Chriscrawfordphoto
Real Men Shoot Film.
On the afternoon of May 18, 2015 I parked my car on High Street, just west of Runnion Avenue in Fort Wayne, Indiana. I was going to photograph an interesting house nearby.
As I was walking back to my car, I heard a dog growling and snarling. I looked to the house my car was parked in front of and saw a tiny little dog standing under a man sitting in a wheelchair in the door of the house. I yelled, "Hey dog, my cat could EAT YOU!" I had a 23lb longhaired orange cat named Simba who LOVED bullying dogs. There were several dogs I know who were terrified of him! He was quite a big larger than the little dog that was barking at me.
The dog's owner asked me what I was taking pictures of, so I went to talk to him. He asked me if I would take a picture of him; and while I was photographing him, he told me a little bit about himself.
His name was Sterling Hall Sr. He had had his right leg amputated recently, and he was depressed because his adult son had recently died. He and his little dog, whose name was Dot, lived with his mother.
I had a hard time getting the photo I wanted. I wanted to see the dog clearly, as well as Sterling. I wanted to show that he was sitting in the doorway; but the house's design made it impossible to show the left edge of the doorway well, so I decided to not show that side of the door frame. I had to be close to them, using a wide angle lens (my 24-105mm zoom set around 24mm), because I wanted the photo to feel intimate, like the viewer was standing there on the porch talking to Sterling.
I knelt down rather than standing up for two reasons. One was that Sterling was sitting in his wheelchair, so if I (a 5'10" tall man) were standing, I would be looking down at him. I didn't want that, I wanted it to look like I was sitting there talking to him. The second reason was Dot. She stayed under the wheelchair the while time, watching me. She wouldn't come out, but she did quit barking and growling after Sterling and I began talking. I wanted to see her face clearly, and she would have been partly hidden if I were standing.
I promised Sterling that I would give him a print, and about a week later, I brought him a signed, exhibition quality print. His mother answered the door and said that he wasn't feeling well and was sleeping. I told her that I had photographed him and promised him a print, and she said he had told her about me and that he was looking forward to seeing the print.
Several months later, I received an email from Sterling's daughter telling me that he had died on October 10, 2015. She told me that "This was one of his favorite pictures, he loved showing it off. Thanks for adding a small piece of joy to his life."
I love meeting and photographing people like Sterling; and hearing their stories, which I preserve and transmit to others through my work.
