Amy Davis

A second look at “Unsettled Journeys”

A second look at “Unsettled Journeys”

1 Comment Photo essays, The Baltimore Sun , ,

30 Photos

Amy Davis, Baltimore Sun

When education reporter Liz Bowie enthusiastically described her special project on refugee students at Patterson High School last winter, I was intrigued because it was a subject I knew little about. The goal was to examine the complex challenges faced by refugee students and the staff in a high school where one-third of the students are immigrants. It took Liz many weeks of observation and interviews to determine which students might best illuminate the varied issues that beset these teens at different stages of assimilation. We had worked together before, so I trusted her judgment as we felt our way along, bouncing observations off each other. As the photographer, I faced a familiar dilemma. Photographers want to be brought in early on a project, yet we don’t want to waste time documenting situations that will never appear in the final story.

See the full series | Part 1: Torn between two worlds

Part 2: Facing hardship, finding resilience | Part 3: The newcomer

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Bel-Loc Diner a Towson landmark for over 50 years

Bel-Loc Diner a Towson landmark for over 50 years

0 Comment Photo essays, The Baltimore Sun , ,

20 Photos

The brand-new Baltimore Beltway gave the 1964 Bel-Loc Diner the front-half of its name. The “Loc” comes from Loch Raven Boulevard, where the stainless-steel diner remains at the intersection with Joppa Road fifty-one years later. Today the Beltway is more congested, but less traffic finds its way to the diner. The jumbo neon sign is not working, and besides, the restaurant closes after the lunch shift. Yet the Bel-Loc perseveres as a Towson landmark, with the boldness of the space-age sixties expressed by its sky-piercing zig-zag roofline.

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Bobby Adams, an artist of unusual vision

Bobby Adams, an artist of unusual vision

0 Comment Photo essays, The Baltimore Sun , , , ,

27 Photos, 1 Video

Bobby Adams, a 69-year old flea market dealer raised in Dundalk, never expected to see his art in a museum. Now Adams, a self-taught photographer, writer and mixed-media artist, is seeing his creative output with new eyes at “The Big Hope Show,” which opened this month at the American Visionary Art Museum. Rebecca Hoffberger, the museum’s director, discovered Adams through another Baltimore original, John Waters. Adams, a hippie in the late 1960s, fell in with the young filmmaker and his renegade collaborators. “Pink Flamingos” was filmed at the Phoenix, Maryland farm where Adams was living. His photographs of those outsider days seem particularly at home at AVAM, the haven for intuitive visionary artists who thrive outside of society’s conventions.
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Senior softball tournament: fun and camaraderie

Senior softball tournament: fun and camaraderie

0 Comment Photo essays, The Baltimore Sun , , , ,

15 Photos, 1 Video

No bunting. No sliding. No stealing. These are some of the rules for the senior softball double elimination tournament held on June 10 at the Charlestown retirement community in Catonsville. There are two first bases and two home plates, to avoid collisions. The only score that matters is having fun.
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Artist Kim Parr Roenigk’s latest creative evolution goes big

Artist Kim Parr Roenigk’s latest creative evolution goes big

0 Comment Photo essays, The Baltimore Sun , , , , , ,

18 Photos

With a flick of her stubby paintbrush, artist Kim Parr Roenigk blocks in the flamboyant gesture of a Flamenco dancer. Another day, her sure hand outlines Matisse-like pineapples. These are some of the images springing to life on a dozen large canvases at her Ellicott City studio. Once completed, the murals will be rolled up and delivered to the boutique Ivy Hotel, under construction in Baltimore City’s Mount Vernon neighborhood. The 1889 mansion at North Calvert and Biddle Streets, originally a private residence, became the city-owned Inn at Government House in the 1980’s. More decorative painting by Roenigk and other local artists is already in place at the luxury private hotel, which is slated to open this summer.

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Photo retrospective of Bethlehem Steel, Sparrows Point

Photo retrospective of Bethlehem Steel, Sparrows Point

2 Comments Photo essays, The Baltimore Sun , , , , , , ,

43 Photos, 1 Video

The demolition of the L Blast Furnace at Bethlehem Steel in Sparrows Point recently brought about the end of an era to a Baltimore County icon. The mill was a place where generations of steel making families worked. During its many years of operation The Baltimore Sun has been there to document the company from industry giant to its final collapse. The Darkroom decided to take a look back at some of the memorable photos over the decades.

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Hollins Market: Neighborhood shopping since 1846

Hollins Market: Neighborhood shopping since 1846

0 Comment Maryland, Photo essays, The Baltimore Sun

18 Photos

Hollins Market, which dates back to 1846, is the oldest of the surviving five neighborhood public markets in Baltimore. It is also the least changed. The two-story brick structure and the adjoining long shed that run along Hollins Street betweenSouth Arlington and North Carrollton Avenues were built in 1877. The old-fashioned market is a stone’s throw from H.L. Mencken’s house near Union Square.

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Baltimore Sun photographer Amy Davis

Baltimore Sun photographer Amy Davis

6 Comments Maryland, Photo essays, The Baltimore Sun , , , , , , , , ,

31 Photos

Amy Davis has been a staff photographer at The Baltimore Sun since 1987. Her versatility with the camera is obvious in the wide variety of topics she has covered for The Sun. One thing is very evident as you view her work, her empathy for her subjects and her ability to portray their lives.

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