CityView Magazine

exhibited from California to Virginia, exhibited his work in Atlanta last sum- mer to raise money for a friend’s cause, an Ethiopian home for children or- phaned by AIDS. It’s the type of event Booth wants his photographs to focus on. “My ultimate goal is to get a book published,” he said. “I won’t stop until I get it. Not a self- published book, anyone can do that. My dream is to go to a bookstore and see a book of my work.” The book, he said, would contain a raise awareness...” commentary on HIV and the futility of acquiring a disease that is easily prevented. But he also enjoys capturing portraits of other characters in his world, below. “Jazz” “I want to raise money, to raise awareness ... ” Above | Booth hopes his self-portraits shine a light on the social issues of our day. “Dunce Hat” is a photographic biography of a simple, naïve farm boy who moved from the prairies of Nebraska to the Southern port city of Savannah; it’s a journey that altered and shaped the life of Booth the man and Booth the artist. Booth grew up on a farm near a town of roughly 380 people. Early on, he real- ized he did not fit the mold of a Nebras- ka farm boy and stood apart from others his age in that agrarian environment. In 1996, an art scholarship allowed “Outdoorsman” Booth to attend Nebraska Wesleyan University, a pricey private four-year liberal arts college in the historic sec- tion of Lincoln. He took a painting class his freshman year, loved it and envi- sioned becoming a painter. A photogra- phy class the following year, however, changed his mind. With his trusty sec- ondhand Minolta 35mm camera, