Trouble brewing... or not.

People often ask me, "What is Haiti really like?" It is an impossibly broad question which many people have dedicated their life's work trying to answer, and still come up short.

I usually just say, "It's never boring."

Currently, the president is out of the country for medical reasons, leaving a very unstable government in his absence. A group of citizens are protesting the recent murder of a policeman by blocking off a main road that leads to the south of the country with burning tires and parked trucks. A rather large group of former military personnel are forming a new military on their own accord, and all of the police are on strike. It would seem then, that all hell should be breaking loose, yet somehow order is maintained and work goes on.
The next few days/weeks/months should be interesting no doubt, and whatever happens, I'm sure it won't be boring.

A Haitian boy stands next to burning tires placed in the street to block traffic. The demonstration was in response to a local police officer who was murdered on the job.

Filming a "Meet the Journalists" segment for the pulitzer foundation in connection with a recent investigation that was just completed by Ayiti Kale Je.   Photo by Alexis Erkert

No matter what chaos the days bring, there is always solitude at night.

Remembrance

Yesterday marked the second anniversary of the earthquake that shook Port-au-Prince and left over 200,000 people dead. For me, it was only a headline in the newspaper, but for many people here in Haiti it was the anniversary of the day that they survived, and many of their loved ones did not. I couldn't imagine living here when it happened. Nor could I imagine living through the 2 years that have passed waiting for the aid money to trickle down to the people and turn things around. Yesterday gave me an intimate view of just how far reaching the destruction was, and just how resilient and faithful the people that lived through it are.

 Additionally, I am wholly impressed with my colleagues who found the strength to not only pull through it, but go to work and report about it.

Here are a few photos of people taking to the streets to remember.

Anti-MINUSTAH Protest- Port-au-Prince, Haiti

It is with a slight hesitation that I make my first post since arriving in Port-au-Prince two months ago with images of a protest. Before coming here I, like the rest of the world, had only seen images of Haiti in the news only in moments of extreme disorder. It would seem that is all this small country has to offer the rest of the world is tragedy. Something sad happening in a distant land, to distant people. Something to discuss at the watercolor, but then quickly forget. If there is one thing I have learned from my short time here so far, it is that the image of Haiti that I knew before is nothing of the intriguing and complex reality that exists here.

In the next two years during my work with local press agency Groupe Medialternatif, I am looking forward to seeing that complex reality unfold. My list of ideas for feature stories grows everyday as I am constantly surprised by how much joy and life this country holds. I hope that the more of the language I learn and the more people I meet, the more I can explore not just the shouting in the streets, but the quite moments that make up the daily lives of Haitians. 

This protest, which took place on Friday, September 23rd was in response to the ongoing UN occupation in Haiti. It is one of several protests that have occured in the last few weeks against the UN's mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) and I am certain they will continue in the weeks to come. This particular protest was relatively calm, with no rock throwing of tear gas shooting. It began at a UN compound and wound through the city ending at the back entrance to the National Palace. The organization that I work for wrote an article about it, which can be found here. 

 http://www.alterpresse.org/spip.php?article11605

UN officers photographing the protest from their guard tower. 

The protest, which was lead by a police truck, included several people spray painting anti-UN slogans on the walls of buildings. Interestingly, this is not illegal and therefore was ignored by the police.

T

UN troops photographing the protest from the top wall of their compound. 

Musicians of Market Square

I spent Sunday working on a story for the Knoxville News Sentinel about the street musicians on Market Square in Knoxville. Some live on the streets by choice, others out of necessity. Some are joyful and some are bitter. Some play for money and others for passion. Whatever their story, all of them were very talented.

Whole lotta kids

What else better to do while mom signs you up for your first season of Tee ball than goof off in the back of a pick up truck. At least this photographer really appreciates it. On another note, this was the hardest caption I have ever had to write. I will include it under the photo so you can see why.



Trinity Johnson, 9, foreground, waits with her family and friends as her parents sign them up for the "Smart Start" tee ball program at Inskip Ballpark on Tuesday evening. From left, Joshua Howell, 9, shows Jeremiah Johnson, 1, his glasses as Gavin Johnson, 8, plays with his brother Aaron Johnson, 5, while their cousin Isaiah Johnson waits on top of the truck. Teira Johnson, mother of Trinity, Isaiah and Jeremiah watches the children as they play.

Velo Coffee Roasters

I thought I was picky about my coffee, until I met this guy. Andrew Gage is the owner of Velo Coffee Roasters in Chattanooga, Tn. and when it comes to coffee he makes me look like a 80-year old grandma sippin on 6-month old stale Folgers with my buddies at the senior center (no offense grandma). Working on this project with Andrew definitely added a few notches in my "coffee snob" belt. But, in all seriousness, I had a blast working on this project and I really feel like it helped push me in the direction that I want to be going with my work. My goal with this piece was yes, to make a commercial. (gasp!). Yes, I know this is the most dreaded word in photojournalism, but damn it, it was fun. I have always prided myself in being ethical to a fault while on assignment, and for once the rules didn't apply. And I must admit it felt a little nice. However, all the creative freedom in the world can't make up for honest, genuine emotion so I approached this just like any other story. I simply wanted to get at the soul of what drives Andrew to make really, REALLY, damn good coffee. Hey, who says there can't be truth in advertising?

Hope you enjoy.

Timber Ridge Horse Campground

A few weeks ago I spent the better part of a Saturday bouncing around on the back of an ATV with a huge German Shepherd and wading shoeless in a creek while on an assignment at the Timber Ridge Horse Campground in Jamestown, Tn. for the Knoxville News Sentinel. Before I arrived I had never heard of a horse campground, so naturally I was clueless as to what to expect. It was definitely a unique experience for several reasons. First and foremost were the passionate owners, Lee and Dee, and their awesome German Shepherds. Like me, Lee and Dee had never been to a horse campground either before they bought this place as a bank repossession.

