Sergio Menendez, left, an animator at Milk ‘N Cookies, a tech firm at Campus Technològico, works with Melvin Alonso, a graphic designer, on a project.

The other day I was standing out on Roosevelt Boulevard, just about to climb on a bus out to the hills when my phone rang. It was the great Sandra Stevenson, and she had an assignment for the Times that needed immediate attention here in beautiful (?) Guatemala City. It was a fascinating story, about a high rise building and an entrepreneur that is trying to create a small silicon valley here in Guate. I know, crazy. So I headed over to the spot, Campus Tec, and met with folks and shot some tech pictures. It felt like I was in Cupertino or something. A day later I was on the bus to Nebaj, and two days after that I was photographing an exhumation. Weird. The story by Times reporter Damien Cave is great, give it a read. There are some outtakes after the jump…

Patricia Cofiño, a student at a school at Campus Technològico, gets a shoe shine by Paolo Alejandro Morales before class.

Continue reading ‘Guatemala Tech for The New York Times’

Back in Guatemala for a couple of weeks. It’s election season, and as usual the choices aren’t very appealing, but this year both are in a tight race for the least appealing. Otto Perez Molina is the favorite, a former army general and the loser in the last presidential race. If he wins on November 6, Guatemala will have come full circle- 15 years after the Peace Accords ended the civil war and the country turned it’s back on military rule, military man will assume power. It’s a repudiation of the spirit of the Accords and a dark turn for a country thats almost only had dark turns for the last 57 years.

I am here for about three weeks. Get in touch if you need anything.

Guatemala Cell- 502.48619877

Well, after weeks of tension, Friday the 14th came along and when push came to shove, Mayor Bloomberg blinked. He averted what could have been a nasty scene and let the protestors at Zuccotti Park, the spiritual focus if not the actual logistical headquarters of Occupy Wall Street, keep their turf. It was probably a good move politically, (everyone was curious as to what that particular police action was going to look like,) and it definitely shifted even more political capital into the protest column and less in the city/police/banker column. I was out for whatever was going to take place, and after the announcement and the euphoria, folks decided to work off the tension with a celebratory romp through the financial district. It got aggressive for a bit, and there were a handful of arrests. Here are some pictures from the morning.

I have been spending some time down at Zuccotti park, both on assignment and on my own, trying to get a feel for things. It is definitely something else. It took a minute, but the entire enterprise has struck a nerve and caught the attention if not the imagination of the press, the frustrated middle class, and even the right. Stay tuned here, I have some more pictures to show. It is anyones guess where it goes from here, but it will be a hell of a ride either way.

More photos after the jump   …

Continue reading ‘Eviction Averted- Occupy Wall Street stays put’

Pete Brook, blogger and photography critic and commentator, got interviewed by the Lens Blog for his new prison photography project, and they featured one of my pictures in the post. He is traveling cross-country doing a series of interviews to find out more about prisons, prison photographers, prisoners, and the photographers who photograph prisoners. He set up a Kickstarter project, (which already well surpassed it’s funding goals,) and one way he is raising money is selling prints by folks that shoot in prisons. The print I donated is already spoken for,  but there are a bunch of pictures available from some great photographers, and if you have the money, as of last check there is still a Danny Lyon print available- whoa. It’s a fascinating project, and I am excited to be a part of it. I am looking forward to talking with him- Pete is an insightful guy and a great writer. I think our ideas on the subject of photographing in prisons, and probably on the nature and political and social economy of incarceration diverge quit a bit, so it will be interesting to hash things out. He has written on my work before, here. Keep an eye out for his interviews he is posting as he finishes them- like this one by long time Bay Area photographer Robert Gumpert. Bob shot a project for years in SF’s County Jail, and he is no joke.

