(bright music)

- Jeremy Cowart is anaward winning photographer

who's taken pictures of celebrities

like Carrie Underwood, Taylor Swift.

He's also been a photographer for people

who'd never had theirpicture taken before.

But Jeremy isn't just using his talents

to get a bunch of likeson his Instagram page.

He's using his photos to change the world.

- [Narrator] JeremyCowart struggled in school

unable to focus on his studies.

But in seventh grade, he foundsomething he excelled in.

Art.

Since then Jeremy hasfollowed is creativity

and in 2014, he was named themost influential photographer

on the internet by Huffington Post.

In his book, I'm Possible,

this award winning photographer shares

how he pushed anxiety and fearaside to discover his talents

and why he uses his artisticplatform to inspire others.

- Jeremy Cowart is here with us now.

We welcome you to the program,it's great to have you today.

- It's good to be here.

- I'm Possible rather than impossible

is the name of the book.

Growing up, you felt likeyou just couldn't identify

what was your thing, whatmade you unique or special.

Talk a little bit about thatbecause it really impacted

how you felt about yourself as a child.

- It sure did.

I was very quiet, shy, andaverage and made average grades.

Because the education system,the way they're testing works,

I just thought thatwas my value as a human

and I was a B or C student.

So, I just thought I wouldn'tbe able to do much in life.

And yeah, I was justvery kinda normal kid.

- I loved your mom and dadthough because (Terry laughs)

they never bought it.

- [Jeremy] That's right, that's right.

- And no matter what happened,

no matter how discouraged youwere, you'd come home and say,

"It's impossible, I can't do this."

They would deliver the scripture.

- Yeah Philippians 4:13, over and over.

- I can do all things throughChrist who strengthens me.

- Which is super encouraging,just the love and support

of a parent is really all any child needs.

And supporting our natural interests

which mine was art andall things creative.

- How did you find that?

Because you didn't find it for a long time

and then it was like a voila moment.

- Yeah, it was really in seventh grade,

the first time I took my art class

and I made a really good drawing

and that was for my parents

to start really pouringinto the arts for me.

And music of course, too.

We were a very musical family.

So yeah, they were very supportive.

- One of the things,I love about your book

is you share so candidly,

the things that didn't work for you.

Even though you weremusical and you had a gift

and you and your brothershad a group of your own.

But when you took pianolessons, you just assumed

it was gonna be anotherwonderful voila moment

but it really wasn't.

- Yeah, it was just very technical,

all that notes and scales.

I just was easily intimidated.

The same with photography,

when I took my first photography class.

But it turns out if you justkeep your head down and focus

that you can overcome those things.

- And ultimately, the samewith your Mac computer.

- Yeah, computers were ascary thing for me at first

but now I use them all day everyday.

- But what I love about the whole thing

is there's such a message I think

to so many people out there

who are listening toyour story, right now,

that don't get discouraged,just keep pushing through

to the next great idea,to the next voila moment.

After you had started the photography

and you really got intoyour own specific style

and design and some recognition,

you began to photographpeople who were in need.

How did that happen?

- Yeah, it was something I wanted to do.

It was 2008, I wanted todo something at Christmas

to give back.

And so I had the idea to use my camera

to do a photo shoot for people in need

and give them the same A-list treatment

that we give celebrities.

So, do their hair and makeup,feed them, bring clothes.

And the first time we didit, it was extraordinary.

So that's when we decided todo it globally the next year.

- It really touched people's hearts.

And then the earthquake in Haiti happened

and that was another opportunity

to really specifically show the need

and the lack to people whohadn't experienced that.

How did that happen?

- Well yeah, after the earthquake,

I was amazed that the mediawasn't showing the story,

'cause they were talkingabout all the statistics

and so I wanted to go down there myself

and give them a microphonein the form of a photograph.

And then social media wasvery new at that time,

so I used Twitter and Instagramto really share the stories

of the people, firsthand.

- You went to meet thesurvivors of all of this

and you actually asked them what message

they wanted to share with the world.

What did they say to you?

- The messages were stunning.

Just the resiliency, the hope,the determination to rebuild

was so inspiring and thosestories will stick with me

the rest of my life.

- You actually started aVoice of Haiti campaign

on social media

and ultimately the UNrecognized what you had done.

Were you surprised by that?

- I was, I just jump into projects,

I never know where they're gonna go

and so to get a call from theUN, they hung all the photos

for a big meeting of all the world leaders

and that day, they hung all myphotos in the halls of the UN

and they pledged $10billion dollars that day

to rebuild Haiti.

And just to have thephotos play a role in that

was really special.

- I don't know if I've seen this correctly

in your story or not

but it seems that one of thereasons you're so successful

is you really follow your heart.

You just said it in a sense,you jump into these things.

It's not calculated, you're not thinking

what is this going to get me

or how am I going to be successful

or how are my pictures goingto be seen by more people.

Is that just a naturalpart of who you are?

- I think so, I rememberas a kid wanting to be

the first to go into the haunted house.

(Terry laughs)

And now as an adult, I have that same draw

to try the new career,jump into the new project

and now I'm building a hoteland that was the same thing.

- [Terry] Tell me about that.

- Jumping into this crazy new career.

Yeah, God gave me the idea in 2012

to build a new global hotelchain and I was very terrified.

I was so scared that forthree years, I did nothing.

Three years.

And then finally in 2015,

we decided to start working towards it

and now we're running andactually building this hotel.

- And why are you doing this?

What's your purpose?

- Well, the concept is The Purpose Hotel

(Terry and Jeremy laugh)and it's for the building.

Everything in the building

will serve a non-profit or a cause.

So, our tagline is changethe world in your sleep.

So, everything in the building

will be connected tovarious causes, non-profits.

For example, every roomwill sponsor a child,

tell their story.

The internet fee will fightagainst sex trafficking,

things like that.

- And I noticed also thatyou had gotten very involved

in some countries wherethere's just so much turmoil.

Rwanda, being one of them, Uganda.

What's the most difficultplace you've been

and the most difficult tophotograph and tell the story?

- Gosh, I mean, Haiti,and Rwanda and Uganda.

I did a project in Ugandawith former child soldiers

who were abducted andforced to kill other people.

And then, they in various ways escaped.

And I was able to do an arttherapy project with them.

And hearing those stories were,

they'll stick with mefor the rest of my life.

They were very horrid butthe resiliency of these kids

and to rebuild and to come back

to their families was inspiring.

- It's quite astonishing, isn't it?

- Yeah.

- Well, your use of thegifts God has given you

in such a meaningful and yet creative way

are also very inspiring to the rest of us.

I wanna tell you, you canhear more of Jeremy's story

and it's worth hearingabout in his brand new book.

It's called I'm Possible:

Jumping into Fear andDiscovering a Life of Purpose.

And you can get it in stores nationwide.

Thank you so much.- Of course.

- Great to have you with us.- Thank you for having me.

- Yeah, wonderful.