Category: photography

Free Cornbread: Burlington VT’s Political Prisoner or Drug Dealer?

Free Angela was a cry from my day. Hunted because of her connections to the civil rights movement and the Black Panthers, this crusader for the rights of blacks and women has reemerged as the subject of a documentary, “Free Angela and All Political Prisoners.”  Without going into the details, she was charged with the kidnapping and murder/kidnapping of a judge, a prosecutor and a juror. Arrested after appearing on the FBI’s 10 most wanted list, she was put in segregation.Unable to make bail, she sat in jail for 18 months. A nationwide movement to Free Angela saw people wearing buttons and carrying signs, demonstrating to protest her incarceration. She became a symbol for people being held as political prisoners. Acquitted after trial, she taught college, wrote books (Are Prisons Obsolete) and, at present, leads a movement to end the prison industrial complex.

Pier_cornbread

Not in a position to go one way or the other with Cornbread, because all I know is what I read in the papers. Had a client once who contended he, too, was a political prisoner. Didn’t see the connection between either of them and Angela Davis. Only took $100,00 to free her. He is held on $5,000 which should not be too hard to come up with, if they can make the same case for him they made for her. He was supposedly an outspoken rapper, whose notoriety and presence on the UVM campus could have made him a target. I was just surprised to see this poster on a column near the fishing pier. Not a heavily trafficked place where you’d expect a movement to start or meet. If it is just about being a crack dealer, a charge he denies, then he is a political prisoner for sure.

Bernard Not a Yankee Fan

 

Don’t usually shoot people wearing hats. Got my friend McQuade to hold the reflector. Never shot Bernard. My shoot loosener fell flat. “Not a good day for the Yankees. Old. Injured. And they lost.” “I don’t follow baseball,” he said.


 McQuade

 

Tough to work alone. When one of my guys finds the light, it makes them smile. All my photos become a bigger collaboration with the people I shoot.

Chad

 

Chad sporting a Prince Valliant look.

Scotty_pouch

 

Scotty has his pouch.

Amy_degree

 

Amy received a certificate for attending a Peer Emotional Counselling Program.

Sing_Sing

 

New girl in town.

McCaffrey’s Service Center in Burlington VT

 

So, here is a crew that cares for cars. Most of us don’t know squat about our cars anymore. To care for the car, owners need to learn, understand and trust. Then you got to be responsible. Cannot just go from gas station to gas station, forgetting about the pipes, tubes and tires. I lost at least one much loved car to bad service. Never again.

 

McCaffreys-3

 

McCaffreys-8

 

McCaffreys-4

 

McCaffreys-7

 

McCaffreys-5

 

McCaffreys-1

 

McCaffreys-10

McCaffreys-6

 

 

Taylor Hall Coming of Age

Tayler_Hall

 

Trying to build a portrait photography business in Burlington. People don’t spend money on such things unless they go to high school or get married. I don’t have money for a studio or advertising or professional quality lighting. Spent too much going to school and then the market dropped. So, I came up with a promotional idea. Donated a portrait shoot, a headshot and a digital image, at a screening of  Tatoo Nation, a movie about how prison tatooing in California started the tatoo boom. Wouldn’t you know it, a kid who wanted a tatoo won the raffle. He doesn’t have ink. But he wants to become a musician. Right now he fights some demons, but he feels as though he is headed in the right direction.

Ramy Still Grieves

wpid4952-spring_here.jpg
You had a life to live forward to and then the guy dies. Wasn’t tough enough before him; now you got to move on alone. People keep records and tell stories. You got dignity and pain. Sometimes they cancel out, leaving you who knows where. But everyday you got to take your beauty into the street with your head hung high and smile.

wpid4956-Ramy_Smiles.jpg

 

And, sometimes, you have to maintain the mystery!

Ramy_mystery

Pathway Out of the System

 

wpid4934-MyFile.dng_.jpg

Just one way out of the Courthouse. Always a good day when you can leave through a front door. The rest of life’s problems could be simple, but they are not.

amanda

Amanda’s carrying the burden of her father’s sickness and trying to stay clean and sober. She looks great and sounds positive.

larkin

 

Larkin has a place and a relationship. Both need furnishing and care. He’s got a good heart.

molly

Molly has programs to attend and needs teeth. She is so happy to have her life back, too. Larkin protected her when they lived in the woods.

Brian

Brian says he spent time in jail for a crime he didn’t commit. He’s out. Now, he needs a life. Hasn’t gotten help. He’s not sure he needs it. Who knows.

karl's_girls

Karl would be lost without the street. “Hey Duck, take this photo.” Never saw the people before. Young woman is a poet. She recited a poem she made up. He cut her off. Ending his physical therapy for hip repair. Has to get around with a chair. Vision going. How long he stays in his apartment is up in the air. Asked me if I knew of a place to live. Me? Why would anyone ask me about a place to live? People all jive him, without knowing what goes on. They play him, not taking the time to look beneath the shell. He acts like he’s Donald Trump, firing people. From what job? Who knows? Lives in another world, one where poets live. He will be more lost without a place to live. I told him to go to the hearing, deal with the bullshit and keep his apartment. Always have to show up. And it may mean missing a day on the streets. He’s got a pad full of problems and poems.

SCOTTY Lost His Stick

Not seeing well, but clear headed, now, Scotty needed his stick. He doesn’t see, well. He has social skills, but limited physical ones. People take advantage of him; stealing his money, getting him drunk, not listening to his needs. He thought that someone had stolen his stick, because he gets special treatment.

So. when I attempted to shoot him, he resisted. “Haven’t you taken enough pictures of me?” No. “I have to find my stick. Where’s City Hall? I might have left it in the bathroom.” We walked. We talked. I had to hold him. He stumbled. Not a photo shoot.

He remembered, with help from Matt Young, that he may have left it in the bathroom at City Hall, but he wasn’t sure. Had to stop at the bathroom, where e inquired of a guy taking a shit, by peeking over the divider. Not shocked, the shitter said, “not here” We went to the Office of the City Attorney, a stop I needed to set up an appointment with Richard Haessler. He’s not there. Scotty is getting shakey. Well dressed people in the hall, black and briefcases,  looked away from us, more interested in their pitch to whomever in City Government they needed to reach. Again, not pictures. Only Scotty, Not sure why?

SCOTT

 

 

 

But we found his stick.

 

 

 

Dave Parker Works Hard At Life

So, his adult life has not been on easy street. Spent less time free, than not free. Cannot find work. Doesn’t have an education. Basically disabled because he can’t do whatever there is to do and no one would hire him anyway. He stands, asking for small bits of change. Cops kicked him off the ramp coming off I91, because of danger to himself and drivers. But what could they do to him? Put him in jail?

No easy answers.