I met James a few months ago when starting the
"Lords of the Ring" project, a photo essay on the boxing tradition in
Cincinnati. James was a young vibrant boxer coming from one of
Cincinnati's tough neighborhoods…the type of neighborhoods that offer little
chance for the present and even less of a future… James had started boxing
when he was 8 years old, following the footsteps of his father who was also a
local Cincinnati boxer. Father and son had both started boxing at the
Nothside Boxing school, both coached over the years by the Falcone family, a
traditional welcoming "Italian" family that breathes boxing with again a father
and two sons all coaching young kids from the city like
James.
James' father made it into the PROs with over 30
professional fights… James trained very hard to get there himself… His
father was always there with his coach, training him, pushing him, helping him
become the man he wanted to be…
But, unfortunately, a tragedy
happened. 3 weeks ago, James was shot dead in the middle of the
night…killed by 9 bullets at the age of 18… a senseless "assassination"…
Last Saturday, his friends and his father gathered prior to the start of a local
boxing tournament and, during a moment of silence, James was given the "10
count" by his coach, a tragic tradition which consists of ringing the bell 10
times to honor a fine boxer who has passed away.
There are no words to
describe the sadness of this loss for his friends, family and coaches, the loss
of a strong young man who was determined to beat the odds and to make it out of
a neighborhood where just surviving seems already an achievement… Hopefully,
the few pictures that I took of James doing what he loved best, boxing, will
help us all remember James' short life forever, a life cut way way too
short….
Once again, a very generous-spirited offer from DAH. Thanks a lot!
I had planned to come to NYC this month but my partner was denied a visit visa so now we’re in Magnificent Mumbai instead. I’m enjoying it a great deal but, I have to admit, that now my freedom to decide where I go and who I go with is being curtailed, I’m feeling a bit ‘pissed off’.
And, it’s reminded me, as if I needed reminding after 3-4 years in Africa, of how lucky so many of us are to have been born where we were born… lands of opportunity and freedom… and what a long walk to any kind of freedom it is for the majority of our kind…
Peace,
Jenny
ANTON….
missing our Puerto Escondido time and still thinking of your pictures spread out all over the floor with the waves crashing in the background..my kind of edit!!
i should be able to catch up with your emails today and see how the layout is going….
cheers, david
JENNY…
i have not seen your Africa work for about two years i think…please post some of it here if you have a chance…
as always, wishing you well…
cheers, david
david
yes… mike’s room at puerto escondido was absolutely THE place to hang out…
thanks for looking at my mails… i did send a few over the last week… aside from the book, mainly trying to pin a date with you to come over to NY (or wherever) to get the EPF annual + online mag going…
gotta run now, will be back in a couple of hours…
cheers
a
Eric,
So sorry to read what’s happened…
Your picture of James is wonderful and it’s a moving testimony to this guy.
I think it’s also here to remind us that the power of photography (perhaps its greatest power), is to remind us of the people or moments lost.
Peace
David,
All things are possible, are they not? ;-)
Any possibility we could talk on the phone this week?
tom
DAVID,
Welcome back and congratulations on the new house. Soon you will be a “born again” surfer :):).
Separately, I wish I could witness the edit you will be doing of Panos’s work while in California. The man has been shooting so much over the past weeks or months that it seems like the two of you have some work ahead!!!!
For myself, after this tragic event with James, I had to kick me to get back into a mood to shoot for my essay but I have re-started. If anything, the loss of James now gives me a sense or urgency to move on and create something tangible… In that context, I actually had a very productive shoot at the end of last week with many new shots that I will hopefully show you when we get together hopefully before Christmas (if that works)… and again, thanks for having shown that story of James…I know that his friends have been looking at it and have much appreciated your geisture.
Cheers,
Eric
David,
So happy for you regarding the beach house. Sounds wonderful. And also happy that Road Trips is not ending; I did not think it would. Turns and new directions on the road are what keep a “trip” interesting.
