The first in the series of Tea Party related shoots I worked on for Stern took me to the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, Ala., to photograph Mark Potok.  Potok is the director of the Intelligence Project at the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), one of the most highly regarded non-governmental operations monitoring hate groups and extremism in the world today. In addition to editing the SPLC’s quarterly investigative journal, The Intelligence Report, and its Hatewatch blog, Potok acts as a key SPLC spokesman for issues involving extremism. He has testified before the U.S. Senate and the United Nations High Commission on Human Rights among other venues.  Before going to work for the SPLC Potok was an award-winning newspaper reporter for long-standing institutions like USA Today, The Dallas Times Herald, and The Miami Herald.  Mark has his own unique perspective as one of the countries true ‘watchdogs’ with an organization that backs him to do just that.  While Potok’s job may be one that many hold on in high esteem, both him and his organization are constantly on guard for the backlash of the hate-filled groups they report on.  During the shoot, I tried to include a sense of the military-like security housed within the building’s sleek contemporary exterior in downtown Montgomery. Check out the first post from this series here, here, and here.

The final image is a photograph of one of the pieces of historical memorabilia which adorns the SPLC’s walls.

The first in the series of Tea Party related shoots I worked on for Stern took me to the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, Ala., to photograph Mark Potok.  Potok is the director of the Intelligence Project at the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), one of the most highly regarded non-governmental operations monitoring ...