Q&A

How does the book In a Whole New Way compare with your first work, Project Lives?
Project Lives was published in 2015 by powerHouse, a noted art book publisher.  That meant it could be published in landscape orientation and hardcover on glossy paper, as originally intended. The photographs popped.  Many reviewers cited the book’s beauty.

But publishing illustrated books became a much dicier proposition in the years following. Costs exploded while the market shrank. And then the pandemic disrupted supply chains, bringing publishing almost to a standstill.  A perfect storm.  

But changing the orientation to portrait mode and putting out the book in paperback, as Prospecta Press has elected, has its own advantages. In a Whole New Way is less likely than our first work to be taken as a coffee-table book. And it will be easier to sell the book at events like the annual conference of the community corrections industry.

What most surprised you in researching probation for this book?
The unheralded role of probation in effectively determining the sentences of so many of those convicted of crimes.  Americans think it’s all up to the judge, but in so many cases they’re signing off on sentences recommended by the probation function.

How were the photos selected for the book?
They were overwhelmingly selected by the participants themselves.  We had to fall back on a few alternatives where we did not have releases from a photographer with whom we had lost contact. As in our first initiative, those participating in our program are a somewhat transient population.  

How would you like viewers to approach the photos?
While we would of course like the photos’ aesthetic value to be appreciated, we most of all would like viewers to say to themselves, “These are people just like me! Their lives are similar in many ways to my own.”

How does your nonprofit’s work with people on probation (and their neighbors) compare with your prior effort with housing project residents?
There are similarities but many more differences.

In each case, we sought to undo a scornful media portrayal over the last generation that had led to unfortunate consequences—defunding amid crime and disrepair, in the case of the projects; and keeping the practice from living up to its potential as an incarceration alternative, in the case of probation. In each case, the photographic output did create new imagery and place it before countless eyeballs. In each case, the participants focused on the positive aspects of their lives rather than broken toilets in the projects or probation check-ins. 

But while in our first effort we equipped and trained youths and seniors, in our follow-up we served mostly young men.  We attributed housing project photos by the full name of the photographer, but only by first name in the case of probation photos. Kodak disposable cameras were used in the housing project initiative, but—in keeping with their career aims—Sigma DSLRs in the probation project. The housing project participants were welcoming from the get-go, while considerable effort had to go into overcoming the suspicion of participants in the probation program. The housing project residents took one course and were gone, while we trained several students in the probation classes to become teachers in turn.  The public housing initiative ended when we left the housing agency while the program became institutionalized at the probation department.

Did anyone accuse you of playing white saviors in the probation effort in particular?
No, and we turned that narrative on its head.  While we provided the tools and training, the participants themselves did the heavy lifting of mastering a new skill to document their lives—and thereby help all Americans on probation, most of whom are white.  We were delighted that the film won many Black Lives Matter awards, which seemed to prove our bona fides in this realm.  We were also very pleased to have whites provide the comic relief in the film, flipping another practice on its head.

Has anyone at film festivals, conferences, or wherever else you screened the film pushed back at all?
No one, ever.

Can a documentary actually change the world, as you intend?
Birth of a Nation, to take a disgraceful example, surely did.  And The Sorrow and the Pity transformed France’s national identity, to take a more positive example.

What’s your next project?

Equipping and training high-schoolers to picture their climate future. We’ve already begun doing this in Cape Elizabeth, Maine, and will be looking to expand to the South Shore of Long Island. We think such an age cohort has been marginalized in the national conversation about climate change.

What are your current plans for the film/book combination?
We are seeking to leverage PBS broadcasts, conference screenings, and publicity around the combination to persuade decision-makers to return probation to its rehabilitative roots nationally.  And to then persuade them to offer it more widely as an alternative to locking people up.