I am not “giving up” photography although I am in a very busy phase of iife caring for my mother. I may try to do some more images of her, but I was not feeling good about the way it was going. I am going to start a project photographing the “pet therapy” project at the local hospital. I plan to photograph one or two dogs through the training period over a period of several weeks or longer as well as the dogs work with patients in the various departments of the hospital. The hospital plans to use these in a display, and I also may try to take it further–of course a book would be a dream result.
Release forms will be the standard ones provided by the hospital. I would like to be able to present some of the images on this site for suggestions. I have set up an account with zenfolio.com where images are password protected. I hope to be able to present images that capture the amazing connection that can develop between the animals and patients. Any suggestions about ways to go about this project that would give the hospital what they can use but go beyond the obvious would be appreciated. Do you think it would be a mistake to shoot it digital and medium format black and white film as well? I remember your teaching in the workshop–keeping the equipment to a minimum–maintaining focus. It seems a tricky balance to think ahead–to pre-visualize–and yet be open to new possibilities.
Any suggestions would be welcome. I start “shooting” tonight. There will be a group training session of the dogs. I think it will be easier to get close when working with the patients one on one.
Thank you. Rosemary
YOUNG TOM…
yes, a phone call would be perfect this week…tuesday afternoon i will be busy,but in the morning or wednesday almost anytime seems fine at the moment…i travel on thursday to California, but could chat that evening in your time zone…
ERIC….
i was sure you would be getting back to work soonest….i am planning on seeing you before Christmas…let’s chat by phone early next week if that works for you…
i am already a “born again surfer” albeit a not so skilled one…kite boarding has caught my attention in the last few years and the Cape Hatteras winds make it THE sport for the Outer Banks…my old boss and Director of Photography at Natgeo , Bob Gilka, used to say that freelance photographers had no business skiing, mountain biking or surfing…and of course i loved all three!!
ROSEMARY…
please post your photographs on how dogs work with patients…i am very curious…
i do think it would be difficult to work with medium format film and digi simultaneous…is there a reason you want to go in that direction?? i am working now with medium format film , and believe me, it takes ALL of my attention…unless you have a real reason to go with the medium format film, i think you would make your life so much easier just to go digital..also spontaneity will be easier, better, with the digital…you have to really really want that film look and be making large prints to get the advantage of the medium format…i do want that look, and maybe you do too, but i feel you should just do one or the other…
cheers, david
David, sounds good, emailed you my number … how ’bout 11 a.m. your time Wednesday morning. I’ll be around :))
tom
DAVID
Welcome home! For four days anyway ;=)
Thanks for your assurance that Road Trips will continue to exist in one form or another. I knew you’d be returning to the blog on Nov. 16 as you’d said, what I was talking about “winding down” was the involvement of the community as a whole. Sometimes it seemed as though I was the only one in the room and it was getting pretty lonely.
We seem to stay involved as long as you’re in and out on a fairly regular basis. But when your schedule/internet connection does not allow your participation–as had been the case in recent months–we seem to run out of steam.
I suspect when Road Trips becomes an online mag it will be less dependent on your daily input and more able to steam ahead on its own. That will be good, especially with your commitment to your own project. After all, isn’t the whole point here to get us ever more involved in our own work? And that goes for you too.
Blogs and forums always run the risk of becoming ends in themselves. I appreciate that you’re determined not to let that happen here.
And I offer you my own personal thanks for seeing my book project as a priority. I’m still passionate about the process, so much so that I took and added four new photos in the past two days! Sometimes I wonder if this could become a lifelong project. I now remember Mary Ellen Mark encouraged that very thing.
hugs
Patricia
David, I forgot to congratulate you on your new beach house. Sounds like the perfect time & place!
