#keithporter ex-construction worker, ex-snger, ex-teacher, ex-detective sergeant ex-Jamaican. Neighbours also pointed out that he was an ex-killer. Stories like this one always makes me wonder if the trip here to live was worth it.
Keith Porter came up beside my car window to ask for a dollar. The accent was still raw in his throat and it percolated like old people’s coffee—aromatic and black. He was a very old 65 year old, and time was not the only thing he wore badly. His nails were cracked and uneven, his jacket dirty and seem to blend almost indiscernibly with his dirty undershirt. His left eye was heavily bandaged and he wore a hospital bracelet. We talked about Jamaica like sipping on good coffee— slow and with breaks to sniff the steam. He was from Forest Mountain in St. Elizabeth, the same parish my father was from. And again it hit me, there was no way I could have protected my dad from the vices that preyed on his soul in Jamaica. As we sat on the hydrant talking, Keith quickly broke into an old baptist song; “Then sings my soul, my savior God to thee…how great thou art, how great thou art…” And I knew right there his soul longed for the wafts of black coffee steams that linger on the air of his beloved Forest Mountain hillside. #portrait #photography #photojournalism #documentary #reportage #blackportraiture #iammanseries #relevanceseries #onedollaroneportrait #iphoneonly #iphonography #mobilephoto #mobilephotography #igers #instahub #instagood #instamood #instagramhub #webstagram #bestoftheday #picoftheday #photooftheday #streetshot #streetphoto_bw #street_bw #streetportrait #streetphotography #brooklynportraits #hipstamatic (at Heaven On Earth)