Photo Story: The Homeless in Albany and Benefits of Volunteering

Jesus Munez(his friends call him JJ) is from Phoenix, Arizona. He moved up to Albany six months ago, and he's a member of Albany's homeless community. JJ has rickets, and is confined to a wheelchair; he lost use of his legs when he was very young. He has struggled with drug and alcohol addiction his whole life, but has been clean for the six months that he has been in Albany. He has been kicked onto the street by family, suffered through abuse and addiction, and lost his mother to cancer only a short time ago. Despite all that, he remains a glowingly optimistic person who maintains plans for the future. His goals are to open his own business and own his own residence. JJ has worked long and hard at recovery through tragedy and relapse, fighting against his predisposition towards addiction, an admittedly rough childhood, and spiderwebs of bad relationships. His greatest temporal resource? The Charity of Others.
"People are so nice here, so open. People will help me get around, they give me money. I even got this pair of gloves the other day."
In the absence of charity, JJ says he and his loved ones have been forced to commit crime.
"Years ago, when I was homeless in Phoenix, it would get too cold at night. The homeless shelters only have a certain number of beds. I never stole, but when it became to cold to sleep outside I would sometimes have to break into empty houses to stay alive. I'm not proud of it, and I would've never done it if I didn't have to. If I saw someone I knew going into a store to steal, I would give them money I earned from panhandling so they wouldn't have to. I don't like things like that."

The homeless community is unique because it is one of the only marginalized groups that depends completely on the charity of others. They don't vote, they certainly don't contribute to campaigns, and they don't sit on local councils. Even as they struggle to survive, municipalities pass anti-homeless laws and break up camps where they sleep. When the shelters are full, homeless are left with nowhere to go.
This should be an indictment of the officials who fail to help the homeless, but also an incentive to volunteer. A citizen can't necessarily build a new shelter or make the government pay for housing, but they can volunteer at soup kitchens and outreach centers, where they often find themselves short handed.
Listen to the volunteers of Saint Mary's Soup Kitchen and hear their reasons for volunteering, and how important it really is.

St. Mary's Soup Kitchen will have been serving the homeless and less-fortunate on Mondays Wednesdays and Fridays for 37 years in January. The Church, located on the corner of Eighth and Ellseworth, serves a healthy variety of foods from their soup kitchen, and also supplies food, clothes, and toiletries they receive through donation.

Patricia Jacobson(81) has been the director of the Soup Kitchen for over five years, coming in often times at 9 in the morning and staying til 7 at night preparing and serving food. She also commits significant time on all the other days of the week to procure the goods that the Soup Kitchen provides; "most of the time when people think of volunteering they think of serving, but there's a lot more to it than that."

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David Enge(76) has been volunteering at St. Mary's for nearly five years. "Volunteering is a good way to use my time. I also volunteer with the historic society. We've got a population of 50,000 or so here, and considering the whole volunteer base, there aren't that many in Albany. We have times with plentiful volunteers and times with a drought, and we're in a drought period right now where we could use some good people to put in as much time of their day as they can. We could really use them."

Thomas Lehr (38) spends 20 hours a week in the kitchen, and has been volunteering for three years. "I used to come every hour they were open until my son was born... it was weird because when I first started coming here I was homeless, and I used it as an excuse to get out of my camp and get out of the cold, but when I got into a recovery house all the reasons for coming changed; it became about giving back. I've taken a great many things in my life and I think I'll have to come here for the rest of my life to return it all."

Ashley Coats(33) volunteers nine hours a week at St. Mary's. "I have a different story, I was addicted to drugs for many years; I've been clean and sober for about a year, and it's just a way to give back to something I took from for so long... Places like this provide an opportunity for people to get warm food in their stomach." Ashley was homeless for eight years. She is mother to five children, and says she made her recovery for her daughter.

End of Term Questions

My Best Photo This Term:

Demetry Arellano weaves through defenders Noah Crawford, PK Bean, and Spencer Madsen during a small-sided scrimmage.

