Late last month, right around Thanksgiving, a writer for French newspaper Le Monde's weekend magazine, M, reached out to me about running an edit from my project The Magic City. We had a short interview, and the following weekend they published a ten page spread of the work.
Please click here to see how it ran online.
In early August, Mark Murrman from Mother Jones reached out to see if I was available for a 3-7 day project in the city where I live, Columbus, Ohio, at the end of August and early September. I was, so we proceeded to outline a story on Ohio's Senate Bill 5 and it's effects on the economic and political climate in Ohio, namely it's war on the middle class. It's a story I've been covering on and off for various publications since February of 2011, shortly after Republican governor John Kasich took office. There were a few key points we had to hit (portraits of those mentioned in the story as well as reportage of their family life,) but most of it was very open ended. There was a lot of room to create moody images to help drive the story forward. I ended up sending Mother Jones a lot of images from my archives, and they were able to license some of those as well. I spent a good bit of time wandering around neighborhoods I hadn't had an excuse to explore prior to this and overall feel in much better touch with the place that I live than I have previously.
It was also nice to get out on foot as a journalist. For example, I got in touch with a director at We Are Ohio, a bipartisan anti-SB5 group, to see if I could photograph their canvassing that day. I secured permission and while talking to him, was told of a fundraiser about a half hour south of here for a town called Mount Sterling who's police force disbanded due to lack of funds in the community. I was able to make it down to the small town in time for a "Dunk the Police" tank, which ended up being used in the spread. Due to the general direction of the story, and the time available, I had the opportunity to allow one thing to lead to another and unfold into a more well-rounded essay.
Here are some outtakes, both produced for the magazine and others from time spent in the area and around the state while covering this story, which can be read here.
Last Thursday afternoon, I got a call from The New York Times asking if I could run out and make some images of dead evergreen trees just north of Columbus. Apparently this story has been unfolding all over the country as complaints are surfacing that allege a DuPont chemical could be causing the death of many homeowner's landscaping. The homeowner in this particular story, Robert Deprato, talked to me for a little while about camera gear, and then asked if I needed to use a macro. He ended up having a 90mm macro lens, which helped to illustrate the dead pine needles a little bit better than any glass I had.
If you're interested, read the story in The NYT or the Denver Post, where it also ran.
Early November, I was running around New York after a busy day of meetings. I got off the train at Grand Central, and had just come above ground. I was on my way to meet my Uncle Chuck at his ad agency so we could grab some dinner and drinks. My phone rang, a 212 number, so I figured it was somebody I had set a meeting up with that week.
"Hi! This is Jeanne with Men's Health!"
(I hadn't set up a meeting with them, and it had been probably a year since I initially e-mailed them.)
We talked for a moment about my availability, and I told her that I happened to be in New York for the AP26 party at the Annenberg Space for Photography. As it turns out, she was going to be at the party as well, so it was really great to have a chance to meet her. Happy coincidence, no doubt.
The story ended up being one I was very interested in- prescription painkiller abuse in Southern Ohio. The two victims the story focused on were males around my age who had passed away as a result of drug use and the circumstances surrounding it. I spent three days working with two families and photographing prescription pain clinics in Portsmouth, Ohio. Pain clinics pass themselves off as "doctor's offices," but with the sole purpose of providing prescriptions and painkillers to nearly anyone who has pain. Many of the local pharmacies won't fill scrips from these places, so some of them have in house pharmacies. It's a problem that took root in Florida, and has slowly worked it's way up to Ohio. Jeanne was excited to have me onboard due to my work in Glouster, Ohio, and I was very happy to shed light on the issues I've pursued over the years.
15 minutes away from the first clinic, I got a call from my editor that the one we were en route to had been raided by the DEA the day before. The problem lies in that they're not federally legal, but the states don't have the laws in place to prevent doctors from selling prescription drugs in-house.
I really couldn't have done it without my two assistants, friend and housemate Stephen Pence and the talented Maddie McGarvey. In some instances, they acted as get away drivers while photographing in less-than-ideal circumstances. Namely, while waiting for patients to come in out and out of the clinics and the ensuing situations resulting from employees coming outside to yell at me for photographing their establishments. The first day on the shoot, Stephen and I noticed that some of the clinics kept lookouts- a man casually sitting in a car in the parking lot taking notes and watching us, etc. It was important, too, that we photographed symbols of the medical presence in town. Not in a negative manner, but just to show the balance of real medicine vs. pain clincs.
Here are some images from the story that can be read here.
Thanks so much to Jo Anna Krohn of Portsmouth and Rick Dickerson of Bellville. I am truly sorry for their losses, and do hope this article sheds light on the issues at hand. With more press of this nature, I do hope that the state laws that allow these establishments change.
A while back, Andrew Kornylak contacted me to see if I'd like to contribute a piece to his independent publishing platform, A Steady Drip.
I decided to pull together some images from my work in Glouster, Ohio, that was recently recognized by the CPOY contest with an Award of Excellence in Documentary.
A little overview on the project: Once known as The Magic City, Glouster was a hub for extractive industries in Southeastern Ohio. A region once known for its large coal deposits, the economy was also rooted in clay, timber and potash extraction as well as brick and shale production.
After nearly 150 years of massive success, these industries trickled out through the 1950's and 1960's after stripping the region of its resources. 50 years later, the town of Glouster, Ohio is a shadow of its former self. With little opportunity for local employment, many have to commute to neighboring cities for work.
What's left behind is a strong sense of pride in the face of a struggling Appalachian community. Many don't want to leave, and those that do often find their way back home.
Here's a bunch of political work for The New York Times.
Bob Armstrong, Mayor of Defiance, Ohio
Laborer's Union, Canton, Ohio
Ted Strickland Rally, Akron, Ohio
Election Day Volunteers, Canton, Ohio
Election Day, Canton, Ohio
Awaiting Results at the Ted Strickland/Democratic Party, Columbus, Ohio
