Something caught my attention this week. I passed by it several times - a swirling line of students waiting eagerly together with words drawn on their arms. They were not only waiting to have their photo taken to express what they had written, but they were waiting to be a part of an inspiring initiative - the Dear World Project.

The aim of the organization is to capture the stories of people throughout the globe. Whoever is involved uses a sharpie to write on their bodies what their message is, stands in front of a black screen and a powerful image is simply created through the elegance of photographic storytelling.

Robert X. Fogarty created the collection in 2009, after seeing the 'love notes to the city' idea in New Orleans. According to his bio on Vimeo, Fogarty states that the portraits could be used for a "shared communication, no matter race, religion or language." The concept has been featured in CBS, CNN, and the New York Times.

The project has recently begun traveling around colleges, in an effort to explore both student's and faculty's stories in an entirely new way compared to anything that has came to a campus before. When exploring the images and noticing what people chose to write when it came to my own college, phrases ranged from making people laugh, reducing people to tears or commonly opening up about something they have overcame as a human being.

It's organizations like this and Humans of New York that engulf me with happiness. Not only does it involve my passion for photography, but it also embraces the power of what humans can do when they come together and respect and support each other.

Projects that unite and expose us like this truly inspire me. It is a common reminder that the girl you see walking to class may have beaten cancer, or the man you see walking down the street may have been the victim of abuse. Whoever the person, whatever the story, the beauty behind the images that this organization creates only just begin to explore the endless stories of hope, struggle, and growth.

Every time people walked by Dear World when it came to my school, the line got longer and the smiles got brighter. With merely a simple phrase handwritten on their bodies, students and teachers alike opened up about their lives in ways many groups struggle to do. This idea brought people together and exposed humans in a beautiful and meaningful way, and for that, we thank Dear World.

To explore more of the Dear World images, go to http://www.dearworld.me/