This photo was my favorite that I took this term. In this photo the subject is Demetry(yellow penny) and he is facing the camera and the concentration shows on his face. I adjusted the setting well and used Photoshop effectively to crop the image. If I recall correctly it wasn't particularly well received because most of the players in the image were marginalized because they were facing away from the camera, but in my opinion that is what makes it a good picture. This image is reminiscent of viral photos taken at professional matches--like the one attached below-- where one player is shown to be taking on many; the lack of consideration given to defenders is what makes it a good photo.



Photojournalism Goals

I want to get photos into the Commuter, I want to expand my photo editing skills, and I want to embrace interviewing strangers and subjects, as that part is still hard for me.

I'm still working on getting those photos in the Commuter, but I have expanded my understanding of Photoshop and while the prospect of interviews is still daunting, it is much easier than it was at the beginning of term. I feel that my process for taking photos involves more seeking of perspective. In the photo above, I've moved behind a goal to get better shots of the players on offense, rather than just standing on the sideline. I have a better understanding of how framing my subjects can alter the perception of them, as will be seen in my photo story, where I feel I have taken some powerful images that are yet to be edited. I feel that my interview skills have advanced more than my photography skills; I view this as a positive because I think it is more requisite to what I want to do.

Photographer of the Week Write Up: Javier Manzano

Javier Manzano is a prominent conflict journalist born in Mexico and based in the United States. He is known for his documentation of conflict in the Middle East as a freelancer for the Associated Press, Agence Presse-France and other assorted media conglomerates. He was born in 1975 and lived in Mexico until 1993 when his family immigrated to the United States. He worked for Rocky Mountain News in Colorado until 2009, and that's when his career really took off.
Manzano's has one a litany of awards in his career, not all for his photography. For still photos, he won a Pulitzer Prize and two World Press Photo Awards. For his motion-picture documentary work, he won an Emmy award and has been nominated for two British Academy of Film Awards(BAFTA).

This photo was Manzano's claim to fame. He described the scenario in an interview Manzano did with Jessica Lum, "An old Ford Cougar was haphazardly parked on the right side of the highway. When we approached the vehicle we noticed that both of the rear side windows had been shot in. Inside the car, a little girl who was holding the hand of her fatally wounded mother. The girl’s brother, blemished by the blood of his parents stood outside the vehicle, looking on towards the highway." This photo was taken nearby, and it the decapitated head of the child's father.

Manzano is another conflict journalist who's drive and courage allows them to rise to the top of their field. He is admirable for both his professional qualities and personal motives, and has contributed work that changes the world and sheds light on important issues.

Book Report

It's What I Do: A Photographer's Life of Love and War
Lynsey Addario


Lynsey Addario is known for her prominent work in Iraq and Afghanistan, initially documenting the life of women in Afghanistan before returning after 9/11 to cover the Desert Storm. During the intermittent period, she traveled to the Darfur region in South Sudan to bring attention to the genocide that was occurring there. On pages 192 through 196 of her book, It's What I Do: A Photographer's Life of Love and War, she documents the stories of Bibiane, Vumila, and Mapendo. Before their stories are recounted, a photo spread is displayed of the three women. Bibiane had tears running down her face, Vumila sat stolidly in a sparsely furnished room with fading walls and floor mottled from water damage, and Mapendo lies on her side looking up at the camera; it is later revealed that she is dying, and her demise is being accelerated by AIDs she contracted from gang rape. The stories that follow are startling to the reader; they demonstrate hatred and brutality and a primal level with incisive, candid language. All of the women had been raped by multiple men, their actions being a symptom of the ethnic conflict in their region. Ethnic cleansing commonly involved the rape of women from the other group in an attempt to dilute their gene pool. All three of these women had been raped and then either turned away by their families or left unable to find one. They were, as victims of crimes against humanity, ostracized and given a veritable death sentence. I have never seen a more candid and powerful piece of journalism that so effectively accomplished its goal of putting faces to an issue and humanizing those who are in need.
Addario's work is distinctive because of her choice of subject, her proximity to them, and her ability to capture the tone of any scene with a sense of totality. Her drive seems to be a blend of compassion and determination for the story that results in powerful photographs with clear motivation potential. Her photos of the soldiers in the Korengal Valley capture both the intensity of the event and the strength of the soldiers, and she managed to perfectly portray the desperation and scrapiness of the rebels in Darfur during their trek across the desert.
I have never respected an author or subject of a novel more than i respect Lynsey Addario, because her sense of responsibility to document history as it unfolds is astonishing. There are few more nobler pursuits than risking a life for the sake of posterity and information for the public. Many don't consider journalists when they think of the most valuable and altruistic members of society, and it is an insane injustice. I cannot say for certain that I share Addario's drive, but I do have a general premonition that I want to do good and affect change for the most important issues, and in that way I can relate to her.
Perhaps a less prevalent message of Addario's book is the one that is most powerful: every story is important to someone. So long as the subject of documentation is in need and the goal is to drive change, there is no story to small. This is the seed of my photostory, documentation of the homeless population in Albany. The most important lesson I have applied from her book is that activism based journalism is vitally important, and we can't count on others to do it for us.
This image of rebels in Darfur is a fantastic representation of Addario's work as a whole. This photo was taken as she trekked across the Sahara Desert illegally into South Sudan. She wrote of the Africans' resilience and fortitude, and her own struggle as she crossed the desert. Here she captures a raw image showing the emotion and experience written in the body language of these people, and I feel it is a powerful depiction of the rebels.

