After so many years photographing homelessness, poverty, AIDS, and dysfunctional families, the caring and happy Skeen family was a salutary shock. At first they seemed so ordinary--their neat suburban house on a cul-de-sac is the very image of America--that I wondered whether I would be able to see them as individuals.
The worry increased when Rick asked me not to use their last name, and I imagined pictures of the anonymous-sounding "S-" family. But my fears disappeared quickly when I got to know them, and I saw how hard Rick and Pattie worked to keep their family strong and close. At the same time they had great respect for their children's privacy, knocking on their bedroom doors if they were closed.
Discipline was important, but the Skeens also let their hair down. For almost 2 hours one evening adults and children abandoned their chores to shoot rubber bands at each other and put ice down each other's backs. It was about this time that Rick, who worried for obvious reasons about having me there, decided that we could use their last name after all.
I think they decided that it would be a way to show their Baptist faith. That faith is the center of the Skeens' lives--a deep, abiding belief that is always there. I saw this on Thanksgiving, which I had thought would be the highlight of my visit, photographically speaking. In fact, it was low-key. There was mega food, but prayer was the important thing.
After the meal Rick read the Bible and then asked everyone to tell the group what they were thankful for. Most of the folks cried--quietly--grateful for the love of family and God. As I sat there with my camera, I knew that the lens could never capture the feeling in that room.
