• Born: Jefferson County, Tennessee, 1960
• Raised in Bean Station, Tennessee
• Moved away in 1980
• Moved to Laguna Beach, California 1999
• Two
childrren, Scott 29 & Kiri 23
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Author’s Statement
I was motivated to do this
book in 1990.
I was at Venice Beach with my family taking photos on a Sunday
afternoon. I was focused on some vendors with colorful clothing when
a woman walked into my viewfinder. I snapped the picture and just
kept looking at her. She had a look on her face that she wasn’t quite sure where
she was. Her body language was so drawn in, it was as if she didn’t
want anyone to see her.
I put my camera down and just stared at her,
her clothes were dirty, her hair was in dreadlocks, her face was so
weathered. I wondered: did she have parents, was she a sister, did
she not have anyone to love her and help her?
She saw me staring at her and seemed embarrassed. I looked
away, and so did she. When I looked back, she had disappeared into
the crowd.
From that day on, I knew that somehow, I had to make a difference.
I had to know the people that most people choose not to see the faces
of the shadows.
I’ve been photographing people on the streets since then but
it wasn’t until working for the hometown weekly newspaper, The
Laguna Beach Independent that I felt I could really get to know
them. I thought it would be safe to get to know the people in Laguna
Beach, so that’s what I did. That just intrigued me more; I
had to meet more people. So off to Los Angeles, San Diego, and Santa
Monica I went. I’ve met people with poignant stories, great
tenacity and, often, deep wisdom, along the way.
The most heartbreaking was a soft-spoken man who had found his way
to Laguna Beach from South Carolina. Maybe it was the accent that
I could relate to, maybe it was that he seemed to have the soul of
a poet. A heroin addict with untreated diabetes, he asked me to help
him get clean. With the help of the Laguna Resource Center, a local
grass-roots organization dedicated to helping low-income and homeless
individuals and families, I tried. I took him to Pomona to a detox
clinic. He almost made it through, but ultimately, he ended up back
on the street using again, and was in and out of hospitals. I eventually
lost track of him. His sister calls me occasionally to see how he
is doing, or if I have heard from him. He hasn’t contacted
either of us in months. I hope that wherever he is, he has
kicked his drug habit and found himself. His story is in the
book.
I’ve learned that the homeless community is a very close-knit
family. For the most par, they look out for each other; they scrap
with each other and have disagreements, just like a family. They
are eager to be heard and simply want to be noticed, acknowledged
as people.
Most of those in my book wanted to be interviewed and tell me their
stories. They wanted to be noticed.
Faces of the Shadows is a bridge between two worlds. It is
designed to appeal to those who have a curiosity about how a person
comes to this stark situation in his or her life. When those of
us who are blessed with material comforts resist making assumptions
and have compassion for the circumstances, predilections, and personal
histories that put these individuals on the streets, it’s
progress in breaking down us- versus- them thinking.
It is my hope that these pictures and stories will inspire some readers
to overcome their fears and say hello, perhaps buy that someone a
cup of coffee or a sandwich. I invite him or her out of the shadows.
We are all part of the same human family, and there is beauty and
strength in each of us if only we dare to seek it.
www.FacesOfTheShadows.com