So it’s a big joke here in New York, one that I was not privy to- that supposedly almost every pizza place is called Ray’s Original or some variation of. Last month I shot a story on the closing of the actual, real, first Ray’s pizza in Nolita. The reporter, Michael Wilson, went back through old phone books until he found only one Ray’s- this one. The Story is a great read- family guff, FBI informants, mob ties, mozzarella. He did a great job on it, and it made it out to page A-1 on Sunday. There is a slide show as well. It was a good day hanging out, learning the ins and outs of great pizza making. Above, Marco Antonio Ortega puts a pizza in the oven. Some more pictures after the jump…

Continue reading ‘The End of Ray’s for The New York Times’

Last month I shot my first assignment for the New York Times. It was raining to beat the band, and I got soaked, but it was good times at the Dominican Day Parade. Many thanks to Sandra Stevenson for the chance. It ran the next day, five columns inside. I am still enough of a kid about it to get a kick out of seeing my first picture in the Gray Lady. Pretty exciting. Here’s a couple more from the parade…

Continue reading ‘First Times’

So, this is crazy.

I went to the Hambletonian, (it’s like the Kentucky Derby of Harness Racing) at the Meadowlands in Jersey about a week ago, to shoot some pictures for my aunt Ellen and her Harness Horse Youth Foundation Summer Camp. I stayed to cover the race as well. I was hanging around the barns watching folks get ready, warming up their horses and keeping them calm before the big race. I notice this one young woman playing with this huge colt in the most fascinating, spirited way. They were amazing together, and I moved closer taking some pictures. Her name was Risa Tanaka, and she was the caretaker for Broad Bahn, a three year old trotting colt that had drawn the #1 post position for the Hambletonian. He had this chain attached to his halter that he kept playing with, chomping on, and I asked her about it. She replied, and I realized she was deaf. She told me it helps him relax, like a nervous habit. I hung around taking pictures of them playing and teasing each other. They were just hanging out like it was any old day, not a day when he was about to run for 1.5 Million dollars. I was fascinated by the two of them and their rapport.

I met back up with Ellen and announced that, (knowing next to nothing about picking racehorses,) I had just met the most interesting horse and his caretaker and that Broad Bahn was going to win the race. I made my way down to the track, photographed all of the race day goings on and some of the undercard races, and waited for the big show…(continue below)

Continue reading ‘Hambletonian 2011′

Starcher’s Lament from Soul of Athens on Vimeo.

This is the short documentary I made for my story Almost Out that was published on Our Dreams are Different, both the site and the App. It’s about Doug Starcher, a 31 year old felon who was finishing a 10 year bid at SEPTA. I spent a lot of time with Doug and the guys out there, and I learned a lot from them. I hope you will as well.

I heard from him a couple weeks back. He’s still out of prison, and though things haven’t gone quite according to plan, he is rolling with the punches. It’s hard to decide, and then do the hard work of turning your life around. I think things looked different when he was still inside. But he’s trying, and time will tell if he can become the person he wants to be after it’s all said and done.

Are different. The 2011 version of Soul of Athens- Our Dreams are Different is up and running. We really tried to push the project this year, to move it in a new direction. I am confident this is the finest group of nonfiction reporting and web documentary you are likely to come across this year. Dig in. There is a lot to learn from, a lot to be moved by, and a lot to be inspired by in here. Might I suggest for starters Adrift, Honor thy Brother, Love in Lost Places, The Refuge, All Black, or my story, Almost Out...

If you aren’t familiar with Soul of Athens…

Continue reading ‘Our Dreams’

I am really proud of everyone for taking on the Character Study class and seeing it through. For our final we are having an opening. We are gonna transform our quaint little house in Athens into a gallery for the night. 8 photographers, 2 rooms, a bunch of characters. It’s also our way of saying thanks to the faculty here at OU, and the community around this place.  If you are anywhere near Athens Ohio, come on out. It should be a great night. Here are some more cards… Continue reading ‘Character Study II’

Heading over to Indiana for a few days to spend some time with my Grandad Taylor and take some more pictures of him training his three year old filly, CC Heartistry. He’s been breeding, training, and racing harness horses since 1945. Tough as nails. I always look forward to his routine- wake up, watch the news, feed and clean stalls, jog the horses on the track, listen to NPR, lunch, read, feed again, drink some Busch and watch PBS. Each spring it’s time to train again, try and build up their speed and get the horses ready for the racing season. Heart qualified last year, but got sore and didn’t race much. Here’s hoping for a strong start and a good year.

