259: The Light

Very early this morning a storm came raging through town. About half a mile away from my home, a huge limb, about 2 feed in diameter broke out of a very old oak and landed across the front porch of an old house. Among all the damage this light was still standing. The bulb in the light appears like a face and I am reminded that no matter what the storm, the light and face of Jesus is always there for us.

The Light and the Storm

Click on the image to see it in its splendor.

204: The Fire Place

8 of ?

Today as I headed out for my daily walk I passed the area of the tent camp where the homeless were evicted and I felt compelled to stop for a visit. No one is home anymore. It was kind of like visiting an "old home place" and you think back;

The Fireplace is Cold

There was the fire place, now cold, A abandoned chair is waiting for some one to sit in it and pick up a magazine from the stack beside the fireplace. I then thought of Maggie (see post 23) coming over from laying beside her food and water bowls (upper right from the fire place)and nudging you to get a ball to throw for her. As I looked up and left I noticed an abandoned tent. This tent was the guest house, where anyone in need was welcome to stay until better arrangements could be made. A tear wants to come to my eye.

As I walked around for a few more minutes, I noticed details about the camp I had never noticed before. These folks were resourceful, the used what was available to meet the need at hand. I was tempted to pick up some little trinket for a keepsake and remembrance. I know they would not have minded, as they always would share what they had, but I kept thinking, they might need that when they get back. Wishful thanking I guess.

200: Reflections

7 of ?

Reflections

As the fire dies down we see some of the item left behind when the homeless left the tent city. As they knew not of where they might go or what they might need when the got there along with the limited ability to move stuff many of their daily use items were left behind. It was heart wrenching to watch Bob leave, what had been his home for the past six years, for the last time. Bob was followed closely by Maggie, his dog (See Post 23), Maggie had the look of something is wrong and I think it us going to be bad.

Reflections on other related issues. In the time since 911 scrutiny of photographers has increased drastically. Some times the police have really gone overboard. One instance comes to mind of a photographer was arrested and taken to jail for photographing in a subway station. The photographer was taking picture for a photo contest sponsored by the subway company. I have always defended law enforcement's rights to stop and ask what you are doing. I have done this frequently on various photography forums. That is the reason I never minded when the police stopped and asked what I was doing on my photo excursions.

In taking pictures in Monroe for the past ten years the police have never said anything to me except for one occasion when someone (so they said, now I wonder) called 911 and reported a sniper on the Skyway Bridge, that is until recently. I even wrote the police Chief a letter commending her on the professionalism of her department during the event. Generally every time I see a law enforcement officer I take the time to tell them "thank you for doing a thankless job." I have always supported law enforcement up to now, but no longer.

As I just eluded to in the previous paragraph the situation has recently changed. In the month of November I was questioned 13 times all by city police. I had attributed this to me letting my hair and beard grow long. A friend pointed out to me that my hair and beard has been long a lot longer that that. As the paper noted the police department has been putting the contrived eviction together for a couple of months. I now realize that due to my association with the local homeless, I, like the homeless, have become a victim of police harassment.

Welcome to Dodge City

199: Homeless and Horseshoes

Part 6 of ?

Horseshoes
The Clang of these will no longer
Ring through the camp.

This image will remain embedded in my mind and remind me of John. As mentioned in the last post I helped carry John's cherished possessions to a place he thought might be safe. Among the items John kept was this set of horseshoes that had been used at Dodge City tent camp.

It seems to me the biggest issue relating to the homeless is we know nothing about them, most consider them a bunch of druggie alcoholic derelicts. So lets meet John. I wanted to use a picture of John but due to my respect for him and his feeling about being homeless, the one image I have of him well remain as a memory for me.

I first met John in November of 2008 when he first came to the camp. Prior to that John had been a cabinet maker. In this day and age of pre-made and ego branded cabinets , the demand for a true cabinet maker is limited. As the construction business faltered his work dried up. He survived for a while on his benefits and savings. When his resources ran out he found himself homeless.

John kept up hope he would go back to work so he kept his essential tools he would need to go to work. These tools bared him from living in a shelter because they could be used a weapons. His only alternatives were to give up hope of getting a job or move to the tent camp. John had hope so the tent camp was his only alternative.

Several months later as the building industry continued to dwindle his son, a carpenter, joined him in the camp until they could get enough money to get him to WV where he could be with family. You might ask why John did not go. According to John the family could only afford to help one and he felt his son should be the one. The one high point of this whole sad eviction affair is as John and I parted company late yesterday he looked at me and said " The longer I know you. the better I like you. You are not one of the typical fly by night do-gooders."

