Along my way across the US, I've stopped at various towns and cities to create portraits of people I've met. If you're one of the brave souls who graciously allowed me to photograph you, you'll find all of the images here. Because I'm on the road until the end of July, the images may not be up until I'm back home and have the high speed wifi necessary to upload them all.
In the meantime, here's a handful of portraits.
In the beginning of July, I set off with the Culture Runners group in an RV that I helped them to purchase last year. Four other artists and I set of from New York City and headed East - towards Chicago. Originally my intent was to shoot portraits of people and capture some landscapes. Along the way though, my focus changed somewhat. I began documenting people and places along the way in a cursory, snapshot sort of format.
A few weeks ago, I packed up my gear and headed into Beverly Hills to photograph Ziggy Marley, son of Bob Marley and reggae star in his own right. It's always fun working in someone's home since there's a comfort level that isn't always there when the subject of the shoot is away in some foreign studio location.
When the German magazine Der Spiegel asked if I'd be interested in shooting a story for the magazine, I jumped at the chance. They're one of the last great long form journalism magazines left so it's something of an honor to be asked to shoot for them. I photographed Patrick Manyika, a survivor of the Rwandan genocide and currently a student at the University of Redlands.
For the Charger's second round playoff game, I headed out to popular a sports bar in San Diego to photograph the action. Not the football action, but the actions and reactions of all the fans there to take in the game. Given that it was the Chargers playing, I figured there'd be plenty of agony-of-defeat photos though I was hoping there would be more than a few thrill-of-victory moments in there too.
Whenever I'm shooting in a bar, I'm always a little worried about the drunk guy who's looking to start a fight. He's the guy who reacts to the camera much like a bull to a matador's red flag. This time out it wasn't a guy. Instead, this rather butch looking, heavy set girl proved more interested in picking a fight with guys than picking them up. She even tried to take on a guy who was a foot taller and way more butch than she. If it had been a guy in his face, he probably would have punched him. Because it was a girl, he kept his cool and moved on. No matter how butch a girl is, there's nothing to be gained for a guy to take on a girl.
Still, I stayed away from her. Nothing to be gained from me getting beat up by a girl either.
Oh yeah… the Charger's lost.
