I'm glad I wasn't draped in the Australian flag ...

Hi, my name is Alexandra and I participated in the Thirty 3 Faces project and have been invited to write about my experience here! I am guessing Emanuel means my experience with the Thirty 3 Faces project, not my life story which would start with "I was born in a town in rural New South Wales called Wagga Wagga ..."

I heard about the Thirty 3 Faces project from a friend of mine at the gym who also participated ... she asked if I would be willing to have my photo taken for an online project where they were trying to get photos of people from all different countries all over the world. I am originally from Australia, and have been living in America since 1999. I said sure, and agreed to it without really knowing any more about it!

I didn't really know what to expect, so on July 12th this year (which also happened to be my birthday!) I went to see Emanuel to have my photo taken. All I really knew is to wear something that didn't have sleeves so that my shoulders could be bare. I took my 5-year-old daughter Charlotte and her friend Ireland with me too ... that turned out to be a mistake as they ran around Emanuel's house playing hide and seek in his closets the whole time we were there! They were also so surprised to hear Charlotte speaking Spanish that she had learned at her Foreign Language daycare!

Anyway, Emanuel made me feel very comfortable and gave great direction so I could have the right expressions for the photos. I was so glad that it was something simple and classic, instead of making people try and look like they are from their home country .... for example draping me in the Australian flag and making me hold a toy koala or something!

I am happy with the way the photos turned out - and I am very self-critical, and don't enjoy being in front of the camera - and everyone I have shown this site to thinks it is a great idea!

So, I hope some more people post about their experiences and perhaps we can talk about other things that make our countries and backgrounds different than where we are all living now?

P.S. I just became an American citizen on September 2nd this year! :)

We have a blog

Hi there. Finally I decide to get this step and create a blog for my fist project thirty 3 faces.
Just to promote it a little bit more and share the stories that I have lived so far making this.
http://thirty3faces.emanuelvilla.com

Hola a todos. Finalmente me he decidido a tomar el paso de crear un blog acerca de mi primer proyecto fotografico treinta y 3 caras. Solo para promoverlo y compartir las historias que hasta ahora he vivido en este caminar.
http://treintay3caras.emanuelvilla.com