Bumper sticker

I took this photograph in North Portland in May, 2007. At that point Barack Obama was barely a blip on the radar and the idea that he might become president was unthinkable. This was the first time I'd ever seen this bumper sticker (I've since encountered it many times), and it instantly resonated with me. Its power was that it didn't refer to any person, just the date. The sticker didn't care who took over (although I'm glad it's Obama), only that on that date someone, anyone, would wake us from our national nightmare. At that point 1-20-09 seemed so far away it would never get here. I've been waiting for it like a kid counting down days to Christmas. Today eight years of tyrannical incompetence has finally been put behind us.

MLK Jr. on photography...

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness. Only light can do that."

-Martin Luther King, Jr., Strength To Love, 1963

...and photography on MLK Jr.

Dr. King shortly after his bus boycott arrest
Alabama Police Mugshot, February 22, 1956

What To Do? #11

31. Yahtzee, 2008

32. Rovente Pizza, Portland, 2006

33. Portrait of Pirkle, 2004

(What To Do? is a weekly installment of previously unpublished b/w photos from my archives)

Now circulating

James Carroll is a NYC street photographer who recently came to my attention through In-Public. He's been shooting for over 40 years. He's a friend of Helen Levitt. Beyond that I don't know much about him, and in that respect I'm not alone. His work has not seen much circulation. Here are a few of his images that caught my eye. I suspect there is an apartment full of others where these came from.