The Personal Photography of Alec Johnson

Was it the movie Platoon? I forget, something like, “Is it harder to shoot women and children?” The door gunner’s response, ‘Nah, just don’t lead them as much.” The door gunner was the guy who hung out the side of a helicopter with a 60mm machine gun and gave cover to troops.  Today’s subject, Robert Thurber, was a door gunner between 1966 and 1972. Six years, two tours with the 1st Air Calvary in Vietnam. Born and raised in Anoka, Minnesota.”The 60 mm machine gun. Great for shooting people, but if you want to pierce armor, try the 50 mm. ” He was at once sad that he had to kill and at the same time proud to say he served his country. With great pain in his heart and a look in his eyes that pierced through like a 50mm anti-tank round, he spoke of how his pension was cut to pay for the current war. “When they cut my pension, I lost my home. You think I like sitting here, having people look at me like I’m stupid?”

In a quick internet search I found estimates of between 20% and 40%. That is, the precentage of Vietnam veterans that are homeless.

Hi Gang,

Today and Friday’s images are of a street musician, Jocephus Lomac.  He plays the trumpet, recorder, and flute.  As I was photographing him he paused in his playing and I asked, “How do you feel when you’re making music.”  I got this look from him.   On a technical note, this was shot in natural light on Nicollet, with Jocephus parked in front of a covered alley.  The acoustics are great and the fall off in soft light really allowed me to just focus on him.   Oh, and I asked him what advice he’d give young people today and he responded, “Get out and do something!”

Today’s post is an image of George. You met George in a previous post, Mo. George is NOT homeless, but is currently unemployed. He previously worked for Northwest, lost his job and enjoys spending time on Nicollet “making people smile” with his singing puppets. He told me “smiling keeps you from getting sick.” I have a recording of him working two puppets, one “Hillary” and the other “Obama.” I haven’t had time to edit it, but will try to post another image with the audio (which he gave me permission to do.) He does put a bucket out for donations, but earlier this week someone stole his bucket full of money. In response to the event George simply said, “It’s ok, god bless them.”

I was amazed by this natural and excellent pose Darrell gave me.  He was really in the moment with me, discussing different topics, asking what I do for a living and so on.  I mentioned to him that I recently had been photographing some models and bam!  He gives me this.

This week and next I’ll be running a series of images of three gentlemen: Darrell, Jocephus Lomac, and George. In addition, as time permits I hope to continue shooting them and others on Nicollet Mall this week and have gained permission to record them singing and playing instruments. More about Darrell in a moment.

Disclaimer/Editorial: The street photography, and the personal stories I share about these individuals (Cloe and Caroline), is not designed to ridicule, exploit, or otherwise abuse these folks. As you’ll see in the images, its not clear at all that they are working the street for money. I attempt to show them in a light that represents their greatest joy, not their most humiliating moment. It might be simple enough to back away, physically disconnect and shoot them getting money for others. That’s not of interest to me. We see that every day. We don’t “see” who these folks are, where they come from, how they got here; that moment by moment they too can find joy in simplest of things.

Out of this process, which I’ve been doing on and off for over a year, are three key realizations that you may find profound:

1. There’s a fine line between where I am and where they are today;

2. There’s a huge gulf in my daily awareness of that fine line;

3. They are real people, with real stories and lives…not just objects of of my disdain and misunderstanding;

This post is getting long…so on to Darrell. He and I immediately hit it off. I first photographed him late winter, when Kim Gorman and I were searching for a decent moment to get out. Darrell immediately opened up to us to be photographed, threw a big smile, as if he had done this before. Since then, I’ve met with him and photographed him twice. In a previous post, Duane, I photographed him late in the day, when it was still relatively cold out. The most recent meeting I spent more time with him. A few details emerged; he is from Milwaukee, went to business school in Whitewater, WI, is a huge Packer fan, and worked as a tax accountant. He was diagnosed bi-polar schizophrenic, was committed, developed a drug addiction, and lost everything. He came to Minneapolis because of the music scene, hoping to join a band as a singer. I hope to catch some of that singing this week. In this image, I asked him to consider how he felt when he was singing, and I just started shooting.

