Had this assignment for Urbanite Magazine back in October 2008. The theme of the issue was health care in Baltimore...
The Penn North Neighborhood Center is a facility in west B-more that offers alternative medicine and procedures to recovering addicts, one of which being acupuncture.
The description in the article of a typical treatment takes place in the large conference room, with some 40-odd recovering addicts getting their "ears pierced" by a handful of needle workers. The scene sounds quiet, calm, meditative. Delicate needles still fanning out from everyone's ears, the lights are dimmed and everyone just chills for about an hour - reading, thinking, some even sleeping. The experience sounds much more communal than you'd expect.
The color image is the shot they used, but I really liked the feel of the B&W one. Although the color image certainly grabs you, I think the B&W image feels more real, more authentic to the experience, even though we had to shoot it in the waiting area...