When I first got there Lee told me that "horse people is good people," and he was right. Lee had done a great job making my job as absolutely as easy as possible by notifying every last one of his guests that I would be coming, and every single one was excited and receptive to being photographed. That level of acceptance is not something you experience on very many assignments as a photojournalist. Makes me want to get a horse and go back. Here are a few of the images I liked.

Read more about how Lee and Dee brought the campground from a rundown mess, to the highest rated horse campground in the country.

http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2011/apr/03/new-owners-renovate-horse-campground-at-a-gallop/

http://www.timberridgehorsecampground.com/

Day in my life

As part of my Ethnography class, I had to document a day in my life with 20 images. Starting with being woken up by hungry cat Scraggles, teaching a photo class at Warren East Middle School, Skyping with Nora in France, three rounds of much needed coffee and a game of disc golf in beautiful afternoon light, this is just my typical Monday.

The best place in the world to sit and have a beer

the harbor- Hamburg, Germany

Among The Stars

Among The Stars from Kohl Threlkeld on Vimeo.

My goal with this whole project was to tell a story about people and their dreams. No matter what age a person is, everyone has at least one dream that they hold on to. Some follow their dreams and lead rich, happy lives. Others put their dreams down to pursue something more practical or responsible. The dreams we have tell so much about who we are as individuals because however simple the dream is, it is unique, belonging only to the person who created it.

This tells the story of two people who are following their dreams at completely different times in their lives. Connie is a singer and traveler from Denmark who only wants to play her songs in the street. She thrives off of the energy of the moment and holds onto no hopes of future fame or fortune. Harry is a songwriter who came to Nashville 20 years ago to try and make it as a songwriter. Tasting a little bit of fame, he left to pursue a career in the restaurant industry. Unfulfilled in his job, he decided to return back to Nashville to rediscover his original dream of writing songs.

One day while Connie is playing on the street, Harry sees her and is taken by her unique voice and spirit. He introduces himself and hands her the lyrics to a song that he has held onto for over 20 years, but never found the right singer for. When he returns she has put music to his words and the two form an unlikely and special friendship through their music.

Note: All of the footage in this video is 100% candid. Other than the lighting on the interviews, nothing was staged, set up or influenced in any way.

Thanks so much for watching and please let me know what you think of the video.

New friends and new opportunities

I had the opportunity to go with one of my friends Andrea (the Italian guy in the last photo)where he volunteers in a small town outside Cajamarca. he works with an NGO, that is actually run out of the house that we both live in. The families we worked with were wonderful. Once they found out i was from the US, all they did was ask me if i cold some back and teach them english. So, on wednesday, im headed back to give them copies of the pictures, try to teach them English, and take a few more pictures.

Peru

Well, I just got to Cajamarca, Peru a week ago after leaving Costa Rica. I am staying here for a month, trying to learn spanish and do my best to photograph this incredibly beautiful region located in the Northern Highlands region of Peru. I dont think its a region that receives a lot of attention as it is a 16 hour bus ride from Lima, where you enter the country. And probably 20+ hours from Machu Picchu, the place most people come to visit. There is an interesting mix of people, from the traditional campesiono's that live in the villages and farm but come into the city to sale their goods, to the young, progressive crowd of 20 somethings embracing more of a metropolitian lifestyle. Either way, the city of Cajamarca and its surroundings are full of culture and life.

Here are a few pictures from the last couple of days. They are somewheat surface level, as not speaking the language well, makes it difficult to really immerse yourself in a situation. Its a lot easier to explain why you are there and what your purpose is when you speak the same language as the people you are trying to photograph. Enjoy, and expect more to come.

A New Semester

Im sure its been so long since my last update that most of you stopped looking at my blog altogether, but im back at posting again now that im actually shooting again. Last semester i spent so much time looking at other peoples photography and devoting most of my time to being photo editor of the Herald that it didnt leave much, if any time to shoot. But one thing it absolutley did was make me wish i had the time to just go shoot. Not for class or anthing else but just for myself. And now that i have that time, and hopefully some more knowledge, im gonna shoot.

This first image is from the recent storms that passed through Ky and left thousands without power. To see more pictures and listen to some great audio go to www.chherald.com and please, PLEASE, check back here for more pictures to come.

Kohl

Tough Decisions

If you paid attention to the news at the right time last Wednesday, you might have noticed for a brief moment that there was a shooting at WKU. Reports of armed gunmen and shots fired were flying around the national media. This sent our campus into chaos and frenzy as swat teams and media crews converged at Western. For a long while we all believed there were gunmen on campus, thankfully it turned out to be somewhat of a false alarm. It was finally sorted out and believed to be a fight between 20 or so people that happened at 2 locations, and although several people came forward claiming to have seen/ heard gunshots, none were confirmed. Although the national media soon found that it wasnt jucy enough for the, it was still big news for our campus because of some of the events that happened while our school was on lockdown. The most significant being several students were detained at gunpoint in what could be described as overkill. When one girl said to a cop while he arrested her friend "You cant do that" he said, "If you want to be a part of this, ill make you part of this, and threw her on the ground" Thats our front page photo. It was a difficult decision after considering all of the great images, but the above layouts is how it ran in our paper. We chose the photo for the front because it best illustrated that confusion and chaos of the day. It also portrayed an event that hardly anyone on campus witnessed, and we felt was important. Overall our photographers did a great job and got the most story telling images possible. It was great practice for me as well because i found out just how stressful this job can be, but also how rewarding. And no one had to get shot.