October 4, 2009

Portraits of a Felon






Recently, I was dispatched to a medium security prison to photograph the oldest inmate in the New York State correctional system. One hundred years old to be exact. Wow, that's amazing, I thought. But also, how sad. Poor guy. To spend your last days locked up, eating gruel (not literally), and visited by no one. I expressed similar sentiments to the assigning editor, who was quick fill me in on the details of his conviction. In 1999, at age 90, this felon was charged with 15 counts of sexually abusing five girls. O.k., sentimentality aside, the guy's where he's supposed to be, and I've got a job to do. And I can't wait! Admittedly, as a photojournalist, I appreciate a good visit to a jail or prison. I'm sure no one but other journalists or family of inmates would understand this. It's hard to describe, but has to do with glimpsing at a life so far from your own, in an attempt to understand it if only a little better. Anyway... I was thoroughly excited to photograph this 100-year-old man, and ended up spending close to an hour making a variety of portraits of him. Surprisingly, he seemed about 15 years younger than his centenarian age, which he attributed to eating properly, no liquor or dope (his words), and not worrying too much. Good to know. You can see the The New York Post story and photo HERE.

3 comments:

Patrick said...

Good stuff!

Owen said...

What a grimace he seems to perpetually wear...

Sexual abuse of young girls at age 90 ? One poor sick individual... as a father of two young girls, I can only be glad he will finish his days in prison.

And one can't help but wonder if he allowed the photo session to last so long because he was nourishing his sick mind with images of the lovely photographer in front of him... I hope it was not the case.

Hope all is well with you Heather, and that there is more music in the pipeline...

seanjonesfoto said...

Beautiful portraits... congratulations on the piece!