Description

As you admire the beauty of this 2003 photograph, let me first give you some backstory. In front of a grocery store towards the corner of 20^th Street and 7th Avenue in Manhattan, NY I came across a homeless couple, she was carrying a baby bump of about 6 months, her man curled up over her in a protective position ( I presume the father of her awaiting baby) under the canopy in a deep sleep. The Asian store owner, sympathetic to her condition, allowed them to use the left front corner as a resting place.

I normally and I mean normally, don’t photograph homeless people because it’s not fair. This is a period in their lives when hardship has gotten the best of them and especially in this position, they deserve dignity. But what I saw was love, commitment, loyalty and devotion. Devoid of worldly possessions, they had each other and were expecting a new life to celebrate their union; ‘they were beautiful!’

I pulled out my point-and-shoot film Canon camera, fired off a couple of frames, developed and displayed the prints on my file cabinet, knowing I would use them as a template for a future shoot, which became part of my e-book, “Love is Alive.”

That day came when a friend whom I had previously photographed during her pregnancy introduced me to the woman who was having her younger brother’s baby. She was very beautiful, glowing in chocolate love, happiness and excitement. We made a date to photograph. They arrived at my Bronx studio on time and after a brief shoot around, I showed them the pregnant couple’s photograph, of which they allowed me to happily guide them into this loving position.

The rest is history!