Spotlight on Brandon Tauszik

TID:


Brandon, thanks for offering to be a part of TID.
Please tell us about the image and the larger project
of which it's a part.

BRANDON:

"On May 21st, 2011 a wave of great earthquakes will occur,
like none our planet has ever witnessed. These will begin the
process of the rapture; as the chosen elect are taken up from
the world to meet the Lord in the air and be forever with God.
All who are without salvation will be left behind. Five months
later on October 21st, God will destroy the earth and all of
the remaining people…"

With this message Harold Camping reached millions of people
worldwide. Leader of the Oakland-based organization Family
Radio, Camping's prediction was backed by a global TV & radio
network, thousands of evangelizers, and countless billboards.
The featured image is part of my project Pray for Mercy, which
follows the organization prior to and directly after the failed
May 21st Judgement Day prediction.











Family Radio paid for a mass of billboard spots in most major
U.S. cities, as well as many other locations globally. Like most
people, I did a double take when I first saw one of the billboards
in early March. With a setting sun behind a silhouetted figure
praying, I was deeply fascinated by the endearing presentation
of the message, which boldly proclaimed the eminent destruction
of humanity.

After reading up on what the media was saying about Harold
Camping’s message, I had to do another double take. It was easy
for people to dismiss him as “crazy”, talking about vanishing
Christians and eternal fiery damnation, but 41% of Americans
believe what Camping believes will definitely happen at some
point in time. So where was the lunacy? In the fact that he set a
date? I feel like a large number of Americans began to privately
ask themselves some tough questions, while ridiculing Camping
and his followers.

All of this both confused and enthralled me. I wanted to take a
closer look at the people perpetuating this message and my
camera was the excuse to do so.












TID:

Where does this image fit in with the larger project?

BRANDON:

The featured image is of Scott Noble, a member of Camping's
congregation, standing in the empty Family Radio sanctuary
on Sunday, May 22nd. Approximately 2/3 of the photographs
in Pray for Mercy were made before May 21st, and the remaining
third made after. This image fits into the latter third of the
project and brings the whole story to a rather symbolic end.

In the image below, everyone wanted to know what went wrong,
(when the world didn't end) and small groups were huddled together
discussing dates and numerology while flipping through their Bibles.











TID:


How did you manage to gain access to this story?


BRANDON:

After a little research, I discovered that Family Radio and Harold
Camping himself were based nearby in Oakland. That really was
all the prompting I needed. I called up the Family Radio office
and was told I could attend the Sunday morning service and make
photographs. Camping’s congregation was meeting every Sunday
in a rented building, so I showed up for church one morning,
camera in hand. I shot during the entire service and then met and
spoke with people afterwords. The congregation was pretty
ethnically balanced, mostly normal, middle class, and conservative
in nature. Everyone was pretty amiable towards me, even when
I would get up close for shots. In general, my presence was all
but ignored so I kept showing up every week, as well as obtaining
permission to shoot inside their broadcast center.


TID:

What were some of the difficulties you faced, and how did you
handle them?

BRANDON:

This story (literally) had an expiration date on it the moment I
began shooting; There was this certain movement of people
preparing for this certain date. I wasn’t shooting for a school
project, wire, or publication so during the week it was often tough
to draw the line between work and work. There were aspects of
the story I wanted to capture as it unfolded, but simply couldn’t
make myself available. I would say initiative was the other
difficulty.

After a long night out, waking up early on Sunday to go
hear Harold Camping speak for hours was not the most desirable
option.

In all seriousness though, I don’t really have a close group
of photographer friends, so inspiration and initiative has to come
from within during self-assigned projects like this. The images
ended up gaining a lot of attention closer to May 21st, but for the
majority of the project I was just shooting for personal reasons.









TID:


Now, onto the image. Tell us what lead up to the image and how
you handled gaining access to it, and what was going through your
mind at the time.

BRANDON:

On the morning of Sunday the 22nd, it was pretty clear that the
rapture didn’t occur. I decided to pay a visit to Harold Camping’s
home before heading to the church building. I was the first journalist
to speak with Camping after the failed prediction and managed to
snap the image of him rather bewildered outside his home. He told
me that his congregation knew not to show up for church that day
and that there was no service planned. However after leaving his
home, I drove to the church building and found around a dozen
congregation members waiting outside.

I hung out with them for a while, soaking in the mood. Everyone
wanted to know what went wrong, and small groups were huddled
together discussing dates and numerology while flipping through
their Bibles. One of the congregation members angrily told me to
stop making photos and shed some insight on the situation, “what
do you think?” I didn’t mention that I’d just spoken with Camping
himself and as it became clear that he wasn’t coming to explain
himself to his own congregation, I felt some empathy as their moods
slowly turned defeated.

