Writers' Day #2

On Saturday morning, Elle and I held the second Writers' Day.  We hosted eight of the project's writers for portraits at the studio.

Saturday's weather was excellent so, rather than using our indoor studio and exclusively artificial lights, we used the outdoor setting outside the studio and limited artificial lighting to photograph each of our writers.

I continue to be amazed and delighted at the writing background and accomplishments of our wonderful volunteer writers!  As an example, Michele Weiner-Davis, MSW has written seven books on divorce and saving marriages.  She has made appearances on such shows as Oprah, 48 Hours, 20/20, The Today Show, CBS This Morning, CBS Evening News, CNN and Bill O'Reilly.  Her work has been featured in major newspapers such as the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, Wall Street Journal, and magazines such as Time, Redbook, Ladies Home Journal, Essence, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, Woman's Day, Men's Health, New Woman, and McCalls.

Michele wrote about Cassie Gedbaw, the CU student that is so heavily involved with activities in support of the homeless.

Here is Michele's portrait from this Saturday's session.

A Rainy Day for Photographs

On Thursday, July 14, I went to the Carriage House with Mary Beth Lagerborg, a new writer for the project.  We met Joy at about 10:45 am and almost immediately had people wanting to tell their stories of homelessness, resilience, recovery and redemption.  It was outstanding to have so many that wanted to participate.

Our parade was rained upon, though.  Quite literally, the skies opened with great deluge and, although I can photograph in most situations, asking people to stand in a downpour doesn't make for great portraiture.  This caused challenges with getting photographs and interviews together before people had to get to the bus for the ride to work, or off to other appointments.  And, as a result, we lost a couple of participants.

After photographing and interviewing one of our subjects on Thursday, she asked that her photograph not be used.  Since she is dealing with domestic violence and fears for her safety, her request is quite understandable. However, since this is a book of portrait photography it is difficult to reconcile including her compelling story into the book without a corresponding photograph.  We are still trying to sort this one out.

We have had a challenge finding a representative of that very important component the homeless population - the victim of domestic violence - to participate in this project.  If you know of anyone in this situation, or someone that has come through it and would be willing to be involved in the project, please let me know.

Of the six homeless people (including two people from one family) and one writer that I photographed on Thursday, here is the image of Dizzy Wind. Dizzy is a musician from Milwaukee who plays in the Boulder area. Marsha Perlman will reach out to Dizzy to write his story.

Faces at the Carriage House

Today, Joy Eckstine and I had planned to visit the Deacon's Closet at First Presbyterian Church.  The church opens to the public on Thursday mornings to offer clothing, toiletries, small housewares, books and other miscellaneous items at no cost to individuals with special or recurring needs.  We had hoped to find some homeless people there that would be willing to participate in our project by having their photograph taken and be interviewed for a story for the book.  However, we never left the Carriage House.

Today, we found plenty of people interested in participating in the project at the Carriage House.  Of course, as always, some people that were invited to participate chose to decline for a variety of reasons.  That's pretty understandable.  However, I photographed six individuals and one couple.  All pictures were taken within yards of the Carriage House.

This is the photograph of Eric and LeDriedre. Next week, they will be leaving the Boulder Shelter for the Homeless and moving to permanent housing.  Congratulations on their transition!

Writers' Day

On Saturday morning, Elle and I hosted some of the writers at our home and studio for coffee, bagels and portraits.  The sun peeked through following days (it seems like weeks) of rain clouds and gave us the chance to get outdoor photographs of some writers for the book.  Since not all writers could join us, we intend to hold another writers' morning in July.

Here's the photograph of Carol Grever.  Carol was one of the first writers in the project. I met Carol at a Boulder Rotary Club meeting last fall when Attention Homes was presenting the meeting's program.  Not only is Carol a past president of that Rotary club, she is an accomplished and published author, and she is a member of some local writers groups.  Carol is VERY well connected!  She was so struck with the concept for this book and the cause that it will serve that she attended our organizational meeting, recruited a number of our early writers, and has encouraged us along the way.  Carol has been a wonderful member of the project team and she demonstrates how Rotary works within the community and between clubs.

A particularly big Thank You goes to Maryjo Faith Morgan for leaving her house guests early on a Saturday and driving from Loveland to be with us.  She's a delightful and wonderfully energetic person!

Getting to meet some of our writers for the first time was particularly rewarding.  Since most of our communication has been via email, it was great to connect a face with a person, and with the story that they wrote.  And, isn't connecting faces with people a key part of what this project is all about?

Volunteer Faces

Over the past couple of weeks, I had the privilege of photographing some volunteers from the Boulder Shelter for the Homeless.  The Shelter is a key component of the homeless community, providing meals and overnight shelter in winter months.  It provides support services to the homeless in Boulder throughout the year.

Through the outstanding help of Gina Barajas, the Shelter's Volunteer Manager, I was connected with Jon and Deborah Davis, and Joe Pickett.  Jon and Deborah have volunteered for years in the Shelter's kitchen to prepare and serve meals.  Joe volunteers with Boulder County Cares and with other organizations that serve the homeless.  Boulder County Cares is the street outreach program of the Boulder Shelter.  BCC volunteers canvass the community every winter evening, distributing blankets, gloves, hats, and other warm clothing, and providing food to unsheltered homeless people who are living on the streets.

This is the photograph of Jon and Deborah, taken in the kitchen of the Boulder Shelter for the Homeless.

Saturday Morning by the Creek

Joy Eckstine, Elle and I met yesterday for another of our morning photo expeditions. Our goal was to capture about five photographs of Boulder's homeless. We came away with three pictures and agreements for stories to be told after an enjoyable couple of morning hours along Boulder Creek.

Different from our visits to Pearl Street Mall, the Boulder Library and the Band Shell, yesterday we toured Boulder Creek - the location of the inspiration for this project. (See the early blog posts for that background.)  Turns out that a higher percentage of the homeless population on the creek early in the morning are less inclined to be photographed than those where we have earlier worked.  That's the reason that we had hoped for five participants and getting only three.  It wasn't because Joy didn't greet her friends along the creek!

While there will be three interesting stories coming from the two morning hours along Boulder Creek between the library and the Justice Center, I'll introduce one of them here.

I photographed Mark and Elle interviewed him. Mark just arrived in Boulder a couple of days ago after having traveled from Alaska and Texas.  To help him carry his possessions, Mark has designed an attachment for his backpack to which he can lash bags of clothing.  The attachment has wheels so that it can be towed when Mark is walking.  Mark believes the idea is worthy of a patent.

A memorial to Mark's mother can be found at the San Jose Rose Garden.  She started the nation's largest food bank during a career that included work in a circus (as a lion tamer!) and sheltering indigent women that could not qualify for public assistance.  As a testimony to his mother's passion for others, Mark wants to do work that somehow helps the homeless while he stays in Boulder.

Terri at the Library

Had a quick portrait session with Terri at the Boulder Library yesterday. Thanks to Tomas deMers, a writer with the Denver Voice (www.denvervoice.org) for connecting us.

Terri's history includes playing violin professionally in concert settings in Boulder and San Francisco.  However, when her locker at the Boulder Shelter was cleaned out according to schedule a couple of years ago, and Terri wasn't present, her violin was discarded.

She is no longer homeless and has an apartment. Terri works with the arts program at the Carriage House.

Terri is in the process of writing her story. Like the stories of so many others, I am very eager to read it.