I just received a copy of Rangefinder Magazine in the mail. There is an article in the magazine that is mainly about my time as a photojournalist in the Marine Corps. It's the first article I've ever had written about me. There are some facts in the article that are slightly inaccurate [aircraft classification, technical details, etc.] and the writing seems to embellish because of the amount of time it compresses. Overall, the article is honest and the pictures look great in the online article and even better in the magazine.
Ed is an inspector for Verizon. What I thought were sewers beneath G St, actually resembled a snake pit. Hundreds and thousands of cables and conduits carrying electric and information are packed under the streets. When the manhole cover is lifted there is only enough of a narrow path for Ed to climb through while inspecting subterranean communication lines.
. . .
Homeless from Tokyo
This is Deru, a Japanese immigrant whose hometown is about 30 minutes north of Tokyo. He can't speak English well at all, maybe a few words. This may or may not be one of the reasons he sits on the bench and talks to himself.
A man wears a tee-shirt around his head while he sweeps asphalt debris at a construction site under Scott Circle.
I took this picture of Chad yesterday. He was in Goldie's Italian near 17th and G St NW, drinking a pitcher of India Pale Ale. He said the pitcher cost him a mere $6.
Rick and his roommates had a party tonight. It seemed to split itself into musical genres. I ended up in the room of talking. This is Jamie and Rick flexing to show the strength of the University of Florida's Gator Football Program. Florida is also their alma mater. This may be the orchestration of some type of secret alumni handshake.
"Enjoy the sun-shiny day my special friend," rings from his cart after every purchase, even if it's raining. Najeeb runs the cart on the north side of 17th and Pennsylvania Ave NW, by the White House. He's from Kandahar, Afghanistan. (I knew that for a while.) Today I was walking by and was surprised to find that my friend Najeeb was not yet a United States citizen. His reading material, "Practice for the U.S. Citizenship and Legalization of Status Test," gave it away. He has lived in the DC area for nearly fourteen years, and has been providing his sidewalk vending service for twelve years. "In this very same spot," he said. He left Kandahar after high school because of the fighting and violence caused by the "Soviet Disruption." Najeeb told me, "I like working here and the people are like family."
These cops didn't want me to take this picture. That would be like me asking them to waive my ticket after a high-speed chase. For the record, several years ago I locked me and my mom out of a running rental car in the parking lot of a hot dog shop. Who bailed me out? The cops.
This is Ishmael. My friend Adam introduced me to him today. He is a native Moroccan but homeless on the sidewalks of Washington DC. He lives in Rawlings Park, a duck park by the Corcoran Gallery. According to Adam, Ishmael also spent a good part of his life drifting around Italy. He is a part of the photo essay I'm working on picturing immigrant and non-citizen homeless people in Washington DC.
This is one of my friends Peabody. He has recently been released from the hospital among other places. He had a very bad infection in his foot. It was caused by a shard of glass. Today was the first time I've seen him in weeks. I'm glad he is out and doing better.
Antonio Canova sculpted the lions that guard Pope Clement's tomb in Rome. The Corcoran Lions are copies of Canova's Lions, reproduced in 1860. I really like these lions, as I am sure a lot of visitors do. Their popularity may be apparent from the gift shop's apparel.
I bought this handmade kaleidoscope when I was driving through Central Pennsylvania a few years ago. Kaleidoscopes were invented by the Scotsman Sir David Brewster in 1816. The kaleidoscope was used as a special cinematographic effect in the early silent Russian film Man with a Movie Camera.