Environmental Portrait: The Natty Dresser

The Natty Dresser Owner: Oscar B. Hult
Tuesday, November 26th

Oscar B. Hult, owner of the Natty Dresser, poses with his measuring tape, coat brush, and a display jacket in his haberdashery.
Oscar provided extremely warm service and had a kind demeanor, but wants to portray his business as a place of class and dignity that doesn't shirk warmth.

The Natty Dresser is a family business; Oscar is assisted by his Wife and Son.
Oscar started the Natty Dresser when he was asked to be in a wedding and couldn't find a new driving hat anywhere in the valley, and he was upset that he had to go to Portland. Five years since the foundation of their store, the owners claim that fedoras and driving caps are some of their best selling items.

News Feature Photos 2

Oregon State University Intramural Flag Football Game
Tuesday, November 26th, 2019

Quarterback and Junior at Oregon State. Art McKinty, searches for options during an Intramural Flag Football game at the Oregon State University Intramural Fields on November 26th, 2019.

Quarterback Art McKinty looks to find his Sophomore teammate Nate Sievert defender Avery Wilkes pursues.

Art Mckinty's pass is swatted and then intercepted by  Freshman defender Jackson Date.

After the game, Date speaks about the unique opportunity that intramural sports provides.

"I really appreciate the effort the university puts into organizing events like this. After you finish high school, you're often told you'll never get competitive sports again. This is a resource that helps me release stress, enjoy the game, and meet new people as a Freshman in college."

My Neighborhood

My Neighborhood

 Marilyn Tollifson, 81

Marilyn, pictured here in her shop on Liberty Street in West Albany, is something like the benevolent landlord of the neighborhood. She owns and rents nearly half the houses on the block(not counting the pens rented to her several rabbits), and is known to be a very kind and forgiving landlord. Pictured on the table next to her are a variety of spray painted pine cones in frosted glass containers that she is giving to her neighbors on the street as Christmas Decorations.

The PIX Theatre did a "sense-sensitive" screening of Frozen Two intended to make the movie more accessible to audiences with impediments of sensitivities. This is part of a movement by the Pix to be more inclusive of all audiences, and they showed this within only a few days of the films actual release.

The Albany Carousel lit up at night. A long time project of the City of Albany, the Carousel was intended to be symbol for the town years before it was completed this year. The carousel was truly a community project; schools took field trips there while it was under construction, and volunteer help in its construction and decoration was accepted and encouraged.

The PIX Theatre sign is one of the most popular photos to take in town. The one-screen cinema is adored by locals and is a focal point for entertainment in the city. In recent times they have been able to attain rights to bigger movies closer to their release date, and have seen a corresponding growth in revenue.

The Pix sign from a street view