At the beginning of this post I mentioned that John kept his horse shoes. While helping him load his things I noticed another item he brought with him, His Lunch Box. After all this John still has hope.

I must admit this story is not true of all homeless people, but after being around most of the homeless in the area for the past two years it us typical of the group the police targeted. Others has asked, if I was so concerned why I did not open my home to them. I did check and as I have a reverse mortgage (the only thing that keeps me from being homeless) I am prevented from having non-family members living in my home. As I feel that if the police found out they were here, the mortgage company would find out.

198: Graffiti and Coincidences

Part 5 of ?

Graffiti

Oh, do not bother looking for a defaced sign this was Photo-shopped

As for coincidences, I learned late yesterday evening that another local homeless group was being evicted and had to be out by 12 noon today. They will not say why.

Another coincidence was yesterday evening when I was carrying John, one of the homeless guys being evicted, to Hemby Bridge; a local city police car was traveling the same route a short distance behind us.

197: Ghost Town and Flag

Part 4 of ?

Flag Still Flies at Ghost town

The sun sets over Dodge City, now a Ghost town. As of this evening the Homeless guys have gathered up what they could and left the site.

I need to apologize to Wingate University for my less than flattering remarks in post # 194. At that time I was repeating what the Police at the scene told me. Well it seems now the local police chief has admitted this was a scheme cooked up by some policemen inside her department and was not provoked by Wingate University as previously stated. It seems the local police approached Wingate University laying out a very bad situation and Wingate Officials believed the police.

According to the now revised local Police story the "situation" was pan-handling. As many know I have spent a lot of time over the past couple of years visiting with the local homeless folks. During that time I discovered that yes the evicted guys pan-handle on occasion but the full time pan-handlers are a group living in a house about a mile away.

Again Wingate University I apologize, both you and I were lied to by a segment of the Monroe Police Department. Wingate University did what it thought best based on the "evidence" presented and I reported on the "evidence" presented, both were Bold Premeditated Lies.

Monroe Police Department SHAME ON YOU. We rightly deserve the name DODGE CITY when a segment of local law enforcement can decide to run someone out of town. Right now I am asamed that I ever served in law enforcement (Deputy Sheriff in Texas).

As an after thought I might mention even after getting caught with their hand in the cookie jar the police made absloutly no visual effort to assist with or relieve the 24 hour time limit they imposed. Is this their thought; "Ok so we lied we got what we wanted. So What? we the law." .

Welcome to Dodge City.

196: The Dodge City Trail

Part 3 of ?

Leaving Dodge City

This is John. John, a homeless person, takes his meager belongings and heads down the Dodge City Trail after being evicted by Monroe City Police. The were declared a nuance because of pan-handling. I can attest as an eye witness that these guys were not causing the problem. Yes on occasion they did pan-handle to meet there needs, but the problem pan-handlers were a group living in a house up the street.

The ones up the street had to pan-handle excessively to cover their expenses of living in a house. The evicted guys, however, were trying to live within their means by living in tents.

195: Packing to Move

Part 2 of ?

Moving Day

Came back by the house to warm up and get some coffee. And though I would post this. For those that do not know this is packing for a group of homeless the local police running out of town. As os to day their plot has bee uncovered. Shame on them. More too follow.

194: Homeless Evicted

Part 1 of ?

To Be Evicted

It is with a heavy heart I relay the news these homeless guys and the others living in this camp are being evicted. They were given 24 hours to get out. The reason, an educational institution in another city has "decided" to get the land clear cut. From what I understand there is no intent of building any thing only to clear cut the area.

Not to mention the homeless what about the environment? Do we not require timber companies to replant trees where they clear cut. Do we not criticize other countries for allowing people to clear cut to gain needed farm land. Something does not seem to add up here. This thought is amplified because this tactic has been used over and over to dislocate homeless camps. By using the clear-cut excuse the powers that be can hide behind it and not look like they have no heart by just evicting the homeless. Oh, what evil learks in the heart of man!!

And the worse part is I feel at least partially responsible. Over the past couple of years I have put forth great efforts to get help for these guys. In doing so their camp location has become known to others. Shame on me for stepping out and trying to help those less fortunate than I.

Bloggers NOTE: Please read entry #197 for updated information, including an apology To Wingate University. I was repeating what the local police told me and the News Media.