Got a shout out from the Pictures of the Year International contest last week here. It’s nice to have the work I am doing in Afghanistan get an award again. Also really happy for Matt, Justin, Danny, and my man Steve as well.

Contests are contests. There’s a lot of weird feelings all the way around them. I try to be philosophical about all of it. I see them as a good opportunity for me to take stock of the last year of work, to get an idea of where my pictures are heading and if I have been communicating the way I want to be. No they aren’t always fair, yes they are controversial, no they don’t really decide what work is great versus what isn’t. They are what they are. It’s nice to get noticed, it’s even better to see your friends get noticed, and when you don’t win it’s important to remember it doesn’t reflect on the work. It’s a contest, so it goes. Better not to take it too seriously.

The tough part is winning an award for taking a picture of what might be the worst thing that ever happened to someone. It’s ok, I don’t feel too conflicted about it. I know my role, what I am trying to do there, that it’s important that people see it from an outside perspective. But it’s still weird. Sometimes I read the big debates around photography, war coverage, all of it, and I just don’t relate. It is important to talk about and understand, important to reflect on, for sure. But it just doesn’t seem that complicated. It’s like I tell the guys when I am on an embed- “I don’t want anything bad to happen to anyone today. I don’t want anyone to get hurt or lose their life. But I know that bad things happen here, and that’s why I am here. That if something does happen, I want to be there to show it to people, so they understand, so it didn’t happen for nothing.”

Anyway, August 1st was one of those bad days. I won’t ever stop thinking about it. And it does feel strange to see the word award next to a picture of something you might rather forget. But that isn’t our luxury. And besides, Cpl. Hopp’s sister emailed me the other day. She says he is well, back from Marjah and wants a copy of the photo. Manny emailed me yesterday, I was with him again at Walter Reed last month, and he is doing better all the time. Now he is running half marathons, and is in California right now competing in the warrior games. Turning a bad day into a good life. Amen.

I was back in Guatemala last week, working on a story for my masters degree. It had been awhile, it was good to catch up with old friends and get back inside of that place and to photograph there again. I didn’t realize how central taking pictures in Guatemala is to what I do and why I do it. I think for the first time since I started going, things there seemed to have changed some. In small ways, not big ones, and not enough to say it was ‘better’ or ‘worse.’ Just changing. Thanks to Lorena, Moises, Chus, Sara and the GAM, Don Julio, Fredy and everyone at the FAFG, Ester and Edgar, and of course Rodrigo. It was good to be back, and it won’t be so long again.

Indigenous activists block a road that leads past the site of the old Spanish Embassy in Zone 9 of Guatemala City, Monday, January 31, 2011. The action was to honor the burning of the embassy 31 years ago, when another group of activists occupied the site to protest the repression of Mayan communities in the interior of the country during the civil war. Government forces stormed the building and lit it on fire, killing 37 people, including all but one of the activists and the ambassador himself. The only surviving activist, Gregorio Yujá, was kidnapped from his hospital bed and his tortured body dumped in front of the University days later.

On September 16 a tornado, or whatever it was, raged through The Plains, a small town near Athens, Ohio. No one was killed, but it wrecked a string of small communities around here. It tore up the football stadium and the roof of the high school. Tossed mobile homes around like they were shoe boxes. Left a lot of people shaken up. I went out and made some pictures on the night of the storm, and of the aftermath the next morning. I wrote a piece to go with them, an account of what it felt like to walk in the path of the storm. It’s what we do right? Bad things happen, we rush there, make a picture of what it felt like, try and communicate something of that to people who can’t see or feel it first hand for themselves.

Read the story here.

The pictures continue after the jump…

Continue reading ‘The Uninvited’