Images of Meth Abuse

The social effects of methamphetamine abuse are easy to find -- social workers can be challenged to find foster families for the children of meth users, who may have been raised in near-feral environments; dentists who take Medicaid patients confront nasty cases of “meth mouth.” But the ravaged lives of meth addicts, told real-time, are harder to report.

After months of laying groundwork for the story on her own, photojournalist Régina Monfort won the trust of several meth-affected families while on assignment for the Journalism Center’s annual magazine, The Children’s Beat. (See that story, and other meth images for which Monfort recently won a photojournalism prize in her native France.)  Monfort shares these ideas for showing the humanity of drug abusers and other vulnerable people.

Build and offer trust

I began photographing meth addicts and their families in early 2004. Drug addicts and other people in the midst of crisis can be easy to stigmatize, especially in photographs. The challenge facing any journalist is how to reveal the humanity of these people; not only for balance, but so we get their complete story.

You want your subjects to trust you, but you’ve got to show them trust as well. It’s like a game.

I was taking photographs in LA and made a connection with three guys from one gang. We were on a “border” area controlled by two gangs; kids would take buses between the blocks so they didn’t have to cross on foot and risk being jumped. I had the guys in a rental car with me; they were directing me to an abandoned building where I could take pictures of graffiti. I was driving and at one point, I stopped the car to take a picture. I knew they could have taken off and left me there. So when I stepped out, I switched lenses and handed it to one of the guys and said, hey can you hold this? That way, I showed that I trusted that they wouldn’t take the car and leave without me.

I trust my intuition a lot, but I know it was not safe. You have to overcome your fear.

I did the same thing in Kansas. When I was interviewing Elaine, a meth addict, and her boyfriend, also an addict, came in the living room where we were talking. Their house had been busted by the KBI (Kansas Bureau of Investigation) a week earlier and he was really agitated that I was there. So I told them I needed to get something from my car and walked out of the house. I left my camera and tape recorder right there on the table. They could see what I did. I was showing that I trusted them and that they could trust me. When I came back a few minutes later, he had calmed down and I was able to resume the interview.

Stay open minded

The biggest surprise I’ve found is that my subjects were very likable people. I sat down with a bunch of meth users last year – people who were very wild – and thought, these are people I could have listened to music with. I saw the good in them. I try to give people a chance and peel away the layers of their personality. I hope that’s what comes through in my pictures.

Be assertive but gentle

You have to remember that people feel very intimidated by the camera. And they are just as intrigued by you as you are with them. So you have to open up a little and build a relationship. But you also have to make your intent clear. You don’t want an issue with getting them to sign a release, or to go home without the picture that you came to get.

Editorial decisions, ethical decisions

People may be involved in illegal activities, but I don’t want to demonize them. Images that have shock value are not that interesting to me. 

When I was taking pictures in Brooklyn I saw drug deals going on, but I didn’t photograph people exchanging money. I was accepted there and didn’t want to take a photo that would be compromising if they were prosecuted. We have to think of beyond the printed page to the impact we have on people’s lives. Some journalists go in, get their stuff and go out. I build a relationship and I don’t want to jeopardize their wellbeing in any way.

When you show respect, it might make the difference later on. The meth user we focused on in The Children’s Beat, Dorothy, called me from jail after the story was published. She had shown folks the magazine and her counselor asked if I wanted to come and photograph her. It’s not because Dorothy's story was flattering. I think it’s because it told the truth about her life.