These portraits are images I made as part of the West Virginia Photo Corps, a volunteer effort by West Virginia University college faculty, staff, students and friends to help the people of West Virginia and Central Appalachia through photography.
When the floods hit parts of West Virginia in the summer of 2016, we asked ourselves how we might help. We originally offered to photograph damaged photos and restore the digital copies. But after talking it over with Krista Williams at the Rainelle Volunteer Reception Center, she was most excited at the possibility of making new photos instead. We agreed. We go to areas affected by the floods, set up our lights and start taking pictures. Everyone gets at 5x7 print on the spot and later we send a link for downloads.
These are a few of the Halloween portraits we made on the evening of October 31, 2017 in the parking lot in front of Richwood, West Virginia's city hall. A line started forming while we set up, and it never stopped. We were the last to leave that evening. The local pizza parlor, "The Hole in the Wall," stayed open late just for us so we could eat. For more info go to our site: WVPhotoCorps.com