Hey Gang,

Here are some flower shots from the Como Conservatory.  They’re fairly abstract, which gives us a difference experience than we’re used to having with flowers.  I was working primarily with color and then space and shape.  I’d love to hear which you prefer.

These were shot hand held using a Canon 100mm macro lens, designed for this kind of work.  I was very, very close to the subject matter, so much so that I believe I was upsetting the staff at the converatory.   As I looked through the lens I paid particular attention to the background, trying to work blues and then reds or greens into the composition.  I was not particularly concerned about sharpness at any distance, and in the case of the first image NOTHING IS SHARP.  In the second, the edge of the tulip is.

NEXT WEEK, I will begin running a series of street photography portraits.  Stay tuned for these images.  You’ll meet George the Puppet Man, as he calls himself.  You’ll remeet Duane, who’s name is actually Darrel.  I botched that recently.  You’ll meet Jocephus Lomac…a street musician and a might fine one at that.  As time permits, I promise you some exciting stuff from Jocephus.

Hi Gang,

During, what I assume was old man winter’s last huff of the season, I dropped in at the Como Conservatory for a little taste of spring. Their spring flower show is on, its fantastic and I encourage all of you to go check it out.

I spent quite a bit of time shooting, and a number of the images are in the flowers gallery. I’ll post a couple here to discuss technique. This particular image is actually a single exposure, but I tricked the camera into multiple exposure. Setting the camera so I could have an 8 second single exposure, I then placed a black piece of foam core over the lens IN BETWEEN subject movements. I came up with a few different images, this one my favorite for its color and composition. Hope you enjoy.

This is the third of three subjects I photographed on Nicollet last week.  I chose her becasue of her bright colored clothes and great smile.  I think she was quite flattered, as was her boyfriend (?) who thought it was pretty cool that someone wanted to photographer her.

Another from the street this week:

Feeling a wee bit low today for no particular reason, I decided to give myself a treat and head down to Nicollet Mall and work on some street photography. It was gray, it was cool, there were snow flakes in the air.

I walked and I walked. I saw this person and that person and at some point, legally speaking, stalking a man with a gray beard long enough to decide I didn’t think it safe to approach for a photograph. It might have been the violent shouting he started in on, apparently directed at himself…hmmm. I walked up to a bus stop shelter and saw a lovely-dressed young woman…you’ll see her later this week, and approached. She was very kind to let me photograph her but wasn’t comfortable enough with English to hang around and chat. 1 for 1…The next two candidates gave me a very kind, Minnesota-nice “no thanks.”

A quick check of the watch, another sweep back west and turn once again back east. I notice a young girl and a lady, sitting with the telltale piece of cardboard. This was a first; a woman and her child, on the street working the crowd for a few dollars. The writing on the sign became clear. “Here from Philidelphia because we heard people were nice. Victim of domestic abuse, single mother and daughter need help.”

The daughter was laughing, playing, very much engaged with her mother. I wanted to photograph them together. The mother, Caroline, looked up and it became obvious that she bore many scars…some emotional, some physical. Her face was severely disfigured from a fire. Suprisingly, she said yes to my request without hesitation.

I chose to not push it and stuck to photographing Chloe. You would have too. She was pure joy and play and energy. Happy to smile and pose for the camera. I’m sure she enjoyed the attention, but was certainly not shy. Mom was laughing at Chloe who was just laughing, and I was allowed to photograph. They laughed and played and I took pictures. Another person that Caroline knew from the food pantry approached and began discussing the strategy for food and shelter for the evening and I took the opportunity to bow out, allowing them their space and thanked both for their time.

Her mom said, “This is Chloe and I’m Caroline…thank you.”

Choke. Tightness. Tears welled up in my eyes. Thanking me? My small case of the blues was cured.