Two weeks ago I talked about "if only..." in a post titled
» READ MORE: Relearning Photo Lessons
about not getting a second chance to photograph in a tent city in the woods inside the I-676 interchange east of downtown Camden during a national homeless census. I guess I could have gone back on my own at anytime in the ensuring two weeks -- but I didn't.
But on Friday, I was back in the woods again with Inquirer reporter Matt Katz, after a sister of one of the homeless men he originally interviewed contacted Matt to help her and their family get him off the streets.
You can read Matt's story
» READ MORE: here
, but the gist of it is Yolanda Shorts did an internet search for her brother Neal Floyd who had not been seen by the family in six years. She found Matt's story, and one by Associated Press Writer
» READ MORE: Geoff Mulvihill
, who was also with us in the woods that day.
She also saw a picture (right) by AP photographer
» READ MORE: Mel Evans
, who had gone with Floyd back into the woods after we'd left with the census officials, and photographed him making a fire outside his tent.
Shorts told Matt, "It was heart-wrenching. I was fixated on that picture. I wanted to keep looking at it. I wanted to get closer to his face." Then she gathered up their 71- year old mother, and six other family members and drove through the night from North Carolina.
So just before the sun came up, along with Inquirer photographer Michael S. Wirtz shooting video, we met the family in the McDonalds parking lot and walked with them all into the woods, where his sister looked into his tent asking, "Hey, do you know who I am?"
Floyd wasted no time getting out. "Praise the Lord," he said, grabbing a backpack. "Let's move it."
Of course everyone embraced, and started to catch up. I thought one of the most poignant hugs (below) came when Floyd said his goodbyes to Lorenzo "Jamaica" Banks, the founder and unofficial "mayor" of the Tent City.
It was just getting light out as we were in the woods, but still dark under the trees. I don't like using a flash outdoors, especially when it looks to your eye - and the video camera - as though it is much brighter out. But I was shooting at 1/15th second at f/2.8 with an ISO equivalent of 500, and all the faces were still in shadow. You can see my flashes going off during Michael's video below (along with me and Matt trying to stay out of his frame. Sorry Michael). I found it interesting to see how selective I was in my shooting. Maybe it's the strobe that makes you think like you're using a single frame camera, instead of a rapid fire motor drive, and it's evident in the video (again, sorry Michael) :