Boonville

It is with great sadness that I learned today of the death of Kody Beasock, age 12 from Boonville, New York. Timothy Briner my friend and fellow photographer traversed the country capturing the spirit of the places and of the people he encountered in each of the Boonvilles he resided in. Tim's third stop on his journey was Boonville, New York where he stayed with the Beasock family.

I have been traveling every week this last month and so have fallen behind in my blog readings. Today I read Tim's blog and found out he was indeed back home and read of Kody's death. The kind words written by Tim as well as the comments posted on the blog by his audience are worth the time to read.

As a photographer I feel I have a certain inherent duty to chose my subjects carefully and when doing so know the responsibility as an image maker not only to myself and the audience but also to the subject–to represent the truth, to share a secret and revel something worthwhile that might have gone unnoticed if I hadn't otherwise taken an interest in it. I feel this is one of the many gifts Tim has given to us, to the Beasock family and to the photographic community. When I was working at Time magazine I thought that the most interesting photo stories came from abroad yet Tim's series shed's light on stories right here in our own backyards–connecting us to people we might have never met and reminding us all of our impact on those around us.