Patricia
David,
Thank you so much for your quick reply as the project starts tonight. I will go with the digital–for now. I do love that BW medium format film “look”–so perhaps as the project develops, I can see my way into shooting some of the sessions with medium format only. Thank you for suggesting not shooting the two formats simultaneously. If the project continues, it might work to do some portraits with the medium format. The pet therapy program involves mainly dogs, but they also have had some cats as well as a parrot. They now have two rabbits as well as the dogs. Apparently a psychiatrist requested a bird for the program. The parrot turned out to be a problem. For example, sometimes he imitated the sound of a beeper and had hospital personnel in a turmoil trying to figure out whose beeper was going off. This was only one of the problems with the bird in the hospital. The dogs work with rehab patients, pediatrics, oncology, and behavioral health (psychiatry.) It should be an interesting project for me–and I will post. However, I am going to be photographing only the training sessions in the beginning so will probably wait to post until I have some animal/patient interaction. I may not have access to the psychiatric department. Having this place to come keeps me feeling connected to a world that is important to me. I have a daughter living in Manhattan now, so I hope to get to New York in the next few months. Thanks! Rosemary
PATRICIA…
we have several thousand daily readers of our blog, including quite a few influential editors etc…so,even when you think things are “quiet”, it may not be quite so….and , of course, the main thing we have on our forum are photographers actually shooting and referencing their shooting from the blog itself…all i have to offer here on the blog is my involvement with the so called “real world” i.e publishing , assignments etc…if i did not “leave” from time to time all of you to do my work and/or teach , then the whole point would be gone..so it is sort of a double edged sword…but guess what Patricia?? i will gamble all that i know (or don’t know) on YOU and the others here like you who are producing work…i see this online experiment to be just like my classes….they look chaotic at some point..even up until the last minute in fact..and THEN..boom!!! the curtain opens and the work will fly!!!
as to Mary Ellen’s suggestion for you having this as a lifelong project, i do have mixed feelings…i have seen photo projects go both ways…some lifelong projects just never happen…others, the style changes over the years and then when one tries to put it all together it may lack cohesiveness…i think a concerted effort over a reasonable period of time is best….you should not have a “rush to publish” mentality and i would never endorse something to be published which was not “finished”….but, i think your intense effort this year and into the spring might not only be enough , but just flat out great…i expect “greatness” from you and your work…not just “good enough”…
please remember another thing, Mary Ellen herself has never worked on a lifelong project…she does exactly as i suggest..concerted effort over a reasonable period of time…now, perhaps you do your book and then continue in some other way with it, but i think at some point you will “burn out” on the self portraiture…why not go from here to say “dance” which can be done so beautifully from your perspectives…anyway, let’s keep this discussion alive…and if i see Mary Ellen i will ask her what she sees as the advantage of “lifelong project”…maybe i am mis-understanding the term…
cheers, david
ROSEMARY
That sounds like a wonderful project! A friend of mine in Ontario has been bringing a dog to a local hospital for at least ten ears. She says it is gratifying to see how much the patients love it.
Regarding your loving the look of B&W medium format film photos, do you know about Alien Skin Exposure 2 software? It won’t give you the medium format size but can give your digital prints the look of being B&W film prints. I learned about it here on Road Trips and have loved it myself. The URL is
http://www.alienskin.com/exposure/index.aspx
DAVID
That was really just an offhand remark about my self portraits becoming a lifelong project. Oh my gawd, I would get SO tired of just looking at myself!!! What has saved me so far has been my African American elders project that has also been underway since June. Working on both of these projects has allowed me to look OUT and IN simultaneously. A good balance…
Patricia
David,
Congratulations on the beach house. One man versus the global down turn !.
Down here we call beach houses “Shacks”, so now YOU are now a “Shackie” !
“Tasmanian shack culture is ingenious, warm, colourful, peripheral, eccentric, often rough, sometimes funny and occasionally brilliant.”
Not sure who wrote that but I reckon it would apply to the Outer Banks as well.
I built my shack a few years ago, at the time I thought it a folly. It has been the best thing I have ever done. It is a haven.
