Conference Highlights from Louisville, KY

The National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty (NCADP) flew me out to Louisville, KY the other weekend to document their annual conference. Over 350 people attended from across the United States, and was one of the best I've been to. Here are some photo highlights from the weekend:

Above: Sister Helen Prejean waits behind Emcee Magdaleno Rose-Avila before being introduced at the evening awards dinner.

Above left: Anthony (Tony) Amsterdam gives an acceptance speech after receiving his award at the conference. Amsterdam argued and won the famous death penalty case Furman v. Georgia in 1972, in which the Supreme Court of the United States ruled on the requirement for a degree of consistency in the application of the death penalty.

Above right: A member of a local drum line waits to start the evening entertainment for the awards program.

Above: more of the drum line at the conference.

Musician Steve Earle performs at the evening awards dinner after receiving an award for his outspoken work on the death penalty.

Above left: David Kaczynski (right), brother of the infamous Unabomber, shares a laugh during a workshop with Celeste Fitzgerald, program director of NJADP.

Above right: Attendees at the conference enjoy the Sunday morning interfaith reflection service.

Above: Ron Keine (left) and Shujaa Graham (right) were both wrongfully convicted and spent several years on death row before proving their innocence. Both are actively working across the US and abroad to educate others about the injustice of capital punishment.

Above: While not the most visually striking photo of the hundreds I shot of speakers at the podium, I have to share it here because when I saw this man's eyes through my camera, I was taken aback. This photo was taken of Dr. Allen Ault as he recounted about his experiences as the warden at the maximum security prison in Georgia where executions were carried out during his time there. The look was a glazed stare - what I imagine those who come home from war look like as the relive their experiences through thought or through speaking. These eyes will haunt me forever, knowing what they have seen.

My Legs on the Associated Press Wire

One on the instances that this posting isn't a photo taken by, but of me. Well, my lower half to be exact (see circle). The photo is running today on the AP wire to illustrate a major death penalty report just released. Sorry you had to see the legs. Pay more attention to my friend Rachel Lawler, who is in the foreground...

For the full article and photo, check it out on Yahoo! News.

New Mexico Abolishes the Death Penalty

Today, New Mexico made history and abolished its death penalty statute, making it the 35th state without capital punishment. It just so happens that I have a photo exhibit up throughout New Mexico for the next two weeks in conjunction with the one-man play about Juan Melendez, who was exonerated from Florida's death row after it was proven he was innocent. Pictured here is Juan, from an October 2002 event in Chicago. I will be photographing Juan once again next weekend at the Amnesty International conference in Boston, where I will also have a photo exhibit up. Look for photos from that in early April.

Sister Helen Prejean

I was just in Harrisburg, PA and had the opportunity to photograph Dead Man Walking author, Sister Helen Prejean.

Philadelphia Exhibit

A photo of people looking at photos of themselves... reminds me of last fall when I had a photo exhibit up in North Dakota and a radio DJ organized a protest against my photos of people protesting. You just gotta love the circular reasoning! This shot is from the final day of my three-week long show at the F.U.E.L. Collection in Philadelphia. Pictured are Martina Correia (whose brother Troy Davis is on death row in Georgia) and Shujaa Graham (exonerated from California's death row) looking at my death penalty photo documentary project - which they are both featured in.