When Jeremy Cowart introduced Help-Portrait in 2009, I had originally planned on getting involved. Something happened and I was unable to do it. I heard about the amazing and often heart-wrenching stories of the people involved. Last October, I had an opportunity to be involved in a mini Help-Portrait event with Jeremy Cowart himself. Jeremy offered me the opportunity to shoot, but I declined. I thought I should give the people the opportunity to be shot by a top photographer instead of a hack like me. I was in awe of the effect of the portraits. I was not going to miss this year's.
Fast-forward to December 8, 2011 at the Union Rescue Mission in an area of Los Angeles that we call Skid Row. So while we did not have stories as compelling as the ones I've heard, there was a small series of events that I still think about, almost two weeks after the event.
I met this man named James. We got off on the wrong foot. I introduced myself had a 30 second conversation about the URM and we proceeded to our shooting station. He was wearing a black jacket and a red button down shirt underneath. He asked me if he should take off his jacket and I said yes since we were shooting against a dark background. He replies with a scowl "What a waste, I really wanted the jacket ..." So we ended up shooting with his jacket on.
We were having problems with printers at URM and James was getting impatient. It was quite a tense situation. I was not in the good graces of this man. Then I noticed he had an old Sports Illustrated magazine from 1986 with Darryl Strawberry and Doc Gooden on the cover. I tried to make small talk about it. He says he has another one - with Len Bias on the cover. Len Bias was a very talented basketball player who overdosed and passed away shortly after getting drafted by the Boston Celtics. I remember those events quite clearly as they were hyping him as the next great one. I thought it was a very sad story. So I said it ... "That's a sad story, the kid had everything". James empathically replied "ain't nothing sad about that, he made a choice. Every choice has a consequence. I made choices, I don't think I'm a sad story."
That statement stuck with me. So much that I spent an awkward minute or two in silence with him while we waited for an available printer.
Unfortunately for me, he declined to write his story on his printed portrait. I guess I will never know. He has, however, changed the way I look at my daily choices.
* If you would like to learn more about Help-Portrait, please visit www.help-portrait.com
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