Oct 24 2014

 
 Sayulita is a truly enchanting pueblo full of culture, beautiful people and playful children with kind, happy, free-spirited souls. Geoffrey Roy, from La Rochelle, France, recognized this beauty immediately in his travels that have brought him across Canada, the United States and now, Mexico. While traveling, he shares with the world his insights on respect for human rights, ecology and culture via his blog, Travel and Roll, and various other social media outlets. “Sharing my experiences and striving to make a difference adds more purpose to my travels,” Geoffrey confided.

One of the ways that Geoffrey communicates about his experiences is via photography. He likes to capture the spirit and the heart of a place. He makes it a habit to dive into the community, walk around neighborhoods and talk with the locals. He observes his surroundings, looking for beauty in everyday things. On one of his walks in Sayulita, he happened upon several young Mexican girls playing in front of their homes.

“I love how beautiful and happy the children are here in Sayulita. Rather than being indoors in front of video games, they run around barefoot outdoors, laughing and playing and simply sharing a connection with nature. This is unique to much  of the world. It was this essence and beauty that I wanted to capture in a photo and share with others,” said Geoffrey.

And capture the joy, the light in their eyes and their natural, pure smiles is exactly what he did in the photograph he took of the four young Sayulita girls. Geoffrey shared this photo on his Flickr.com 
page and it has had over 15,000 views in the last few months. In fact, it has been such an inspirational photo that he has been approached by the World of Children Award for the rights to the image.

To thank the girls and show his appreciation for their wonderful, authentic smiles, Geoffrey printed a copy of the image for each of the girls. He went in search for them and found them at a neighborhood party, surrounded by family and friends. Initially, the parents misunderstood and thought that he was trying to sell them the images of the girls. When they realized he was offering the photos as a gift, they were extremely touched and it was an emotional moment for everyone.

“I feel a connection with the people of Sayulita. They show me kindness and I want to show them kindness in return,” shared Geoffrey.