Trotter

The first thing I did when the plane touched down in Portland was make a beeline for Powell's bookstore. In over 3 hours, I only stepped outside of the photo section twice. Once for the bathroom, once to go drool on Nachtwey's "Deeds of War" in the rare & out-of-print room.

While looking through thousands of photo books. Pulling out ones I'd heard of, but never seen. And random ones I'd never heard of, I grabbed a copy of "Burk Uzzle's "A Family Named Spot." One I've been meaning to pick up, since I learned Uzzle moved to St. Petersburg... Uzzle was the youngest contract photographer Life Magazine ever hired, and went onto be a 15-year member of Magnum (and twice, the agency's president). Anyways, as I started to look at it, a voice to my left says, "that's a great book, do you know his work." Kind of, I replied. And a conversation began.

Then I went back to my picture looking, and the voice went back to its own conversation. A little while later, a grabbed "Carnival Strippers" off the shelf.

"I just saw Susan Meiselas on a panel with Jonas Bendiksen and Thomas Dworzak in New York. She's so amazing."

I turned, to enter back into conversation, with the voice. Who had a familiar face. Clean cut appearance. Short cropped graying hair. Khaki pants. Boots. Steely gaze that said he'd seen to much. I instantly had him pegged for a documentary photographer. Possible war photographer type.

We introduced ourselves. I learned that his name is John Trotter. Familiar, too. So I asked why I knew it. Trotter began to tell me his story, and I learned that he had seen too much. Had earned that steely gaze the hard way. Had lived though his own personal war.

He invited me to a gallery opening the following night. Blue Sky Gallery was showing some of his work. After being beaten within inches of his life (while shooting a hot weather feature of some kids playing), Trotter had to learn how to walk, talk and speak again. Six months after being released from Sierra Gates, a brain injury treatment facility, he returned there to document it.

"Having been attacked because I was a photographer I needed, as much as anything else, to learn to be a photographer again. But I had taken pictures there for about a year before I understood that I was trying to understand my own completely altered experience of life."

This was one of those serendipitous experiences I'm thankful for. A meeting by luck and chance. Based on nothing more than a mutual love of photography.

But John, it was really nice meeting you. And even nicer to see that journey you're taking on the long road to recovery has led to some self discovery and a huge show of strength. Thanks for sharing.