RIP Arnold Jackson...

As a photographer (and a human), It's always a bit of a shock and reality check when someone you've shot has died. I've been taking pictures for so long that this has happened a bunch of times. It always seems a bit surreal to think that they are gone, and that I was part of the record of who they are/were. Today, I read that gary coleman had died after falling and hitting his head, at the age of 42. It got me to thinking about him and reflecting on my shoot with him... My experience shooting gary was about 5 years ago when he was running for governor of california, and his candidacy was the big exclamation point at the end of the joke that was the california gubenatorial race that year (the other arnold, terminator guy, eventually won)..... i met gary for the shoot at a model train and hobby store over on the west side of LA, his choice, as he was a regular and felt safe there. He was a huge model train guy, it was a serious hobby and he even had a conductors outfit that he would wear when he was "driving" his trains. I think the reason he wanted to meet at the train shop is because it was the one place he could be himself and all the workers and regulars called him gary and only wanted to talk trains, not his acting career. I felt his sadness and bitterness the whole time is was with him. He says he hated being famous and recognized in public, but what i think he really hated was the way hollywood treated him as a child star, tossing him aside when he got older and not cute, and he wasnt ready to let go and move on. He tried to keep acting, but it just wasnt happening. And to top it all off his money was mismanaged and taken by his parents (whom he successfully sued but the damage was done), so he was basically broke. This shot that I've attached is my favorite of him that i took that day. It's just raw and honest, he's not the cute little boy from tv, but a man trying to find his way....i went back and looked at some youtube compilations of him on different strokes...it brought me back to 1980 and i felt a little bit nostalgic for the simpler times...as i watched i realized he really was a comedic genius and full of life and energy. So bright and charismatic and totally the star of the show......the person that i photographed that day seemed a shell of the little boy that he was. somewhere along the way fame and life had seemed to get the better of him. Definitely a cautionary tale..