long for.
There is nothing this earth can offer you better than to step out your front door and explore the world. It opens our eyes to the beauty that surrounds us, the perspective it gives us. It creates the ability to learn about a culture or a religion we knew nothing about, to share the untold stories of the people that inspire us. That is what it means to travel, to explore, to find the courage to leave your home and venture off into the unknown. Footshadows was created to inspire and share the world, its people, its history, the very thing that unites us all. It serves as a showcase of the world through photos, through the art of storytelling. To inspire others. To shed light on the world’s issues all in hope to create a better tomorrow. not to sound cliched, but they say a picture is worth 1000 words; all it takes is 1 to inspire and change someone’s life. That was my goal, to learn about the world and open my eyes to what’s around me, to quench the thirst of adventure that was instilled in me, to learn from everyone one I meet and greet and to take all that and showcase it. To show everyone exactly what it means to be human, to show exactly the raw untouchable beauty this world has to offer. After 47 countries backpacked, 1/7 summits climbed, and a countless number of people met, I can still say my journey is not over, for this is still something more to see, to learn, to experience. People often always say, “you have the travel bug” it’s not a bug or a brief feeling, it’s a way of life that I hope to continue to do as long as I have the opportunity to.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
No adventure is smooth, if it is then it isn’t an adventure. From being detained to getting lost in the Tian Shan mountains to even dangling off some cliffs, it has not been a smooth ride. But I look at all that as part of the journey, the story I hope to tell my kids someday in hopes to inspire them. I think the true obstacle I have been facing is the direction in life I am supposed to take. Society says we are supposed to live one way, find a good job settle down and keep the adventures to the allotted PTO time you’re given, and apart of me wants that, to settle down raise a family, but as I currently sit in my cubicle reminiscing on past adventures I have the sudden urge to just quit and backpack across the world again. to climb more mountains and meet more people. It’s been a constant struggle for me, a tug in both directions, trying to figure out how to balance the two, to take the risk of quitting my comfortable engineering job and rely on my passion to fuel and fund my life, to became the next Natgeo storyteller. I’m still working on trying to find that balance to combine the two, to use my current setting as a way to fuel my passions in hoped that they can one day become my lifestyle and I am optimistic for what the future may hold.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Photography is my passion, I use it as a median to showcase the world, its people, cultures, religions, landmarks, etc. it hopes to inspire others to reach new heights and learn about what the world has to offer. I am known for the stories that come from each photo. I look at the photos I take as something more than just pictures but as individual pieces of art, tools in a way to complete what I’ve set out to do. I often look for photos that tell stories, share cultures and religions, and experiences. It’s what I’m most proud of. To have a collection of art that exemplifies the world from indigenous tribes to snow-capped mountains and I believe this is what sets me apart. I have ventured to far away places and captures moments and stories that highlight and showcase the world.
We all have a different way of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
So I think I define success a bit differently than other people I talk… I don’t think success is really defined with how much money you make or anything that’s associated with that but instead with experiences… the amount you’ve learned throughout your life and the impact it’s made on you and everyone around you… also what you’ve contributed to society and how you’ve impacted it… when I was on high school, I was lucky enough to receive the bill Millennium Gates scholarship and it basically Instilled in all the receipts that it’s not enough to be successful in your education and career but how you used that to change society change the world in a way… so yea success to me is defined by what you’ve experienced and learned in life and how you use those experiences to change the world around you
Pricing:
- Professional Prints range from 30-200 depending on framed or not and the size of the print
Contact Info:
- Email: footshadows@gmail.com
- Website: footshadows.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/footshadows/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ibrahim.carson.7/
