“You wanna take my picture?” Sometimes the tables are turned and a stranger approaches you…
Meet Reggie.
What brings you to uptown Charlotte? “Well, they have something to eat at 3 o’clock at King’s Kitchen (a local restaurant that helps feed and employ the poor). I have no money. I can eat at 3 o’clock or I can go home. I have a place to stay.”
He started showing me the contents of his wallet including an SSI disability debit card, an expired bus transfer and the ID from the men’s shelter he stays at.
“I have no money until Monday.”
Were you born in Charlotte? “I was born in Connecticut… Bridgeport, Connecticut. My mom and dad were in the Air Force. I came here… I walked from Virginia… Norfolk, Virginia. Hitchhiked. My Mom and Dad put me in a shelter after I graduated from High School. And I walked here from Virginia.”
“I have ADD. I lose things.”
Reggie described growing up in a military family… “I stayed in Alaska, Nebraska, Maryland, DC. My Dad had a bar… he’s a Master Sargent, retired. Right now he works… I don’t know where he works. My mom’s a nurse. I went to Elementary School in Virginia. In Alaska, I went to High School”
“In Alaska, I fell in love with this girl… Danielle was my first love. She had extensions. {singing} ‘I can tell you how I feel about you Nite and Day’ Al B. Sure. Every time I hear that song… that was my song. A long time ago…”
Technical Notes: This was taken on a sunny day in the shade. This was one of the last pictures I took after I interviewed him. I didn’t pose him or direct him in any way.
Dan Russell-Pinson 