I noticed one of the congregation members Scott trying to get inside
the building. A door was unlocked and I saw him slip in. As much as
I knew he wanted to be alone, I followed him in about 10 feet behind.
He continued into the empty sanctuary and then stood still near the
front. As soon as he stood there, I saw the image in my head. I had no
idea how much time I had to capture the moment but I remember
wanting to make sure I exposed the image perfectly, instead of just
shooting away and hoping for the best. I exposed, focused, and
managed to make one shot before he turned around and walked away.





TID:

Was there any concern about you taking this picture at the time, and
if so, how did you handle it?

BRANDON:

As I mentioned before, people seemed to either accept or dismiss my
presence throughout the project. I knew Scott was trying to come to
terms with the failed prediction and was having a personal moment
inside the sanctuary, but he didn’t seem to acknowledge me as the two
of us stood there in silence. Throughout the project, I tried to train
myself to have a respectful demeanor, without appearing sheepish.
By the time this moment rolled around, I was confident in that approach.











TID:

You mentioned in a previous conversation that you learned a great deal
from this project. What were the lessons learned professionally, and
how did you grow as a person?

BRANDON:

As one of my first “real” photo stories, I learned a great deal while
shooting this project:


I learned that access can be easier to obtain than you think.

I learned that you must have a great deal of personal initiative
when shooting a project independently or on-spec.
I learned that captions are almost as crucial as the images, but a
powerful image may not need a paragraph of text to explain it.

I learned a lot about how to photograph people you don’t know.
All photographers I’ve asked about this have told me it’s something
you have to learn for yourself and I feel. I have grown significantly
in that respect.

I learned that publications still love photographs but don’t like
paying for them anymore.

Importantly, I learned that if you have confidence in the fact that you are
the photographer in a given situation, people generally won’t question that.
In Camping’s congregation no one gave me that title, but I took it the
moment I showed up with a camera slung over my shoulder.


I also think you have a certain degree of amnesty in your actions
as the photographer. I believe this is why it can sometimes be socially
acceptable to make photographs in situations like hospitals, conflict
zones, or during peculiar events such as this. When your subjects have
nothing to be ashamed of, a photographer is usually not seen as a threat.
Therefore I think Camping and his congregation saw no reasonable need
to be weary of me, as they were certain in their convictions.


TID:


In conclusion, what advice (think mentally) do you have for photographers
to gain access to these type of situations?

BRANDON:

Be persistent while also being respectful. People are busy living their lives,
and photographers are often just an accessory (or annoyance) in the context
of something larger. Stake your ground, be friendly, and feel it out. Also
challenge the perspective you take on the stories you shoot. Really think
about what you want to say about a given issue and capture that. Be
articulate with your images.






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Brandon Tauszik was born (1986) in Chicago but raised in England. He spent his late teens and early twenties wandering through the Balkans, learning how to make photos and get into trouble. For two years Brandon then whiled away his hours in the Art & Film department at Invisible Children, a media based non-profit organization. He recently received an Associates in Arts degree, but has no formal education in journalism or documentary photography. Currently Brandon resides in San Francisco where he creates visual media at Sprinkle Lab while assisting Magnum photographer Jim Goldberg.


You can view more of his work here:

http://www.brandontauszik.com/


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Next week on TID, we'll take a look behind this image from David Walter Banks,
a founding member of Luceo Images from The Fourth Wall series:





As always, if you have a suggestion of someone, or an image you
want to know more about, contact Ross Taylor at: ross_taylor@hotmail.com.

For FAQ about the blog see here:

http://imagedeconstructedfaq.blogspot.com/

Spotlight on Lexey Swall

TID:

Thanks, Lexey, for your time. Can you tell us about the backstory
of this image?









LEXEY:

First, let me thank you for asking me to be a part of your blog. I am
truly honored.

This picture was taken while doing a profile on Rev. Joe Williams. He's
a pillar in the black community in Naples. He is the pastor of Triumph,
the Church and Kingdom of God in Christ, one of three historically black
churches in Naples- it was part of the series I did a year before on the
three churches in honor of the 100th anniversary of the NAACP. The
reporter, Katy Torralbas, and I decided Joe was worth his own story. He
has raised children, grandchildren and, now, his great-grandchildren in
the house he bought in River Park community in 1961. River Park is the
first area of Naples where the black community was able to buy property.

I have covered River Park extensively through various daily and long-term
stories during the past eight and a half years that I've worked at the Naples
Daily News. I had never thought of putting all of these assignments together
in as a cohesive collection, but I realized after doing the story on Joe that a
portrait of the community had emerged in my archive. Since this realization,
I've created a spot on my website about River Park and when shooting there,
I've shifted my thought process to think about the neighborhood as the subject.
It's a work in progress at this point. It's not something I devote all of my time
to, but over time, I want to reflect all aspects of this community.









TID:

How does this image fit in with the River Park story?

