Alan Scherer

Black Lives Matter Protest Fitchburg, Mass

We marched to the city hall peacefully protesting the rights of our colored brothers and sisters. As I was taking photos it became clear to me that we weren\'t worried as a collective of the rumors that had been spreading about violence from people not wanting us to march or spread the word that Black Lives Matter! The march felt so peaceful and sincere on it\'s approach to the city hall building in the center of Fitchburg. The speeches given and the kinship shared gave me so much hope for our future if we continue to take positive action in support of ourselves and each other.

Photographer

Alan Scherer

Photography Saved My Life
I have Bipolar disorder, I am an alcoholic, I suffer from child hood trauma and I committed suicide at 11. I have been hospitalized from mental health struggles as a child and as and adult. I have been through short term and long term foster care. I was diagnosed in 2001 with Bipolar 2 and was on meds til 2008 as well as seeing a psychiatrist, and a therapist.

In 2008 I realized I wasn’t me, I was good for the outside world on meds but I could’t laugh, I couldn’t cry, I was just numb. I made a decision to get off meds, stop going to professionals because they didn’t help me find my way.

From 2008-2010 it was a really bumpy road that wasn’t fun. I was still suffering from my mental illness but at least it was on my terms in my time. I was drinking a lot, eating a lot, and suffering a ton at my own hand. I was miserable.

Enter 2010, I had a come to Jesus moment that changed my life forever. I was sick of being a victim of my past and never feeling that I would ever be enough for anyone else or myself. I looked in the mirror and asked myself, I was 245 lbs at the time and just emotionally and physically spent. Is this all I have to offer myself, is this all I have to offer the world around me? Thankful the answer was NO!

That day in January will always be the day I was reborn, the day I allowed myself to take responsibility for my life, the day I began to hold myself accountable, and the day I allowed my life to be my fault if I didn’t make healthier decisions moving forward. I didn’t know where I was going but I was going to be better than yesterday and move forward on my way there.

I did some important things the first few months of 2010, I got a pair of running shoes and bought a Digital SLR camera.

When I say photography saved my life I mean literally. I also got a gym membership to go along with my running shoes. I began moving physically, and creatively for my mental health and physical health.

I was not a good photographer when I started, I just had some enthusiasm to try. I allowed myself to learn how to capture things through the lens, and to uniquely tell the true story of life around me. I was also learning to let others in, to let them see my work, buy my work, and to use my services as well. In turn I was building a better relationship within myself too.

Every Fine Art photo is a day in my life where I allowed myself to get out of my own way, whether it’s on Cape Cod, out my front door in Boston, or piece of my life within my own home, it was never about becoming a pro photographer. It was about learning to feel good in my own skin, on my own terms, in my own time.

Photography gave me a way to experience the world from behind the lens in ways that I couldn’t feel at the time in front of it.

When you buy a piece of my art, you are taking piece of me with you to your life, and I hope it helps you feel better! I hope when you talk about your piece to an admirer of it you can say that piece is an Alan Scherer Photographer original, it helped save his life!

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