Welcome to Vallejo

Shoot on assignment for AARP Bulletin. Vallejo holds a prominent place in California history. For nearly 150 years, one of the nation’s largest naval shipyards resided here. Now the city is in shambles. In 2008, it was the state’s first city to file for bankruptcy.  Poverty and unemployment are on the rise. A surge of  foreclosed homes has resulted in an influx of squatters. Three of the city’s nine fire stations are closed. Only a handful of officers now work the street, which has  created an environment for criminals to thrive

Georgia

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La Frontera

La Frontera is a depiction of faith facing conflict along the Mexican border from city of Juarez to Tijuana; two Mexican cities where the “war on drugs” has become for the control of drugs. Due to the lawless gang violence, cartel murders, ties with drugs, and their gateway to greed and fortune, these cities struggle to control the lawlessness of the border. The local population is praying for salvation and peace while looking to saints of death for protection. A population accustomed to death and violence and forced to live with in its limitations.

The expendable value of human life and the constant echo of conflict highlights the accelerating pace at which the violence is growing and is what gave these cities a voice. Their geographic location and proximity to the Unites States is what put them on the map. With over 10,000 deaths since 2007 Mexico has become a bloodier battleground than both Afghanistan and Iraq have been for the U.S.  And with 2010 promising to be...

Leaves of Grass 2

“Leaves of Grass”
‘When two elephants fight, it is only the grass that suffers.”

-African Proverb

“Leaves of Grass” is an intimate portrait of Afghanistan, a country looked at but rarely seen, we often only see a country in the constant throes of war. We divide simplistically the country’s people in to those who visit war upon others and then those upon whom war is visited. However the most common narrative is the one that is lived quietly and spun daily in the lives of ordinary Afghans. It is this narrative of quiet, personal industry, one that is shaping up to be the dominant narrative of Afghanistan where up to now we have thought of a people only as those irrevocably linked with conflict.

These images then illustrate for us all the ambiguity and tragedy of people finding their way in war. For some, work is the descent in to perennial night in mines, for others it is the moral conundrum of farming poppy that provides half...

Addiction and Reckoning

Life is havoc for those caught in the cycle of drug abuse in San Francisco’s Tenderloin District. This project explores the inner turmoil of the disenfranchised individuals living here. Which is a catharsis for me. As a teenager, I was trapped in my own cycle of substance abuse. This shadow in my past still lingers subconsciously. Attempting to overcome this, I’m using peoples’ experiences with addiction to channel recollections of mypast.

de las Calles Revolucionarias

Photography has often been a window into the parts of my past I could not forget, the depths of my soul I could not understand.  But it has also occasionally been a reminder of our world’s simple elegance, a refuge from my personal demons found in the reflection of the beauty of others.

That I have only been able to find this respite from myself in lands that I am tied to by nothing more than the blood in my veins is a curiosity to me, but I take it as proof that there is so much more to who we are than we can ever understand… the voices of our ancestors echoing through our beings, speaking in a unified voice….

A work in progress from the streets of the revolutionary lands of Latin America

When the Spirit Moves

Those living in Chester, PA, USA, grow up in an environment where forces everywhere are against them. It is a place where pollution alters cognitive development, violence is commonplace, poverty is oppressive, and jobs are virtually non-existent. In experimenting with multiple exposures, I’m attempting to speak to the complexities that are so tightly woven into their lives.

Two Decades of Temporary Solutions

When Dadaab first opened in 1991, it was meant to provide temporary shelter for 90,000 people. Today the camp is quickly approaching half a million Refugees. Located in the North Eastern Province of Kenya it is the largest refugee camp in the world. In July 2011 it was reported that more than 1,000 people were arriving per day and in dire need of assistance. The influx of refugees, due to lack of rains and continued conflict in Somalia has placed great strain on the camps’ resources.  Dadaab is comprised of three chronically overcrowded camps: Ifo, Hagadera and Dagahaley. A fourth camp, Ifo II, lies empty despite an announcement by Kenya’s Prime Minister Raila Odinga of its opening. Kenya has dragged it’s feet for the past two years, citing insecurity concerns. With three generations of refugees, and over 6,000 grandchildren of the original arrivals in 91’, there is no sign that anyone will leave anytime soon.

Life. Death. And the Moments Between

Death has left its mark on my life. The shadow has almost taken me from this world on a number of occasions. Each time I’m close to it, I’m blessed with a flood of images: memories and experiences that have shaped who I am today. This has gifted me with a reawakening of those moments I have taken for granted. This project is not a literal rendering of my life, but more of an abstract look at the human experience of death that teaches us to appreciate the moments in between.

Leaves of Grass 1

“Leaves of Grass”
‘When two elephants fight, it is only the grass that suffers.”

-African Proverb

“Leaves of Grass” is an intimate portrait of Afghanistan, a country looked at but rarely seen, we often only see a country in the constant throes of war. We divide simplistically the country’s people in to those who visit war upon others and then those upon whom war is visited. However the most common narrative is the one that is lived quietly and spun daily in the lives of ordinary Afghans. It is this narrative of quiet, personal industry, one that is shaping up to be the dominant narrative of Afghanistan where up to now we have thought of a people only as those irrevocably linked with conflict.

