Meeting Au

You know that high you feel when you meet a new friend for coffee for the first time and recognize that you are connected in both profound and mundane ways? That’s the high I felt as we parted. 

This is Au, who will be offering his services as photographer to Jo Ann along with me for the rest of her campaign. He and his wife came to Oregon in 2012, four years after I arrived here; like me, they came here knowing no one, drawn to a possibility. He has been making photographs since he was a child in Vietnam, and he still has his first camera, the one his father bought for him. He let me hold its weight, press its shutter. That honor, that privilege.

We both love street photography, photojournalism, moments held/appreciated/ preserved. We both love to talk about photography. We both love the sound of sandhill cranes. We see that racism is the bedrock of this country. We see that photography can be a means for social change. We can be a team.

The terrible news from Uvalde continues to come to light and my heart keeps breaking. Cremaine Booker posted this Hymn to the Eternal Flame. It expresses what my words cannot.