Below are a couple of links to new work.
http://www.matthewnewton.com.au/maat/
http://www.matthewnewton.com.au/polo/
MATHEW (Slasher)….
i know what you mean by going against the global economic downturn…i mean, nobody buys a house now!! only me..part of this economic crises actually luckily worked for me…i sold my condo in Washington before the crash and was able to get this beach house at lower than “normal” price…but mainly, i just loved this house…perfect location..character to beat the band..cardinals and pine trees…smells right…needs lots of repair (just like me)…until i get it fixed up, you can come on in with sandy feet….
anyway, i looked at your links…the weathermen story looked fine for about 3 or 4 pictures and then the screen went black…i tried twice..so, i missed about 10 pictures i think…the Himalayan polo looked great, but you know me, i would have taken out a few…but, you have always had a flair for the moment and it shows here….i will try the weatherman link again later….
cheers, david
PANOS…
where are you?? you do not answer text…hmmmm…you must be in some kind of trouble somewhere….cops or girlfriend???
well, i am coming to L.A. thursday night…staying Cadillac Hotel over the weekend (Cadillac Hotel???)..yes, that is where they booked me…
any families in Venice Beach???
cheers, david
ok… I’M VERY PROUD TO PRESENT…
ONE MORE BEAUTIFUL “DARK” KID…
and a hike through the forest…
innocence & a bunch of other major feelings involved…
please click below:
NEW LINK
http://web.me.com/innerspacecowpanos/%22VENICE_BEACH%22/62%29_NEW_DARK_KID.html
peace
CADILLAC HOTEL… RIGHT ON THE BEACH…
20 FEET FROM THE VENICE BISTRO…
my little “secret” Venice hangout… where everything happens!!!
damn, couldnt get any better than that… right in the heart…. of Venice…
David, i ‘m up in the mountain right now…
no iPhone reception…i will call U tomorrow to find out what time am i picking U up from the airport… etc…
i already have about 895 proof photos, plus the new ones…
ok,,, back to work…
NEW DARK KID
NEW LINK…
higher
HIGHER
HIGHER
RESOLUTION…!!!!!
http://gallery.me.com/innerspacecowpanos#100438&view=mosaic&sel=0
peace
Hi David,
long time no see…. I added a small new selection on my website:
http://www.katharinahesse.com
NEW: Human Negocations
( entire edit is bigger… but so far it’s not public)
DAVID
Thanks for having a look. The Weather story is working at this end so I hope you can get it. I
Always too many images! I’m hearing you. It is a trap to try and put in too many images in order tell a story that really don’t need to be there.
KATHARINA
Hi, I’m running at the mo but am looking forward to seeing you new work tonight when I have time. Just though I would let you know that there is a new book out surrounding Bill Henson’s work and the recent fiasco. I can track one down for you if you are interested.
Matt
Hey Matt,
much appreciated ! How are you btw?
KATHARINA…
you continue to add brilliant new work to this essay…and, your website overall is spot on…where do you think you will go with this BKK essay?? do you have interviews, quotes, etc etc??? i am trying to imagine how this essay can go “long”…i love the pictures of course, but i do wonder how many of these pictures you can do…there is a certain similarity with many…do you think there are enough different situations to make a book??? i think you might need more pictures like the one of the couple at the table….out of the bedroom and just harsh and cold as is this picture…not sexy..anti-sexy…anyway,think about it…
cheers, david
How are the fires in the mountains, Panos?
DAVID,
THANKS SOOOOOOO MUCH FOR YOUR FEEDBACK !!!
I have quite a few ideas …. it ‘s likely we take this project into a “different” direction as I may team up with Lara D who turns out to be such a talented writer….
Lots of brainstorming ” behind the curtains” between Hongkong and and Beijing lately !
( send you an e mail).
Cheers,
k.
David;
It’s nice to see you back! A quick update…
My whole frustration at the moment is finding the time for personal projects. The freelance lark is a bit of a two edged sword; you work your butt off getting in work/completing jobs which leaves very little time for personal projects.
I’m still getting over that magazine crash I mentioned a while back, so I’m afraid commercial work is more important (paying mortgage etc!!). However…. I’ve decided on pursuing an idea that will tide me over before I get back to Timor. I can work on it whilst “staying another day (or two, or three…)” while doing paying jobs. It’s only a short drive from a good friends place, so cheap accommodation too!! I’d like to shoot some pics before saying too much about it though… I don’t want to tempt fate….