LEXEY:

Joe is a main character in River Park. He's one of the few elders left
in the neighborhood who has been there since the beginning. He's kind
of the watchman, the overseer. I think of him as a front porch pastor.
As people walk or drive by they always wave to him, or people randomly
stop by to ask for advice. One day while sitting in his front yard with
him, a group of girls walked by, and turned and stopped to wave him
over to ask him a question.

One of the girls was pregnant and asked Joe if he thought it was ok for
her to have an abortion. He told her no. He said if she didn't want the
child, someone else would want to love it. As far as I know, she didn't go
through with it. He is a voice of reason in the community and a source of love.

TID:


Now, onto the image itself. Tell us how this image was 
made, and what challenges you faced?

LEXEY:

This image is of Joe and two of three of his great-grandchildren who
live in his home. Joe's granddaughter, Shaniqua, was the boys' mom. She
was killed in front of the boys by her friend's ex-boyfriend. The same
day, the boys came to live at Joe's home. Shaniqua also grew up there.








When we decided to do the profile on Joe, I didn't necessarily think
through all the scenarios I could photograph of him. It pretty much
turned in to days and days of shooting one scenario. Him, sitting out
on his porch or in the front yard. That's really the majority of his
life. I kept going back to the office telling my editor that I wasn't
sure what I was getting because every day is the same. Sometimes with a
story, I can plan strategically which days to shoot pictures by finding
out when stuff will be going on in the lives of those I'm covering. It
was impossible to do that with Joe because he didn't really plan
anything but church on Sunday. So, I would just drive by his house when
I had time. It felt a whole lot less like I was doing a story, and more
like I was just hanging out. I would sit with him for hours. Sometimes
in silence. Sometimes talking. I decided that was ok. It was more
important to be comfortable in his space and get to know him, than it
was to make a photo.

That said, when I did shoot pictures, especially on days when he sat on
the porch and not in the yard, I felt pretty confined to the area where
he was. If I went across the street, or too far in to the yard to
shoot, I didn't think the a moment would translate the way I wanted.
So, I would sit and hang out on or around the porch and wait for
something to happen.

That's how it was on the day I shot this photo. Thankfully, with the
boys around, it allowed for some spontaneity. I was looking for
something that showed Joe's character or said something about his life.
Whether it was how gentle he could be with the boys, or something about
him being the watcher of the neighborhood. The boys were in and out of
the house, playing in the yard and hanging with Joe as they waited for
their other brother to come home from school.











This image shows Joe exactly as he is: sitting on his porch, watching the
neighborhood with a phone in his hand in case he gets a call, or needs
to call the police if trouble starts. Also, it shows the boys watching with
him. I love how Eric, at left, is peaking out and Charlie, right, looks like
he's so cool, like he owns the place. I felt like this picture showed Joe's
influence on the boys.

Spending days with Joe reminded me to slow down and just be patient.
But, more importantly, I think it reaffirmed the importance of just
being with the people you're telling stories about. I know so many
things about Joe's life and how he feels about love and family. I'm a
better person for it.


TID:

This picture is part of a larger project, can you talk 
about your approach, in general, to working on this
(and with this - long-term projects in general)

LEXEY:

This picture is part of a larger project now. But, when I shot it, I
didn't realize I would be compiling all of my images from River Park to
create a larger piece. Since then, I've been trying to figure out how
to go back to River Park with an approach that will add to what I
already have. I've photographed marches in the streets, funerals,
church services, features, arrests and other situations — all for daily
assignments or stories over time in River Park — but there are
inevitable gaps when I look at the River Park story as a whole. Even
something as simple as images from various times of day. When shooting
stuff for daily assignments, they are rarely from night time situations.
But, if you're going to do a story about a neighborhood, it's an obvious
question — what does it look like at night? What events take place at
that time? I need to look at the neighborhood as a character, and the
people who live there are the distinguishing qualities of that character.
This is my challenge now.










Photographers who are working at newspapers should try to view their
community or subsections of the community in a longterm way, even if
they're just shooting a daily assignment. Sometimes, without perspective
it's hard to do this. That is the beautiful thing about spending as much
time as I have in Naples. I've been able to gain perspective on the community.
When I first started my job at the paper, my mind wasn't open to a possibility
of telling an overall longterm story about River Park. Who knows, maybe it
wouldn't have worked out if I had known it from the beginning. I have been
able to form bonds with people in River Park that maybe that could only have
happened over time.


TID:


What are some lessons you learned throughout this project,
and what has surprised you?

LEXEY:

Something I've learned is you never know who is going to be the voice
who vouches for you later. I did a photo column once on the ice cream
man who has been driving through that area for years. I rode in the
truck while he was going around the neighborhood and a few years later,
when I was doing the story on Joe, one of the girls I had met through
the window of the ice cream truck recognized me when she came to see
Joe. Because of that chance meeting before, I think she was more at
ease with me. The ice cream man has also happened upon me in the
neighborhood since that time, and because of our positive interactions
and the community's trust of him, it helps them trust me.

