Butch - Portraits of Neighbors, Ledroit Park

Elm Street's caretaker, Butch. One day I'll need to ask him about his moniker.

Chuck Brown's Wake - Howard Theater, 29 May 2012

Is it correct to say that hundreds turned out - or was it possibly more like thousands - to pay their respects to Chuck Brown, Godfather of Go-Go music, at the Howard Theater earlier this week? For me the number was not clear. What was clear was the amount of love that the people of Washington DC shared for this man. To celebrate a person's life at the time of their death can sometimes sound like a cliche - On this day that is exactly what took place and in a way that would be hard to measure.

A few more from the set here

Darryl - Portraits of Ledroit Park Neighbors

Looking out the window last week, I saw my neighbor Darryl getting his hair cut on the sidewalk, so I grabbed my camera and ran outside with 4 shots left on an old roll of film. “If you're going to do that on the sidewalk I'm going to need a photo,” I remarked.

Darryl was born and raised in Ledroit Park, and he takes a lot of pride this fact, and he has a certain “old school” mentality that you really just need to respect. I’m sure the haircut is just another demonstration of this thinking. He loves the elders in the community and always has a story about growing up in the neighborhood. On that day he told me about his high school football team and the asphalt practice field they played on. “We were the toughest kids in the city, and no one wanted to play us,” he told me

On previous days Darryl pointed out some faded, barely legible text scrawled in spray paint on one of the houses on the block. Today you would probably not notice the words “Soul Brother” as you walked down the sidewalk, but Darryl remembered when houses were tagged during the MLK riots in the hopes that certain houses would be spared.

Bobby Donaldson, B+J BBQ - Ledroit Park Oral History #3, 26 Mar 2011

On Saturday Robert Sullivan and I visited Bobby Donaldson, owner of B+J BBQ on 3rd and RI Ave NW since 1972, and long time resident of Ledroit Park, to conduct our third oral history interview. Mr. Donaldson was humble and welcoming, and part of that might have been him thinking that this could be a good way to drum up some support for his eatery. I personally think it had more to do with his southern roots and a sense that he is proud of the life he was able to build for himself as a chef and business owner. "I knew it was a good corner when I bought the place." he said, telling us that he could have sold many times if money were the only thing he cared about. Mr. Donaldson's memory was a bit faded (or so he told us), and at times Robert was frustrated at not being able to direct the interview, but it seemed to me the photos and how he expressed himself would always tell much more than what he said. My favorites below - More photos here.

For the shoot I started with just available light, but I decided to add a small off camera strobe high and slightly left which I bounced off the ceiling to give a bit of separation between Mr. Donaldson and the background and just a bit more punch overall.

Emma and Morgan - Portraits of Neighbors

I've always wanted to photograph my neighbor Emma ever since we moved into our house six years ago.  She's one of the elder Ledroit Park residents and has always been really wonderful to us, collecting packages when we aren't home and watching the street when we are away, and I like to think of photography as a way to say thank you, show respect or just 'hello'.  But, any time I've ever gone to get the camera or had it and pointed it in her direction, she has always dismissed the idea with a chuckle or a smile and then a backwards wave of her hand.  When the weather turned last week she was out on her stoop with her dog Morgan and I saw a chance - knowing that she loves her dog ! and if I told her it was a photo of her with her Morgan she would say 'yes'. And of course the dog didn't always do what she was supposed to be doing, so I was able to make a photo of just Emma too!

I had initially wished that the image was in color ... it's what I had in the camera on that day.  She had lots of colors on, pink sox, yellow shirt, red flowered slippers, but I think there is something a bit more dignified about not reavealing all of that - probably the reason she doesn't like having her photo taken these days.