I’m also looking at options to get to Timor for an extended period of time (a few months this time) as the food situation etc is getting worse. Please don’t think I’ve given up on the project because I am moving hell and high water to get there…. It’s just been a bad set of circumstances stopping me from getting there for Xmas. One thing that Timor taught me though; is that it is the type of work I want and will pursue…. No matter what gets in the way….
Cheers
PATTAYA, November 18th
Picking up Marcin in 20 minutes for the boxing camp. We had a great time this morning, catching the arrival fo the fishing oats and fish loads in the Bang saray jetty. Up at 5h (last I was up that early in Pattaya, i was in a sleazy club-cum-disco, that’s quite a few years ago!), Marcin riding with me thru the early dawn, on the back seat of my moped. Great light, plenty of activity, yes, maybe someday David, you too catch up with me in Thailand. I am sure Marcin will be back,as well!
Last night was getting really into the zone, the center of Sodom and Gomorha, the infamous “Walking Street” of Pattaya. Well, it’s like anything in Thailand, the good naturedness of it all takes away quite a bit of the sleaze, and it’s not far as wild as it was a decade and more ago, when it went on around the clock.
yet, I believe a few sights had Marcin (who came along with his charming wife, Alex)…. Well, ventilating a bit…:-)))
Again, I don’t make things up:
Marcin getting, ever so slightly in the zone (get Capa-closer, Marcin… she won’t bite!):
http://www.pbase.com/uc/image/106070027/original
No wonder it got hotter as the night went on:
http://www.pbase.com/uc/image/106070025
But we had not seen anything yet, it got strange:
http://www.pbase.com/uc/image/106070022
and even stranger:
http://www.pbase.com/image/106070019
Mind you, we left these Pattaya denizens to do their worse (or best, pretty synonymous here!!!) well before midnight, with a wake-up time at 5H the next morning. I wonder if Marcin had dreams or nightmares….Forgot to ask! :-)))
YEEEEEEE-HAAAAA!!!!!
WEEKEND AT BERNIES!!!!
Whoops sorry…
WEEKEND AT DAVIDS!!!!!
Hehehehehehehe…
Congrats David, I wish I had somewhere I could listen to the music of the sea…
But I am so glad for you, to tune your nose and ears to that overwhelming matriarch of us all… give thanks for that ‘eh!
So now to work, whats up Captain?
HERVE….MARCIN
thanks for keeping us updated on the Thai trip….it has led to a new post….see if you can figure out the location where we both shot…
cheers, david
ROSS…
welcome to the club…this is the conundrum for all of us…scrambling to make a living and to pour it all back into more work…the best work..the personal work…so, why not?? sure beats having an office job no matter what!!!
cheers, david
KATHARINA,
Good job.. Keep it up..
DAVID McG,
I was hanging with Karim yesterday ,
he had such a terrible headache from
the smoke.. Anywhere from chino hills
all the way to Santa monica …
But I was fine.. I’m still a smoker U know;-)
Honestly though, it didn’t feel that great..
We are good today though..
It’s getting a little better…!
ALL,
as i promised….
( Karim, just helped me finish a small,
podcast/ movie file/ anyway U wanna call it…
its about SCOTTIE… THE KING..of all Veterans..
i interviewed him with a little Olympus mic..
& Karim did his magic…
its not hard to make a slideshow… but , trust me,
its hard to make a slideshow that loads fast…
Magnum-fast….
( anyways, watch it… its 15 seconds and the
audio/ interview… its kicking in after the 5th slide…
so be patient….)
click below:
http://panosfotografia.com/essays/scottie/scottie.html
morning y’all
peace
TO ALL-
I have received this week an e-mail from James’s mother. I thought I would share it with all of you who have kindly reacted to James’s tragic loss.
Hello Eric,
My name is Tonia Mason and I am the mother of James Perkins.I had e-mailed you last month and believe that I might done it wrong.On behalf of my family and I,we want to thank you for your tribute to James.Your tribute brought much joy and comfort to our lives in this sad time.James only being 19 years old and so full of life being taken from us has been such an terrible lost.I would also like to thank the people who wrote such nice e-mails to you on James` behalf.Once again thank you Eric.
Tonia Mason