Occasionally, I will post images here from work I do that has absolutely nothing to do with weddings or kids portrait work. One of the reasons I loved being a newspaper photographer was the ability to jump around to different types of assignments – features, portraits, sports, news, projects, landscapes, etc. As my career and lifelong exploration of photography has evolved one thing I’ve learned that is just as important has been to keep that kind of diversity going. It’s kind of like a good workout that stresses your muscles in different unexpected ways.

I spent an afternoon at the Wachovia Center in South Philadelphia with a reporter from The Los Angeles Times to do a story, actually, about a photographer that was offering free business headshots to those looking for work at a job fair. The job fair was heavily promoted via the local Fox affiliate here and nearly 6,400 people showed up, totally overwhelming organizers. The writer and I became really intrigued by the literal spectacle of the job seekers. They were arrayed across the employment spectrum from white to blue color, fresh out of college to those “closer to retirement.” It was frankly quite amazing and a bit humbling to see how many people are out of work and the way that the current economic downturn has affected literally every class and type of worker. I know so many former newspaper colleagues who have joined these ranks, as recently as January, and it’s just plain heartbreaking. Within that environment though there was so much resilience and determination. As a people, we Americans don’t go quietly into defeat no matter how much money we make or whether we have a career or just a job. It’s my belief that this recession will bring about a new class of entrepreneurs who will take their destinies into their own hands and control their own fate. My hat’s off to all who are striving to find their way in the new economic reality of our time. I just hope that my pictures helped put a face on these numbers we hear and see every day in the news.

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