"We are all Trayvon Martin": Scenes from Sanford, Fla. during George Zimmerman's jury selection | Florida Photojournalist

Last week the New York Times sent me to Sanford to make a couple of portraits to accompany an article about their new police chief, Cecil Smith: Police Chief in Florida Tries to Ease Old Tensions. I hadn't been down there since last Spring, when there were huge protests calling for the arrest of George Zimmerman. 

Back then, I saw a lot of t-shirts and signs that said, "We are all Trayvon". For people in Sanford, that's not just a slogan. His story struck a cord with a lot of people on a very personal level. The woman in the second picture told me her teenage son stays with his dad sometimes, who lives in the same condo complex where Trayvon Martin was killed. She said it could have just as easily been her son walking home from the gas station. The man wearing the red shirt told me he has a 16-year-old nephew named Trayvon. When he first heard the story on the news, he thought it was his nephew who had been killed.

These pictures (except for the 2nd- and 3rd-to-last) were taken in Goldsboro, a historic black neighborhood in Sanford. I tried to capture the mood of the place, where I didn't pass a single television set tuned to anything other than jury selection for Zimmerman's trial. Sanford is a weird little town. The closest words I can think of to describe the mood are hot, impatient, and cautiously optimistic. Hopefully I do a better job with pictures: 

 

Making Progress: 48-Hour Film Project | Jacksonville, Florida

Last weekend, the 48-Hour Film Project came to Jacksonville. I collaborated with Not Not The One on a dark comedy called Progress. They let me get as creative as I wanted, and I even used my new 8mm fisheye lens a couple of times. It was such a pleasure to film for fun and leave the writing, editing, rendering and agony to someone else.

Anyway, I snagged this production still of my buddy Brad, who wrote much of the script and played the main character. It's shot through a fan, the prop we were required to use. I've only seen about 30 seconds of the final edit, and I can't wait to see the whole thing at our screening on Thursday night at the Florida Theatre. You should come, too!

Taksim Square bubble cannon (2010)

In a weird way, the images of water cannons dispersing crowds in Taksim Square yesterday reminded me of these pictures that didn't make the cut for my Tales of Tourism piece at Foundry. An enterprising gentleman was trying to sell bubble guns to passersby on Istiklal Caddesi, a main shopping street that ends in Taksim Square.

Seeing all of the powerful images come out of Istanbul's Taksim Square brought back memories of the summer I spent in Istanbul 3 years ago. I lived there for a month and I still couldn't quite wrap my head around it. It's such a complicated city in such a complicated country. There's so much beauty and life in that confusion, though.

Disabilities and Education in Cayo District, Belize

I stole a couple hours away from work one day to make these images to include with a grant application I wrote requesting two new wheelchairs from a hospital in the US. Meet Jaelen and Jaren, 15-year-old twins who go to St. Ignatius High School, in the Cayo District of Belize, where I worked for a few weeks earlier this month. Their mother, Guadalupe, spends her days in school with her sons, taking notes for Jaren, whose lack of motor control in his hands makes it impossible to write. She's a single mother, and her time in the school makes it impossible for her to work. The boys are sharp, ambitious students, who earned strong marks on their report cards first semester. Jaelen hopes to pursue a career in PC repair; Jaren aspires to run his own business. Cayo District is far from disability-accessible and local resources are few and far-between, but the boys are working hard to make a future for themselves. Their current wheelchairs are broken and insufficient, and the family cannot afford new ones. Tell every millionaire you know.

 

Finding Home and Learning to Speak in Quetzaltenango (Xela), Guatemala

At the end of last year, I spent five weeks learning Spanish in a university town in Guatemala. It was full of beautiful people, colors and textures. My brain was full of vocabulary words and verb conjugations.

Goofballs on Halloween

I fear this blog has suffered in recent months from a lack of silly pictures of my beautiful friends. Here to remedy that are Noah and JaMario goofing off in their Halloween costumes. Happy Autumn!

Election Season in Florida: Portrait of a Proud Poll Worker

I can't wait to meet more poll workers next month. Until then, enjoy this NYTimes slideshow I shot in Tallahassee during an August primary election: In Florida, a Look at the Challenges of Mailed Ballots. Over the course of a day, Ion Sancho demonstrated a passion for elections and a love of the franchise that I never knew was possible. Every voter in Leon County should be proud to know how much he cares about their vote. And everyone should vote in November, no matter who your supervisor of elections is!

Pup & Bike | St. Augustine photojournalist

From the archive: A peaceful image from the sidelines of a neighborhood dog show in St. Augustine.

 

Trayvon Martin | Sanford, Fla Photojournalist

I've had a busy couple of months, but now that things have calmed down a little bit, I wanted to share some of my coverage of the rallies in support of Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Florida. It was a challenge and a pleasure to work on a story that, in some ways, raised the level of dialogue in this country around race, justice, bias, violence, and law enforcement. I was grateful to see people speak up and be heard. Click through the slideshow that follows to see a few moments that stood out to me.

 

Yelle at Jack Rabbit's (RGB)

I left this year's Atlanta Photojournalism Seminar with hundreds of ideas spinning around in my head. David LaBelle told us to photograph our lives and document everything that's around us; Mike Davis told us to take qualitative photos, to use color to create moods, to keep our subjects out of the center of the picture ("See what happens when you put stuff in the dead center? ...it just dies.") There was so much inspirational work being done, too many powerful images and ideas to process in such a short weekend.

As soon as I got back to Jacksonville, I met a friend to see Yelle, a super-fun French dance-pop group. Jack Rabbit's has long been one of my favorite local venues (In 2008, while on crutches, I met Nada Surf there). The light, fog and energy during the show was really great, and I couldn't help pulling out the camera for a few snaps when I wasn't shakin' it. Yelle in RGB:

After War, from Wife to Caregiver (for the New York Times)

Here are some of my favorite images from a really compelling story I worked on with Catrin Einhorn. The Markums are a wonderfully kind and welcoming family in South Georgia. It breaks my heart to think about how many families have to fight through hardships like theirs long after our soldiers return from foreign wars. Catrin's article, Looking After the Solider, Back Home and Damaged, is really touching, and the audio she gathered drives it home. View our audio slideshow on NYTimes.com: After War, from Wife to Caregiver.

Vacation in Puerto Rico, feat. special guest: Hurricane Irene

Last month I went to Puerto Rico with a couple of close friends. Hurricane Irene decided to tag along. Aside from the nasty weather, difficult driving conditions, closure of the national parks, and dearth of electricity and hot water, it was a wonderful vacation. Here are some snaps from San Juan on the eve before the major storm hit.

Plastic Surgery for Senior Citizens

I spent some time last week in Tallahassee and Thomasville, Ga., working on a New York Times story about senior citizens getting cosmetic surgery. Mary Graham is 77 and had a facelift and breast implants earlier this year. She's possibly the most eccentric person I've ever photographed. She works seven days a week, running one restaurant and making plans to open another. She has boundless energy, plenty of money, and doesn't take 'no' for an answer. She certainly does not look 77.

Jacksonville Beach 4th of July Fireworks, Motion Blur

My family got a late start heading out to watch the fireworks at Jacksonville Beach and landed a very mediocre viewing spot on Beach Blvd. That's no reason not to experiment with long exposures and motion blur, though. Can you tell those are bicyclists in the second picture? Check out the rotary motion of the reflectors on their wheels.