In August 1996, Jarman was in Matamoros, Mexico, at a municipal dump site,
observing mothers and their children as
they collected recyclable items until the
sun began to set.
Almost immediately, Jarman said, she
connected with a little girl sitting on top of
one of the trucks.
“There was a curiosity there. The
mother just told her, ‘Let her photograph
you, you’ll be famous.’”
Eleven years later, Jarman found herself
photographing the birth of then-19-year-
old Marisol’s second child, a girl, in a hospital room in Cleburne, Texas.
“I was called at 8 p.m. in Mexico,
where I live. I love being with them and
documenting their life.
“I’ve tried to stop the story two or three
times before. I think that I’m done, but
then editors have a strong interest in asking,
‘Well, whatever happened to Marisol?’”
Her series of 24 pictures first found their
place in GEO magazine in 2004, and Jarman also freelances for The New York Times.
All in blue: A family
leaves home to run
errands in the nearby
town of Ponca, Ark.
Stretch Ledford ’ 86
Juxtaposed with Vitale’s work is
that of Stretch Ledford, who, while working on a magazine assignment on the
Ozarks in Arkansas in 1995, came across a
shot that didn’t reveal its brilliance until it
was developed.
