Shaun Hopper | Kids + Their Dreams

To all of you who grew up in a small town, you will get this right away: as a kid, my friends and I had nothing to do but get in trouble, or dream.
I can remember all the crazy phases of my life where I'd sit in school, and daydream about how my life would be in the years to come.
I have a very large extended family, and 90% of them are into music in some way or another. So, of course, I have a huge place for music in my life. Over the years, I dreamed I was everyone from Reba to Alanis. I always wanted to take music and voice lessons, but sadly there just wasn't anyone around who offered any.  That led me to wishing I was one of those people who could miraculously teach themselves...which leads me to this guy...
There was a guy in my neighborhood, named Shaun Hopper. We would hang out-or should I say fight-in the front yard until my dad would tell him he needed to go home, and you guessed it, I would get into trouble. Time would eventually take us down two separate roads. I kept hearing talk around town that he had gotten into playing guitar and was playing at some smaller places. I'm not really sure why, but our paths never crossed again until many years later.
I finally took a chance and tried out to be the new singer in a band that Shaun happened to be in. I'll never forget that crazy night. I sang Silverchair's "Tomorrow"...only to later be told it was Shaun who said he didn't want a female lead singer. So, there went my dream, right? Not quite. Two years, and a new direction (the path of photography) later, I ran into a friend from high school in the mall. He had a band t-shirt on and I asked him who that was because I hadn't heard of them. He told me, and he told me that Shaun was their bassist. I told him the story of that dreadful "try-out" and he is the reason everything was cleared up. I then got a call from Shaun about a week later asking if I could come check out his band because they would be needing photos for their upcoming album.
I went, and that started a great friendship, and many, many band photos.
Even though I may not be writing songs that I get to share with the world from a stage, I am very blessed to get to capture the unique things about musicians that I used to flip through all of my Guitar World and Rolling Stone magazines just wishing I could be a part of it all.
Every time I see one of my music photos published somewhere, I remember that little girl who used to dream until her heart ached, and I just smile and say, "You made it."

So, here are my latest photos of Shaun Hopper for his latest album, "lower case letters". And if you get a chance to see this guy live, you will be amazed. I promise. He's so talented that it makes me sick.

And, of course, I have to share one of his videos with you...enjoy.