Stills from Rwanda
Recently given the opportunity to shoot a film in Rwanda for the Rotterdam Film Festival…(read on)
The Convention
Highly organized and impeccably designed, the convention was the height of theater combined with fervent and true belief. A uniquely potent combination.On August 28, 2008 Barack Obama accepted the Democratic nomination for President. In that unique moment a contentious campaign was born, one with issues that have shaped and molded Obama’s subsequent presidency. Highly organized and impeccably designed, the convention was the height of theater combined with fervent and true belief. A uniquely potent combination.
Fraternal Rites
In his freshman year, Michael, an 18 year-old at a small liberal arts college decided to join a fraternity. That decision came with the consequence of spending six weeks “pledging,” a process in which active fraternity members constantly tested his willingness to be a part of the group. Michael and his pledge brothers spent long hours undergoing the tasks that the active members had set out for them. He agreed to allow the actives to brand him with the chapter’s emblem, and he spent hours learning and singing the fraternity’s fight songs. At the end of the six weeks his membership came down to a test of fraternity history. Michael was one of two to be told that he had failed the exam, and that he would not be able to join the group. But only moments after being reduced to tears, the actives stripped away the veil of pledging, and admitted that the test had been a fake. His membership secured, Michael drank.
The Politically Motivated
70% of Americas fail to vote consistently in national elections. The following series is an extended photographic portrait of the 30% of the population whom largely determine the makeup of our federal representation. Based around the 2008 presidential elections, The Politically Motivated is a reminder of the dangers inherent in political apathy and disenfranchisement.
The Family
“The Family” of Gardiner Maine came together out of necessity. This group of young adults, ranging from 14 to 30 years of age, developed a kinship with one another, a relationship that grew out of the common experience of troubled home lives. Spending their time in the small city square, or in bars or apartments, The Family, as they came to call themselves, became a source of consistency in their day-to-day lives.
Communicating with Devotion
Alecia Wall and her son, Mason Tibbs, know about struggle. Mason has Chorea, a rare disease that affects his ability to control the movements of his body. In addition, Mason is almost continually sick, having pneumonia for all but three weeks in 2004. “It’s always life and death with Mason when he gets sick,” says Alecia. But the two share a unique attachment to one another, one that stems from the hours of care that Alecia devotes to her son. She understands Mason’s needs and methods of communication, which is something his teachers still struggle with at school. The devotion she so willingly shows has also changed her life. ” I feel like I’ve lost my youth, not because I’m a mom, but because I’m so worn down.”
