Hard Ground

by Tom Waits, Michael O'Brien (Photographs)

Michael O'Brien got out of his car one day in 1975 and sought the acquaintance of a man named John Madden who lived under an overpass. Their initial contact grew into a friendship that O'Brien chronicled for the Miami News, where he began his career as a staff photographer. O'Brien's photo essays conveyed empathy for the homeless and the disenfranchised and won two Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Awards. In 2006, O'Brien reconnected with the issue of homelessness and learned the problem has grown exponentially since the 1970s, with as many as 3.5 million adults and children in America experiencing homelessness at some point in any given year.

In Hard Ground, O'Brien joins with renowned singer-songwriter Tom Waits, described by the New York Times as "the poet of outcasts," to create a portrait of homelessness that impels us to look into the eyes of people who live "on the hard ground" and recognize our common humanity. For Waits, who has spent decades writing about outsiders, this subject is familiar territory. Combining their formidable talents in photography and poetry, O'Brien and Waits have crafted a work in the spirit of Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, in which James Agee's text and Walker Evans's photographs were "coequal, mutually independent, and fully collaborative" elements. Letting words and images communicate on their own terms, rather than merely illustrate each other, Hard Ground transcends documentary and presents independent, yet powerfully complementary views of the trials of homelessness and the resilience of people who survive on the streets.

Genres: Poetry, Photography, Art, Music, Nonfiction, Poverty

184 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 2011

About the author

Thomas Alan Waits is an American singer-songwriter, composer, and actor. Waits has a distinctive voice, described by one critic as sounding "like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months and then taken outside and run over with a car." With this trademark growl, his incorporation of pre-rock styles such as blues, jazz, and Vaudeville, and experimental tendencies verging on industrial music, Waits has built up a distinctive musical persona. Waits has also worked as a composer for movies and musical plays and as a supporting actor in films, including The Fisher King, Bram Stoker's Dracula, and Short Cuts. He has been nominated for an Academy Award for his soundtrack work on One from the Heart.

Lyrically, Waits' songs are known for atmospheric portrayals of bizarre, seedy characters and places, although he has also shown a penchant for more conventional ballads. He has a cult following and has influenced subsequent songwriters, despite having little radio or music video support. His songs are best known to the general public in the form of cover versions by more visible artists — for example "Jersey Girl" performed by Bruce Springsteen, "Downtown Train" performed by Rod Stewart, and "Ol' '55" performed by the Eagles. Although Waits' albums have met with mixed commercial success in his native United States, they have occasionally achieved gold album sales status in other countries. He has been nominated for a number of major music awards, and has won Grammy Awards for two albums, Bone Machine and Mule Variations.

Reviews

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this because Tom Waits wrote poetry with photographer Michael O'Brien for it. Waits I know through his music as an advocate for the down and out. I had actually been looking for one of the books with photographs of Waits, but they are expensive or out of print and my library system doesn't have them, either. So I stumbled across this and ordered it.

I am guessing more people know Waits than O'Brien, but the photographs are the centerpiece of this collection, and they are intimate and heartbreaking and ennobling. I wish, as one other reviewer said, that the statements of the homeless were not relegated to the appendix. I wish they had been on the often blank facing pages. I guess the idea is for the photographs to be front and center, for the faces of the homeless to "speak for themselves," but the effect for me was disappointing, because the actual words of the homeless were important and often moving.

O'Brien's introduction about how he got into photographing the homeless in the seventies though a homeless guy named John Madden is also moving. In the new century he found homelessness in the U.S. to be even worse than it was forty years ago, which is true, so he traveled to document that, and they are powerful.

I was disappointed in Waits's poetry. I should know better, because I almost never think great songwriters (such as Dylan, for instance) are very good poets. You need the intersection of the words and music to make a great song. The words standing alone pale without the music. Some of these poems are good, song-like poems, some are clever and sometimes pretty moving, but most seem kinda lame to me.

But on the whole, I was glad to get this; my kids were curious what I was looking at, and that gave me an opportunity to talk with them about poverty and the homeless in particular.

[SmarterLilac · Rating 5 out of 5]

Has the distinction of being the first book to make me cry in about three years. In public, no less. It was the statements from the homeless subjects that did it (they can be found in the back of the book.) It surprised me how many of them described being homeless for reasons other than drug or alcohol use, extraordinary hardship or extreme loss. As one woman put it: 'I don't have drug or alcohol problems. I'm just a divorcee.'

And the poems by Tom Waits aren't bad:

'Cards

I guess some of us just
Get the old maid.

'Down Here'

See I remind them all
That there is a bottom
A bottom
I remind them all
That there is a bottom, Lord
Oh yes, there is a bottom indeed
Yes there is a bottom
And it looks just like me.'

[Ayne Ray · Rating 3 out of 5]

A portrait of homelessness comprised of simple yet powerful black and white photographs by Michael O'Brien combined with poems by musician Tom Waits. Many of the photographs were taken in Austin (the author has a nice mention of Mobile Loaves and Fishes, an organization I work with that distributes meals to the homeless throughout the city), and a highlight is the Notes section at the back of the book that provides further information on the individuals whose portraits were taken.

[Krista Lukas · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazing coffee table book with moving photos of homeless individuals. These are accompanied by poems written by a songwriter, simple but telling and perfect for a general audience.

[Simon Sweetman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Didn't think much of Tom Waits' poems - but loved the photos. That made the book worthwhile.

[Paula J. Lambert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh, this beautiful book.