These images then illustrate for us all the ambiguity and tragedy of people finding their way in war. For some, work is the descent in to perennial night in mines, for others it is the moral conundrum of farming poppy that provides half...

Poor Choices

Women persisting in their drive to control unwanted pregnancies, in defiance of the criminalization of abortion and the risk to themselves. A juxtaposition of the available termination methods, hygienic settings and overall safety of women procuring abortions based on their class. “Abortion is here to stay whether illegal or legal. The Big question is how safe it is.” “Studies have shown that restrictive abortion laws do not prevent abortions; instead, they prevent access to safe abortion. Limiting access to this procedure is devastating for women’s lives and health, for women’s families and communities, for the health care system and—ultimately—for the country.”

Renewed Fighting DRC

A document of the renewed fighting in North Kivu, The Democratic Republic of the Congo from October and November of 2008. Although a peace deal was signed between the government and multiple rebel groups at the end of January, CNDP rebel leader General Laurent Nkunda refused to disarm while Rwandan Hutu rebels still operated in the area. On October 30th, 2008, NkundaÌs troops came within kilometers of taking Goma, forcing thousands of displaced Congolese civilians to flee the intense fighting. Nkunda called a ceasefire and withdrew his troops, but fighting continued in the surrounding area. On January 22nd, General Laurent Nkunda was arrested in neighboring Rwanda for war crimes consisting of numerous killings, rapes and torture. Some five million people are estimated to have died as a result of almost 15 years of conflict in DR Congo, following the Rwandan genocide.

Women of the Omo

A document of the traditional dress of women from various tribes including the Dorze, Konso, Mursi, Bume and Hamer in the Omo Valley in southwestern Ethiopia.

Slow down…breathe…only this life

This project is about my transition from a path of chaos to one of healing. For the past  decade, my life has been a blur of movement. The healthy parts of my life fell away: family, friends, love. I found myself in a space between worlds: a visitor to everything around me, a stranger to my own life. I had a crossroads  approaching, a choice to be made. I choose to thread the fractured pieces of my life back into place.

Death of the Colorado

The Colorado River, a waterway that stretches over 1400 miles from its origins in the Rocky Mountains to the Sea of Cortez, is a dying river. The waterway is now a shell of it’s former self as overpopulation, pollution, over-damning, and global warming all combine to deteriorate not only the natural habitat, but degrade the cultures that historically relied upon its bounty for life.
This extended photo essay chronicles my journey along its shores focusing on the American Southwest and the Northern Baja and Sonora regions of Mexico. From Las Vegas to San Luis del Rio Colorado, a thread of sorrow being suffered by the common people stands in stark contrast to the occasional vein of plenty being enjoyed by the wealthy few.

La Cuidad

Mexico City, The world’s most populated metropolis is in the midst of a crime wave that has even the most jaded of residents shocked. By conservative estimates, the casualty scale has climbed to an average of 16 murders a day. And the police are widely perceived as too corrupt to tackle the crisis. Drug wars are, of course, nothing new in Mexico, but authorities say the battlefield is now expanding from cartel strongholds such as Juarez and Matamoras to the capital itself. Robberies and botched kidnappings are commonplace. The city’s poor neighborhoods remain the most crime-filled, with poverty fueling much of the violence. But wealthier areas are not immune either. Drug-related violence has increased dramatically in recent months, and shows no sign of abating.

Africa’s Horn

As many as 750,000 people could die as Somalia’s drought worsens in the coming months; declaring the worst famine to date. With 20 years of conflict and no national government the country as struggled to maintain for years and with the absence of adequate aid as many as 4 million people will be uprooted and hundreds and thousands could die.

Behind Closed Doors

Until 2003, Lang’ata was a typical Kenyan prison – prisoners dressed in rags, ate food infested with worms, shared lice-ridden mats and were crowded into dark, dirty wards. Officers beat prisoners for tiny infractions or just for fun. Amid such conditions, women gave birth, nursed babies and even died, without much concern from the outside world. Many prisons in Kenya have changed little since, but Lang’ata, Kenya’s largest women’s prison, is different. These days interested parties from around the world come to visit Lang’ata’s tidy grounds to observe their rehabilitation and parenting programmes, built in the face of budget shortfalls that bedevil prisons across the continent. -Zoe Alsop

Afghan Corners

Afghan Corners is a depiction of daily life in a country struggling to rebuild itself. It’s where two places meet or it’s the occupied spaces that sometimes demand more attention. It’s but a blink in time but a life of stories. The country’s slowly changing faÁade masks the years of anticipation of a standard of living that yet still has not been achieved. Unemployment is ever greater as refugees repatriate into society and find a growing capital with very little opportunity and saturated with uncertainty.

La Guerra Mexicana

This Story offers a glimpse at the drug wars that raged across Mexico in 2008. Thousands died from Juarez to Chiapas in the bloodiest year of violence in the decades old war.  The essay takes a look at the other side of the coin to this story.  Instead of covering police actions and press conferences, bodies and bullet holes, it shows the view from the street in some of the most notorious barrios in Mexico and offers a peek at the culture of violence that has sprouted because of this on going travesty.