I recently photographed Benoit Denizet-Lewis upon the release of his new book, “America Anonymous, Eight Addicts in Search of a Life” by Simon and Schuster. The book chronicles the lives of eight different addicts, one of whom it turns out is Denizet-Lewis himself, who has struggled with sex addiction. Denizet-Lewis is a NY Times Magazine columnist who is known as a journalist “capable of earning the confidence of reluctant but fascinating people in subcultures rarely accessed by the mainstream media.” (This difficult skill is shared by many of my favorite photographers). One of the subjects of the book, a heroin addict, called him to chat during our photo shoot and Benoit immediately got the hard living patrons of the bar we were shooting in to open up about their own drinking habits. The photos I shot of him were originally commissioned by The Advocate, but also ran as the cover story in Medill Magazine and appeared in DNA Magazine.
The July 2009 POZ Magazine also featured my portrait of long-time HIV/AIDS activist Steve Kallaugher. In 2005 Kallaugher founded, Young Heroes, a non profit organization that feeds, clothes and educates more than 1,000 AIDS orphans in Swaziland. You can find his organization online at Young Heroes He also is a Shakespearean actor, former creative director at the Wall Street Journal, and all-around great photo subject!
