Dark Images
I was recently asked why I like to make such dark images. Searching for an answer, I said that it was because “they move me.”
Later I thought, do I make photos that are dark because I like black and white, or are they dark because of the subject matter? Perhaps the answer is both. I have always been drawn to images by depression era photographers like Dorothea Lange and Walker Evans. Without question I feel more from the images due to the lack of color. Their iconic work strips away any veneer and enables the viewer to experience the depth of the subject’s souls. Lange’s Migrant Mother may be the most famous image ever made. For me, it evokes true sadness. It touches my soul.
The Forgotten Americans
Therefore, I have started a project that has been on my mind for years, “The Forgotten Americans,” images of the deeply impoverished in America.
Why?
Because I’ve noticed that while many in our nation are reaching new heights of wealth, others continue to fall through the cracks as the War on Poverty became The War on the Poor. We want them to take responsibility, get a job and dig their way out of their hardship, which is often impossible. So, we ignore them, despise them, blame them, hate them, and forget them.
In this series, I will attempt to tell their story.
Because they are human beings too.