What was driven home, while photographing Thursday’s march, was that money can not buy the intensity of the young or the passionate hundreds and thousands flooding the streets all across the United States. Overall, on Thursday, I watched the original Occupy movement veer toward the rocky shore of American apathy – by losing the focus that first brought out the throngs of supporters. This observation is mine but also voiced by many Denver residents caught up in the traffic caused by the marches, shouted out via social media and spoken over dinner with friends this weekend.

This weekend’s discussion touched on the original goals of the movement and how now Occupy could harness the renewed energy and the growing support of protesters after hundreds of thousands watched videos of U.C. Davis students being peppered sprayed. It’s easy to nitpick the seemingly hard to define agenda of Occupy but harder to mince the right to speech and to peacefully gather.

Will this renewed energy, fueled by pepper spray and a overall support for the movement’s right to protest, be harnessed and focused into a more measurable agenda?

The answer to that question will either be answered by the movement’s leaderless core or by the apathy apparently already taking hold.

A member of a downtown restaurant’s dining room staff watches the Occupy Denver protesters march through the streets of Denver, Colorado November 17, 2011.

A reporter tweets from the Occupy Denver protest November 17, 2011.

A man smokes a cigar as Occupy Denver protesters march past business men and women breaking for lunch.

Employees, in a downtown Denver, Colorado office building, watch the streets below as protesters march past.

Occupy Denver protesters make a last minute decision to turn away from Sports Authority Field at Mile High and continue their march through downtown.

Cheers,

Nathan W. Armes
Denver Photographer and Photojournalist

Thanks to all who have served in wartime and in peace.

A special thanks to the millions of military families who serve in their own unique and special way.

Originally published 11/11/10:

Ask most who serve and they will explain that war is never black and white; there are many shades of gray.

Look past those many shades, often caused by politics and extreme emotions and you see only the black and white truth; those who serve are rare breeds of Americans.

Thank you to those no longer in uniform, those who still serve faraway from home, those who will never return and those service members’ families.

Gary and Karen Huffman mourn the loss of their son, Army Spec. Jason Huffman, 22, Thursday Dec. 7, 2006 in Conover, N.C., hours after being notified by the Army of his death. Huffman was killed in Iraq Weds. Dec. 6.

Iwo Jima veteran, Keith Wood, 82, holds his U.S. Marine Corps identification card in his Hickory, NC home. Woods was wounded during the early stages of the beach landing and was left as one of the many fallen during the battle until a fellow Marine notice he was still breathing. As Wood’s was being evacuated off the volcanic island he says he could still hear the battle raging.

Fort Carson chaplain Col. James Ellison reaches out to touch the names of the soldiers who he presided over the funerals and memorial services. The names are inscribed on the The Mountain Post Global War On Terrorism Fallen Soldier Memorial at Fort Carson located in Colorado Springs, CO.

Cheers,

Nathan W. Armes
Denver Photographer and Photojournalist

So, as the political seasons nears I’m finding it harder and harder to avoid political stories of GOP debate flubs, gropes and groans. Avoiding political stories does not make me any less informed about my country’s political process but more in tune due to the simple fact that my ‘bullshit’ and ‘crap’ filters are on full alert. Honestly, I’ve found most of my news through the series of YouTube videos, Bad Lip Reading and newsmen such as Steve Colbert and Jon Stewart. Call me a bad American? How dare you sir…

My point? Well, recently my filters have leaked the story of Mississippi’s ‘Personhood’ amendment – which was rejected Tuesday night by 59% of voters – ‘a ballot initiative that would’ve declared life begins at fertilization’.

Why would my filters let seep such a story, even after all I’ve accomplished in blocking this type of chronicle from my frontal lobe? Well, I can only figure it akin to ‘selective hearing’ or more specifically, ‘Oh wow, I shot something similar to that for a past assignment and I need a ‘From The Archive’ post’ post. Selective hearing indeed.

