Dog Days, Bogotá
Photographed during the adoption process of his daughter, Alec Soth delicately tells a story of Colombia in a time of waiting that reveals glimpses of hope and resilience
My wife and I adopted our baby girl, Carmen Laura, from Bogotá, Colombia. While the courts processed her paperwork, we spent two months in Bogotá waiting to take Carmen home. Carmen’s birthmother gave her a book filled with letters, pictures and poems.
"I hope that the hardness of the world will not hurt your sensitivity. When I think about you I hope that your life is full of beautiful things."
- Carmen's birthmother
With those words as a mission statement, I began making my own book for Carmen. In photographing the city of her birth, I hope I’ve described some of the beauty in this hard place. – Alec Soth
