A Family Portrait

The premise I have worked with for the last fewyears has been documenting African Americanswho live in housing projects that either can't oraren't trying to improve their situation. I aim tofocus on people and things that tend to be overlookedand of no importance in the eyes of themajority. While home for spring break Iphotographed my family. My background is theprojects; my parents still struggle with an aspectof life created by them. This was a complex situationand could be seen as controversial. I went togreat depths to accurately depict the complexityand reality of my family's life. I understood I hadaccess to these usually inaccessible places andI took advantage of it. This has been the realitythat I have been struggling with my whole life - thereality of both my parents using crack cocaine.This was a photo-graphic documentary projectbut also has a personal component that bringsclarity to the misunderstood. I researched otherartists such as Gordon Parks Eugene Richardsand Roy De Carava who photographed closeto home - family friends and aspects of AfricanAmerican culture. These photographers went intothe ghettos / neighborhoods and captured momentsof the struggle and joy of these places. It'sfrom them that I receive my motivation understandingand inspiration to convey my messageand maintain the dignity of my chosen subject.Follow me at: twitter.com/AFamilyPortraitWebsite: www.rbimagesinc.comEmail: me@rbimagesinc.com