This photo has a lot of meaning for me. The evening I made it, I was processing it on the computer when my two oldest (4 & 5) saw and asked "who is that?". I proceeded to tell them that I met Jeremiah shortly before I made the photograph. He had just "found" his lunch and I went up to him and gave him some money. He wasn't begging, but he needed a lift. He said he was going to "buy Listerine", I said, "what?", and Jeremiah responded, "Umm, some coffee and lunch". "I don't care what you do with it" I told him. He smirked, then said again, "Okay, then I'm going to buy some Listerine."
We proceeded to talk for about 10 minutes and he introduced himself as Jeremiah. He told me I reminded him of James Dean (I wear a black leather jacket and old jeans, I guess that makes me look like James Dean, lol).
Anyway, back to the story... my kids while saying the goodnight prayers, with no prompting from me, said "and we pray that Jeremiah gets a house". Tears welled up in my eyes, and to this day, almost a year later, they still almost always remember to pray that Jeremiah gets a house.
In addition to that, I like how this capture shows both the hope of our youth, but also the despair that can result from hardships and poor choices.
"I pray that Jeremiah gets a house".
UPDATE: Okay, seriously, my daughter (now almost 4) just walked in after I posted this. I asked Bergen if she remembered who this was (she hadn't seen the photo for a year). I said, "Remember, you pray for him". She said "Jesus?" I laughed and said, "No, remember, you pray for him". "Oh! Jeremiah!". Then she looked at me with her big eyes and asks "Can he come live us? Does he know how to get to our house?".
There is something compelling here, even in the harsh lighting. Definetly two separate worlds in one shot. I wish you had the person on the far left in the frame, and maybe Jeremiah all the way to the right. That combined with better light (what are you gonna do?) would have made this an unbelievable image. Try a crop from the right, and more exposure on the students. Theur faces need it. It should be doable, and I'd love to see it. Regards, J.
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