Sifting Through the Pile

Hal Clark, Clark Tire Repair, Siler City, NC, 2008

Colors & Numbers

Colors and numbers can speak a universal language. Consider this a study of the idea.
Clockwise from top-left, Pino Suarez, Oaxaca City, MX. A scene from the Friday market in Ocotlan, MX. Reconstructing the Zapotec ruins at Yagul, Oaxaca. MX, Mexico City street near the Zocalo.

Amigo, can you spare a peso?

Music pours over the streets of central Oaxaca, Mexico. There are the marching bands of course; trumpets and snares for hire, chugging along with the Sousaphone, clogging the avenue in honor of a saint. One night there was a young girl playing the accordion and belting out beauties with a smoky voice while she kept watch over her younger brother. Their parents were somewhere else, perhaps further down the street selling something else. I wondered how she could posses such an old voice. She hardly took notice aa peso was dropped in the purple bowl before her.
Bring on the pan pipes, marimbas, and acoustic guitars; all of them became as common as the black iron shrouding the tall windows. The blind trio pictured above sang Spanish ballads karaoke style just two blocks away from another blind trio. I wondered how many of them could see.

Surge Babies

Recently Fayetteville, NC, home of Fort Bragg and Pop Air Force Base, declared itself the first "sanctuary city" for soldiers and their families. On Nov. 15th the city organized a massive military baby shower, the biggest in the world, with over 1,000 pregnant women or new mothers attending. I was assigned the task of winding through the crowd at a huge convention center and seeking out other "sanctuary" images around Fayetteville for the Dec. 1 edition of TIME.

See more of the outakes.

From the Rooter to the Tooter

Hog Killin' - Mebane, NC, Dec. 12, 2008

Outside the assignment . . .

Derrick, Salvation Army, Raleigh, NC, 2008

Lately I've taken up the practice of making photographs outside of assignments, of listening to my intuition when it tells me to stop, turn around, look again. It's amazing how easily you can get out of practice when you're so focused on fulfilling assignments and making deadlines.

Gotta stay sharp though, keep sketching and stretching it out.

Enjoying The Off Season

Selected snaps from a tour of the Outer Banks this past weekend. Starting out in Ocracoke and ending in Manteo.