22) Tom Stone Photographer

Danny gave me the link to Tom Stone and I absolutely LOVE his work. I think the black and white headshots are really powerful and looking into peoples eyes is where you find the raw emotion. I think the photographs are stunning and the subjects look beautiful.

tom stone is a documentary photographer known for his portraits of people living along the edges of society. his photography shares perspective with the work of dorothea lange, richard avedon, diane arbus and sebastião salgado.

“i photograph people who skirt the edges of things; people whose connection to the broader flow is murky or obscured. mistaken as more, less or different than they are; they aren’t really seen and don’t really belong. that’s everyone sometimes; but some more often. i try to establish a line for a moment. i hope to connect. and i see the most beautiful and the most heartbreaking things.”

- tom stone

homeless kat from marin. kat has a cart and has been rapidly culling the trash cans for recycling. she has a doll around her neck; its arms in a constant embrace.

i find myself staring. she reminds me of someone.

she’s not as drunk as she pretends. and she’s smarter than she lets on. the older boy next to her is just as drunk as he looks. they met earlier over a can of beer.

her name is sadie; from “everywhere.” well, from chico really. but she doesn’t live there anymore. mom kicked her out. says mom’s a “tweaker and a drunk.”

been getting around mostly by hitching. some trains too; but not so much. talks about places she’s been to recently; and places she’s going.

the boy has a big smile on his face. says “ain’t she beautiful!” like he’s still figuring his luck.

“yes,” i respond.

homeless kaylyn from dallas sitting on sidewalk panhandling. she was thrown out of school and out of home when she was 15.

she’d been on her own until last year when, at 17, she got engaged to a boy she met in san diego. they’re living together now in a tent in the park.

he says he tries not to feel like a victim but life and people seem to prey on him.

says it would be best to just start over. but he’s not sure how. says he knows it’s as much him as anything. “my life’s this way because i don’t fix it.”

“...but you could also say it’s god’s mistake. maybe he just made me wrong.”