In May 2008, I was assigned to photograph the face of Colorado’s own ‘Personhood’ amendment movement who was at the time, the 20 year old Kristi Burton and sponsor of the Colorado Human Life Amendment. The shoot was quick, confined to a reserved room in the back of a larger than life suburban Italian restaurant and I left smelling of cheap marinara sauce. Like most stories I’ve shot during my career one or two keep coming back around near election time – this is one that always seems to lurch back into the media spotlight only to be batted back by voters, again and again and again.

Kristi Burton remembers the day, at age 13, when she decided she would spend her life defending the unborn.

She made her commitment to the movement as she lay in bed with a cold or bout of flu, reading a book on community service and watching the 2000 elections on TV.

“It just came to me,” Burton said. “I prayed about it and knew God was calling me to do it.”

You can read the article [ here ]

Just so we are clear:

Fact: As with Mississippi’s ballot initiative, Colorado’s ‘a fertilized egg as a person’ movement also failed.

Opinion: Server Error: 500 Server Error

OK, now I can get back to my Bad Lip Reading.

Cheers,
Nathan W. Armes
Denver Photographer and Photojournalist

This summer has been busy with shooting a video / stills documentary project in Wyoming – which is still yet to launch, on the client’s website, so it’s still in hush-hush status. Excited to share with folks as the launch starts to rollout. Besides driving over 4000 miles around Wyoming, I shot six weddings, a handful of fund raising events for local clients and reached further into understanding the story threads behind my personal projects which have been simmering for the past year or two.

Currently scribbling some notes for a ‘What I Did This Summer’ entry which should be posted soon enough. I’ll let you know.

****

Recently, I photographed a story for Education Week. The assignment topic: ‘school cutbacks’ an always depressing story to tackle and if you don’t squint hard enough a tough one to wrap visuals around. The major story topic was Jefferson County’s plan to start charging a per-student rate to ride the school bus and school closures. Since Jefferson County worked hard to move budget cuts out of the classroom the visual of overcrowded classrooms, peeling paint and overworked teachers was not there. Without getting into student to teacher ratio statistics and metrics the long story short is that the photos that you’d otherwise see in a school budget cut story where not there, at least not at Stevens Elementary School, where I toured.

Though the overcrowding shots where not to be had a more subtle story thread was brought to my attention while I talked with students and photographed them at work. Many of the students, new to the school being toured, had attended a now closed elementary school in the area. The closed school had been open since the mid-50s and was shuttered due to cutbacks and budget restraints. Now the faces being photographed, seemingly unconnected fully to the larger budget cut story, could be tied back together by the abandoned school I was yet to photograph.

There is nothing more depressing, not to mention creepy, than an abandoned school. A few times, during the shoot, my reflection in the dark, dark windows caused me to double take. Between thinking I was seeing the ghost’s of schoolmarms past and jumping at my own reflection I slowly walked around the school on the blustery and overcast day in the effort to show the most depressing closed school photos I could muster.

Ghosts or no ghosts the situation that causes a school district to close a school is a serious issue. Students are taken from familiar surroundings, bused elsewhere and suddenly become the ‘new kid’ in a new learning environment. Neither of which is ever easy – nor does it look like it will get any smoother anytime soon for the school system or students: Prop 103 fails, via Denver Post. The link brings you to a comment section of the tax increase measure  - sure a comment section is not a scientific representation of a community but oh so, so interesting to read.

Nathan W. Armes
Denver Photographer and Photojournalist

Hospitals have always given me the creeps. To me, they are cold, sterile and more often than not, negatively associated with sickness and pain. This shoot was a bit different in the fact that the patient – pictured below – is making a phenomenal recovery thanks to the wonderful doctors and staff at the Center.

Shooting a positive story is always a plus in my line of work, even if that means I have to set foot inside a hospital. Yes, White Coat Syndrome is real and I’m the textbook example.

Nathan W. Armes
Denver Photographer and Photojournalist

“Green schools” are better for students, teachers, the environment—and the bottom line, a report released this month concludes.

Published by the American Institute of Architects and the U.S. Green Building Council, the report—which resulted from a three-day meeting at the Sundance Resort in Utah in November—details what mayors, superintendents, and other local leaders can do to advance the movement for environmentally friendly schools.

