My latest attempt at Athletes of the Year portraits. I always love doing something that is challenging personally. This time I used a long shutter and multiple strobes and alien bees. Here are some of the more successful ones.
Months ago I completed an assignment for the New York Times, and the story ran recently. I was to take a portrait of Tyler Brashear, 13, who lost his father, James, in car crash almost two years ago on a stretch of Interstate 75 in Southwest Florida. Brashear was sitting next to his father as a tractor-trailer rig slammed into the back of their car as they inched their way through a construction zone just after midnight. The trauma of the crash remains for Brashear. “My son before the accident was cheery, playful, an 11-year-old boy,” said his mother, Kim Guarino. “Since the accident, my son is distant, he spends a lot of time in his room by himself, refuses to talk about the accident.”
Top: Ron, 69, has been homeless most of his life. After a friend forced him to check in at the local Salvation Army, he was brought to the Rescue Mission in Fort Myers. He has been there for more than seven years. Ron has seen a lot of people come through the center and has noticed a shift in who is now homeless. “Guys who are here used to own their own business,” he said. Ron, who has had a drug and alcohol problem, says he is not sure if at his age he will ever be able to leave the shelter.
Below: A candlelight vigil is held for the homeless at a local shelter. Names of people who lost their lives while they lived without shelter were read as others prayed.