Every relationship is important and deserves respect.

Be patient. This should be the mantra of the photojournalist. I knew I
needed patience even before this project, but I'm constantly reminded.
I try to leave myself open to any possibility, so I haven't been surprised
by too many things.








TID:

Have you ever experienced any resistance to working
on this project within the community, and if so, how did
you handle it?

LEXEY:

I always got the impression that people in the community accepted that
Joe was worth a story. He is an important and a positive force in the
neighborhood, so, it was okay that I was there with him. When people
asked what I was doing they nodded like they understood when I told
them. And they all said, "he's a pillar." So, there was no real
resistance with the story about him.

That didn't always translate into letting me photograph the people
surrounding him in his life. His quasi-former-son-in-law lived with
him, as well, at the time. He would play cards or dominoes in the back
of the house, and he never really was okay with me taking his photo.
Never hostile or upset I was there, but seriously camera shy. I always
hoped I could wait him out and eventually, it would be okay. But, that
didn't really happen. There were a lot of people like that. That
doesn't mean I've stopped trying.


TID:

What has surprised you that you didn't realize before by
documenting the community?

LEXEY:

One time, a girl told me that if she ever saw white people drive
through her neighborhood in River Park, she thought they were
there to buy drugs. I don't know if what she is saying is true, but
that was her perception. It made me wonder what people thought
of me every time I drove in to the area.

I suppose this answer kind of goes with your last question, as well.
I've learned that I need to throw preconceived notions about how
people will react to me out the window. I used to think, "man,
they're going to wonder why a little white girl like me wants to
come in and ask all kinds of questions about their community."
I had a preconceived perception about what THEIR perceptions
of me would be. Does that make any sense? The point is, people
were open with me — more so than I thought they would be.
There are people I've talked to in River Park who I never ever
thought would give me the time of day based on the fact that
I'm a journalist and that I'm trying to cross cultural lines. It
sounds silly considering how diverse the country is. But, Naples
is economically segregated in a way that cuts a division between
races. This division made me think maybe people would be
skeptical of me. But they were open and willing to talk. Conversely,
I've covered people in other communities who I thought would be
completely open with me and would allow access, yet they are
seriously paranoid about exposure have been more than happy
to tell me to take a hike. 








One time I was covering a drug bust in the neighborhood and I received
a lot of verbal hostility from people as I photographed those who were
being arrested. It's understandable, but I just continued doing my job
and tried to talk with the people who I recognized. That was years ago,
long before this project was even a twinkle in the eye. If I had to
cover the same thing now, now that I'm more recognizable in the
community, I often wonder how people would react to me.

I think the more time I've spent there, the more people are okay with
me being around when things aren't going well. I've invested the time
during the happy occasions, so I hope many know I'm not just there to
exploit their struggle during the bad.


TID:

What did you learn about yourself in this process?


LEXEY:

I think I learned that I'm pretty shy about shooting. I notice it
more when I'm covering people who are from different cultural
backgrounds than my own. Not that I am MORE shy with people
from different backgrounds, I just NOTICE it more in myself. I
realize that there are still times, even after being in this profession
as long as I have, that I'm timid about raising the camera. I really
hate that about myself. Seriously. But, I've had to really learn to
listen to my gut and watch for visual cues of comfort in people
I'm photographing. I don't know if this sounds rudimentary, but
it's my experience. 







+++++

Lexey Swall is currently a photojournalist at the Naples (Fla.) Daily
News. Prior to that she worked as a photojournalism intern at The Star
Tribune in Minneapolis, Minn., The Star-Ledger in Newark, NJ, The Los
Angeles Daily News and at her hometown newspaper, The Bakersfield
Californian.

Swall graduated from San Jose State University in 2002 where she
received a Bachelor of Science degree in photojournalism with a minor
in women's studies. She also received an Associate of Arts degree in
journalism from Bakersfield College.

Swall has garnered awards from POYi and BOP, including an honorable
mention as Best of Photojournalism 2006 Photographer of the Year (small
markets) and several Florida state journalism competitions. She is an
alumna of the Eddie Adams Workshop (2001) and was a finalist for the
William Randolph Hearst National College Journalism Competition (2001).

You can view her work at:

http://www.lexeyswall.com/



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Next week on TID, we'll take a look behind this image from Brandon Tauszik,
who documented the last days of Harold Camping's followers who believed
the rapture would occur in May:







As always, if you have a suggestion of someone, or an image you
want to know more about, contact Ross Taylor at: ross_taylor@hotmail.com.

For FAQ about the blog see here:

http://imagedeconstructedfaq.blogspot.com/