93: Photojournalism -- Hot Pants

Overload -- Too many Hot Pants?

Someone commented, A couple of the images are basically just to have a image for the day. Today is another one of them days.

39: Photojournalism -- Planning Ahead

Discussing Family Matters

Not much to say this evening. I was out to photograph an event that did not event. As late as it was this was a quick grab before things went dark. It is an old photojournalism rule Get something you can use first thing. Then look for the good stuff. Well I broke a good rule and nearly suffered from it.

25: Photojournalism -- Sports

I was struggling for image today, nothing seemed to pop out. Sambo said if I wanted supper I best go get myself something. On the way I noticed the local kids playing soccer. And I thought photojournalism - Sports. I got to thinking when I took sports pictures in high school as the unofficial annual staff photographer, and the thought struck me I could have been in France this month on a lavish expense account photographing The Tour de France, had I only pursued Sports photography. This does not even take into consideration all the high priced equipment I would have. I went and found a bicycle racer to photograph and it made me so mad at myself, I went back and photographed the kids and their soccer game.

18: Photojournalism - Where you find it

Thursdays are always a hectic day for me. A group of us get together around my dining table for Bible study every Thursday at 12 noon. This means all the house cleaning I have put off all week needs to be done before they arrive, and it never all gets done.

Today after Bible study was over I took a little nap, as I did not sleep well last night. I got up from my nap and was headed out the door to go for my walk at WalMart and to pick up an Item I needed for today’s photo, I got a call saying there had been a big train derailment west of town. As railroading is one of my favorite subjects it was westward-ho-the-wagon.



The authorities were keeping folks a ways away as if there was a lethal load on the train and all it was was corn, plain old whole kernel corn headed toward a feed mill. This was shot at 300mm then cropped half the image. Then to add confusion it was a hot hazy day. So you get this instead of what I had planned.

16: Photojournalism and Bicycles

Back on image 11 I mentioned the police delivered a message to me. One reason I was so easy to find was; first it was a small town, but more important I, like most kids of the day, was out and about on my bicycle. In those days we got out right after breakfast and came home in time for supper. Living in a small town, before the era of scanners and such, the only way you knew something was going on was to listen for the emergency vehicles, and the bicycle allowed you to hear and get there. I carried my camera in a Knapsack, purchased from the Army-Navy Surplus store, attached to the rear luggage rack of the bicycle. I played the part of photojournalist for several years mounted on my trusty Columbia bicycle.



Most of my photos except street shots are envisioned before the Image is captured. This one is no exception. I envisioned an old style bicycle with handlebars that looked like handle bars. Do you know how hard it is to find an old style bicycle; almost impossible. Seems like modern bicycles are like modern cameras, it is difficult to find a quality camera or bicycle without a bunch of seldom used bells and whistles.

11: Intro to Photojournalism

Getting back to the original tale, I seldom went anywhere without my camera. Back in those days kids had the run of town, and were safe in doing so. It was not too long until I stumbled upon an accident involving a car and a bicycle. Playing like a real photographer, I took a couple of shots and went on my way.

A little while later that day a police car pulled up and asked if I was the “Fellow” that had taken the pictures at the accident. When I answered that I was, he told me that the folks at the local newspaper was looking for me. I went by the paper and learned that the scene had been cleaned up before their photographer arrived. As the accident involved a small girl on the bicycle, and the someone involved was a member of a prominent family, the paper needed a picture for the front page. Well I got published, top half of the front page (the part seen when the paper is folded). This began over a half a century of off and on photojournalism.



And I still get the urge to chase a ambulance once and a while. Guess I needed to be a lawyer, it sure pays better than photography.

7: Photojournalism or Snapshot

Well it was not long before I got drafted into photojournalism. I will relate that tale whenever an image shows up for a suitable illustration. It is sort of strange that photojournalism was my first and last paying gig in photography. Photojournalism is similar to street photography. The primary difference is in photojournalism you know the story and the subject beforehand. The one major rule is the photographer should not adjust the image before or after the capture. The image should remain true what was there without the presence of the photographer. Sad to say this is no longer an important rule to most photojournalist today. That is one reason I no longer choose to be a photojournalist.



This image is more of a snapshot than photojournalism. But can be considered photojournalism because it is an image of the first Sunday Service of a new church in Monroe. Not only is it a new church it has a methodology not common in most modern churches, Go an Tell not Come and See