Young Veterans for The New York Times

In early December I spent 4 days photographing unemployed veterans who were all around my age. The first day I spent with the (awesome) writer Shaila Dewan- that morning we went to a round table discussion with 4 vets between the ages of 24 and 32. I ran up to Cleveland for an AARP shoot, and headed back to Columbus to wrap things up for the day by photographing a weekly veteran mixer held by Ohio Combat Vets at a bar in Gahanna, Ohio.




The following day, Shaila and I went to the Reserve base just south of Columbus. I wasn't aware it existed and it was my first time on a base, so that was an interesting experience. I got to meet Clayton Rhoden, a 24 year old vet and reservist. Clayton's main source of income is the $80 he makes selling plasma weekly. I planned on photographing him at the plasma center a few days later, but it was closed when we got there, so we crossed the street and grabbed a pizza and hung out.





The next day, I photographed Ethan Tomblin-Brooks, a 24 year old vet who's currently living a camper in his parent's front yard in Logan, Ohio. We actually knew a lot of the same people, as he has family in Glouster, Ohio, where I spent a lot of time photographing.