Premium Competition 2011 Q2 : Entry Number 430

Whatever the story is, this is a strong image in the way the person poses and maintain the utmost level of dignity in a situation and location where you are usually stripped of you dignity.

I made this image with a Leica M9 with a 50mm Summilux f/1.4 lens on March 4, 2011. I got a call that my friend Eric Werner was in hospice at the VA Hospital in Chicago. (He was a well known and noted Chicago photographer, who happened to be a photography mentor of mine...) Eric passed away on May 21, 2011... ten weeks after I made this image. I am humbled by the recognition and only wish that Eric had lived to see this. My name is Barry Mayo and I live in Stone Ridge, NY. [email protected]