Michael O'Brien's black and white Polaroid portraits are at once gorgeous and painful, a close-up view of men, women, and children that we mostly try never to see at all. It's why the book is important. Each person stares out as us, earnestly, and how can we not love them?

In the introduction, "Who Was John Madden?" O'Brien tells the story of starting out as a photographer for the The Miami News, catching sight one day during his regular routine of a homeless man he was to see again and again. Eventually he asked if he could photograph him; eventually they became friends. Madden's is the first heart-breakingly beautiful portrait in the book, staring out so plaintively, eyes clear and bright, skin deeply wrinkled and etched with grime. Above him on the page is a school portrait of Madden taken when he was eleven. Even without the text, the story is clear: this could happen to anyone. Madden's story is worth knowing, and I feel grateful to O'Brien for documenting it.

What's so incredible about the book is that Madden's story and his lovely face are only the beginning. What's made clear is that there are hundreds of faces we ought to know, thousands of stories we need to hear. The heart of the book, "The Plates," opens with a portrait of Oscar Palacios, 29 years old, wearing a sailor shirt that is much too small for him. We somehow see, in a single photograph, both the child and the man. It is beautiful and heartbreaking and beautiful again.

And it is significant not just to Palacios or to any of the individuals presented here, but also to what has happened to the U.S. homeless population in the time since O'Brien started photographing Madden in the 70's. He started this new project in 2006, where the homeless have come to include children as well as adults. Whole families now live their lives on the streets, and some are included here.

I am a big, big fan of Tom Waits; his name on the cover was probably what prompted me to pick up the book when I first saw it. But his poems become almost incidental. They are short, and gritty as ever any of Waits' songs have ever been. They do provide more framework for the book overall, a pause between pages or sections of the book that we might catch our breath, think things through, recognize that all the stories Tom ever told through his music have been about real people, people like this, people, really, just like us. The poems float on buff-colored pages, a visual reprieve from the stark black and white photos on pristine white paper through the rest of the book: "See I remind them all/That there is a bottom/A bottom/I remind them all/That there is a bottom, Lord/Oh yes, there is a bottom indeed/Yes there is a bottom/And it looks just like me."

I am grateful to know these people, presented here. You will be, too. This is something to keep our humanity in check. "The mayfly live for/Only one day/Only one day/Only one day..." Tom Waits tells us. "After I am gone/When I consider the mayfly/And how long I will stay/Don't we all really only/Live for a day/Don't we all really only/Live for a day?"

[Keith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Photographer Michael O’Brien’s first exposure to homelessness came in the form of a friendship with a grizzled old drunk named Madden. Working for the Miami Herald in the seventies, the young O’Brien saw Madden under an overpass one evening on an unrelated assignment, and when the internal questions and concerns reached a critical mass, he decided to do the simplest thing in the world - strike up a conversation. A single portrait photograph began an unusual friendship, one with a lesson for the young photographer: “it’s one of life’s ironies that those who have the least are often the most generous.” Thirty years later, O’Brien has responded to the staggering growth of homelessness in America with this collection of photographs, Hard Ground. Presented in black and white, these simple, dignified portraits give these human beings that which they are so often denied in our society: a few seconds of our time and reciprocated eye contact. All ages and ethnicities populate the pages, and any skeptical viewer looking for some sign, some explanation of these people’s miserable situation comes up empty-handed. Tom Waits has provided some scraps of verse to accompany the images, from pared-down kernels of insight to longer, repetitive spirituals. He too has a relationship with America’s down and out that can be traced back to his very first album. His lines are not treatises on social policy or condemnations of society, but match the understated elegance of O’Brien’s photographs. They are the muffled prayers and dreams of America’s marginalized, and an invitation to imitate O’Brien’s simple act of human kindness that led him to create this collection thirty years ago.

[Adam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Arresting images in the tradition of Richard Avedon's American West portraits (O'Brien even used a bulky old camera complete with a black cloth for the photographer to duck under). I wished he had drawn a little more out from his subjects; their personal narratives are relegated to a Notes section in the back, and their stories are much more interesting than the maudlin hobo poetry of Tom Waits that's intermingled throughout. I write that as someone who loves Tom Waits, but this... this is not his best work. Take, for instance, "Coffee" - which I present in its entirety: "Steam from the coffee / And the stirring of the cup / The spoon going round / Says giddyup / Giddyup"

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a powerful book of photographs. There are a few notes at the end where some of the people give more of their story, and Michael O'Brien (the photographer) gives an account of the man who was the inspiration for the project at the beginning of the book. However, most of the book is just photos. Portraits of people who have or have had hard lives, and who shouldn't be forgotten.

Poems by Tom Waits are interspersed through the book. Not all of them are great, but there are several that are amazing, and serve as perfect balance to the photos.

[Dominic Tiberio · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easily one of the most powerful books I have experienced. The subject matter is not easy but the photography captures it with perfection and with a soul that words could never do justice. I came across this initially because of the tie to Tom Waits, who contributes some solid poetry, but O'Brien's photography is the standout. This is a book every person should see and feel. I can't give it higher praise.

[Shila Iris · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is of course good for coffee tables with its detailed photography and poetry. The pictures are very strong, a bit too strong at times for me. It offers a very different perspective. Try it.

[Brett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Striking large-format portaits coupled with the brilliant words of Tom Waits.

[Dennis · Rating 3 out of 5]

The pictures were fantastic and the stories interesting. The poems were okay and didn't seem to add much to the book.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

A moving collection of photos, poetry, and lives.