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.