Book Signing and Photography Exhibit

Join Melvin McCray on Sunday, April 21st, from 1 to 4 PM as he launches his new photo book Four Extraordinary Leaders: Mandela, Lewis, Obama, Nyerere at New York City’s Fortune Society, 625 West 140th Street (between Broadway and Riverside Drive). One reader described the pictures as “Beautiful and often moving. The narrative is rich and powerful in its brevity. It engaged my head and my heart.” The 8 X11 book features QR codes that, when scanned by a smartphone, will lead readers to videos of the four leaders from McCray’s vast archives of interviews. McCray will sell signed copies of the book and photographs. In addition, he has invited some of his adult students, who were clients of the Fortune Society, to exhibit, sell, and talk about their photographs. The four participating photographers were students in the iPhone Photography Workshop in 2021 and have gone on to become avid photographers. McCray will speak briefly about how he met Nelson Mandela, Congressman John Lewis, Barack Obama, and Tanzanian President Julius Nyerere. He will also share some tips on how to turn smartphone photos into exhibit-quality prints. The students will discuss how photography helped them see the world differently. Celebrate great photography, encourage developing photographers, and listen to great storytelling. If you cannot attend, the student photographs are available for purchase on the products for sale tab on the Digital Media Training Program website at https://www.harlemeyes.com/products-for-sale. You can purchase McCray’s book and photographs at https://www.melvinmccrayiii.com/store. For more information email: melvinmccray@gmail.com or call (917) 748-4122.

iPhone Photography & Videography Classes at the Fortune Society

In the fall of 2020, the Digital Media Training Program conducted an iPhone Photography Workshop for residents of the Fortune Academy and members of the West Harlem community. The project was funded by Columbia University, corporate sponsors, and individual donations. All of the students were issued iPhone 11 Pro Max devices and supplies. Due to the Coronavirus pandemic, all classes were conducted via Zoom. One of the first assignments was to shoot a self-portrait.

Self-Portrait by Colin Absolam (exhibited at MoMA PS1)

“When I saw Kaepernick on the billboard in Times Square, I said I have to take that picture because I knew the stand that he took and the backlash,” said Colin Absolam. “It says a lot about a person who’s willing to put everything on the line for something they believe in.” Absolam is also putting everything on the line as he creates a new life at a transitional housing facility called the Fortune Academy after serving 24 years in prison. Governor Cuomo pardoned him in February 2020 because of his humanitarian work, leadership skills, and educational achievement. Absolam co-founded Voices From Within, an organization that brings the children of inmates to visit them in prison to discourage them from engaging in a life of crime. While in prison, he earned an undergraduate degree from Mercy College and a master’s degree in Professional Development for the New York Theological Seminary.  Absolam is one of 13 students in the Digital Media Training Program’s iPhone Photography class at the Fortune Society in Harlem.

Colin Absolam created this video in the Digital Media Training Programs’s iPhone Videography class.

Back-seat Driver by Carolyn Marie (exhibited at MoMA PS1)

“My photographs have recurring themes,” says Carolyn Marie. “I keep photographing the police, the fire department, and medical workers.” It’s no wonder. Marie served 27-years in prison, has had three operations in the last two years for a brain tumor, and has suffered an apartment fire that destroyed all of her belongings. She did not realize the recurring themes in her photos until her photography instructor pointed them out. “Without a doubt, I’ve got some very deep-seated trauma with all three of those things,” says Marie.

Magic Wand photo by Lionel “Doc” Limage (exhibited at MoMA PS1)

Self-portrait by Lionel”Doc” Limage (exhibited at MoMA PS1)

“There's a sense of fulfillment that I get from photography,” says Lionel “Doc” Laimage. “With all this going on with the pandemic, with the locked-down, jobs being interrupted, normal commerce being interrupted, the ability to point your camera into the world and create images has been helpful while dealing with all the craziness. My whole life has been changed from this.”

Honoring Our Grandfathers photo by Joseph Soto (exhibited at MoMA PS1)

“I have a strong connection with nature and bodies of water because of my Native American heritage practices and because it was taken away from me for a very long time,” says Soto. He was released from prison in 2019, just before the Coronavirus hit the United States. “One of the things that helped me survive this coronavirus pandemic was being mindful of nature, connecting myself with nature, going on walks, trips into the forest, walking by the riverfront, spending time in these places.”

Self-portrait by Joseph Soto

New Beginnings, Self-portrait by Helen Taylor (exhibited at MoMA PS1)

After living in the Fortune Society’s transitional housing facility for 18-months, Helen Taylor moved into her own studio apartment last winter. And so, her self-portrait is called New Beginnings. “All my life, it was dark. I thought I was living in darkness,” says Helen. “By going to the photography class, I noticed things I didn’t notice before. I see the grass, the flowers; I see everything differently.”

Youth Empowerment Television at The Fortune Society

Channel 13's public affairs program, MetroFocus, broadcasted Christopher Padmore's film on July 10, 2018 and interviewed Melvin McCray, Director of the Digital Media Training Program. 

Jack Ford, host of MetroFocus, with Melvin McCray at the Tish WNET Studios at Lincoln Center.

Youth Empowerment Television at the Fortune Society was launched in October of 2017.  It's a 22-week video journalism program that trains men and women ages 18 to 24 to become citizen journalists. The goal is to teach participants in Fortune's Alternative To Incarceration Program to analyze the social, political and economic forces operating in their communities. By doing so, we hope to increase the success of their re-entry into society. Our students create thoughtful, well-reasoned video news programs composed of history based feature stories and news stories about the world in which they live.

Once trained our students produced insightful news stories with the ability to undertake a critical examination of current issues through research, reporting, interviewing experts and the key people affected.  These stories are being distributed through broadcast outlets, social media and the Internet. By creating short non-fiction films, the citizen journalists of YET play a part in the dismantling of racism, removing the stigma of being under the control of the criminal justice system, while advocating for a just society.  Our YET journalists worked on stories that have an impact on their lives. Among them, the disparities in the public perception of white-collar versus street crime, the history of black businesses in America, how to successfully launch a hip-hop music career, how to make it in the field of jewelry design, the history of the Bronx, New York, how to make smart choices in food consumption in the midst of food deserts, and the history of Queens, New York.

The YET program is funded by grants from Trinity Church Wall Street and the Collegiate Churches of New York.

The following six films were also produced by Youth Empowerment Television reporters at the Fortune Society.

Click on the photos to scroll through the gallery.