Note, the linked PDF is super long – 46 pages long to be exact. Informative, yes. Long, most certainly. Hint, be green and don’t print the report.

My assignment for Education Week was to document the proverbial example of a ‘green school’. On the hour-long drive to Fort Collins, to Kinard Core Knowledge Middle, the awkwardness of my own pre-high school days flooded over me.

This assignment would teach me a few very important life lessons: worms really love to eat your discarded table scraps, the always refreshing ‘IZZE’ drink might be the school’s best selling lunchtime beverage and the vortex of the school cafeteria is still a frightening place were the hierarchy is ruled by the omniscient 8th grader.

Trust me, no TI-80-whatever graphing calculator has the ‘cool kid’ formula preprogrammed.

The school’s Kinard C.A.R.E.S program – which only selects 8th graders who pass an application process – teaches students to collaborate on service-learning projects. For example, the biggest and most interactive was the creation of a school wide compost program. The program, which saved over 15,000 thousand pounds of waste from entering a landfill in 2010, is popular with all grade levels – 6th through 8th.

The physical structure of the school building has many features that makes the building ‘green’. One example is the wide use of natural light to minimize electrical lighting needs. Through the use of ‘Solatubes’ in the ceiling and specifically calculated placement of windows, natural light is designed to flood the classroom.Behind the 3-inch polyurethane spray-on foam insulation, which minimizes heat loss, you’ll find the guts of a GeoExchange heating and cooling system that uses the natural temperature of the earth to control building climate.

On top of all these regenerative and sustainable energy efforts, the northern Colorado middle school is also 100% wind powered via Wyoming wind farms. Cumulatively and according to the school’s website, Kinard is the most energy efficient school in the state of Colorado – per square foot.

Though the school has no bus service, many Kinard students ride their bikes or walk to school as part of the school’s wellness initiative of keeping the students active and healthy – which ties into the school’s overall philosophy of regenerative energy and sustainability. Depending on the weather, as many as 250-300 of the almost 800 students ride their bike or walk to school.

A student in the C.A.R.E.S program maneuvers a heavy compost bin, full of table scraps and waste, after first period lunch.

C.A.R.E.S students work together in the collective effort of dumping recyclables into a large bin positioned outside the school cafeteria.

Cheers,

Nathan W. Armes
Denver Photographer and Photojournalist

Though touring to promote his new album, “Shaolin vs. Wu-Tang,” released this past March, the New Yorker gave “rough and tough like leather” lyrical shout-outs to his former group and the late Ol’ Dirty Bastard with classics like “C.R.E.A.M” to the head-bobbing crowd.

Nathan W. Armes
Denver Photographer and Photojournalist

He, if not just goofing on his self-proclaimed set membership during the photo shoot, was seemingly eager to let his nerd flag fly far and proud. Though he might call himself a nerd his music is becoming more and more popular as his sound adapts with the release of his new record. Though Pants’ dance-funk sound is hard to describe, his story of growing success is easier to approach; he worked his ass off by starting with a record company as an intern and eventually signed with the label. It’s hardly a rags to riches story – yet – but it’s a story that most can relate with of starting off on the bottom rung and slowly, methodically inching your way toward your goal of reaching people with your art.

These photos were taken in and near his parent’s home in Colorado Springs where he was based (for a short-time) between moving his family from their home in Portland to their new home overseas. So yes, technically, Pants was living at his parents house but don’t joke because he would school you both on the turntable and the family foosball table.

Since this article was assigned and published, Pants, along with his family are currently based in Cologne, German and his new self titled record, James Pants, was released in May.

Good luck Mr. Pants. Stay weird, stay nerdy and stay hard to describe.

Nathan W. Armes
Denver Photographer and Photojournalist

The night’s energy pulsed as the crowd gyrated to Starfucker’s fun, fun dance songs under the hypnotic starburst light show that sent pin-point beams filtering into the theater.

Nathan W. Armes
Denver Photographer and Photojournalist

Nathan W. Armes
Denver Photographer and Photojournalist