Northshore Magazine

165 the subject of poverty because he thinks people simply don't know about the struggles facing Ameri- ca's poor, and photography is one way of educating people. "You can't fix ZKat yoX can't see,ȋ Ke says. Ȋ7oo mXcK oI it is KiGGen.ȋ 3eopOe sometimes ask Liss how he's able to get close to sources like kids at a de- tention center. "That's not the prob- Oem,ȋ Ke says. Ȋ,t's NeepinJ yoXr professional distance, so you're not some ZeirG XncOe ȵyinJ in Irom an- other world to befriend them, only to leave them and abandon them like everyone else has abandoned tKem. 7Kat's tKe GiɟcXOt part.ȋ "You don't sleep much when you're doing stories on runaway kids, and this kind of thing, because yoX see so mXcK potentiaO,ȋ Ke aGGs. "They have so much in common with other kids, but there are issues of mental health, issues of neglect, issues of abuse. They're refugees from a million private wars being fought in families all across the United States, and they didn't ask Ior it, anG tKey GiGn't GeserYe it.ȋ Liss took two years off from Time to work on the book, and he had $120,000 of funding to work with. He spent $180,000 and had to declare bankruptcy. But the book KeOpeG pXsK oɟciaOs in /oreGo, 7exas, to repOace its spartan MX - venile detention facility with one that offered counseling services. Ȋ,t Zas tKe Eest EanNrXptcy , eYer GecOareG,ȋ Ke MoNes. Ȋ,I tKat EooN made even a small contribution to tearing down that awful dungeon tKey Zere in, ,'m comIortaEOe ZitK tKat. ,'G Go it aJain.ȋ Steve Liss doesn't need to teach. With a portfolio full of Time covers, he could easily make his living GoinJ corporate ZorN Ȋ, GiGn't Jet into photojournalism to help cor - porate $merica OooN its Yery Eest,ȋ he says) or shooting weddings (he does some of this, but says couples often want a fashion photographer instead of a photojournalist—one bride complained that he made her feet look fat). He teaches because he wants to mentor his students in the same way he was mentored when he Zas yoXnJȃfirst at tKe &KiOGren's Theatre, then as a photographer in Boston, and eventually by the veterans at Time. "He doesn't have any of his own children. A big part of his legacy is impartinJ Kis ZisGom,ȋ says +eaOy, /iss's Iormer stXGent. Ȋ, tKinN Ke feels compelled to share that with anotKer Jeneration.ȋ Brent Lewis, who took Liss's cOasses at &oOXmEia &oOOeJe &Ki- caJo, says /iss is Ȋama]inJȋ in tKe classroom. "He did it, he loves it, he misses it, and he was really pumped about passing that passion on to Kis stXGents. ,n tKis Greary environment, to hear, 'You can do it, someone needs to take the photos, why shouldn't it be you?'… ,t Zas someone speaNinJ my Oan- JXaJe, finaOOy.ȋ Lewis spent two years after graduation taking photos for small newspapers in the Midwest before landing a gig at The Denver Post this fall. For him, the words "You can do itȋ proYeG to Ee propKetic. %Xt /iss knows they might not come true for all his students. Ȋ

• Cover
• April 26 -50pdf
• April 51 - 80
• April 81 - 105
• April 106 - 137
• April 107-169
• 170 to end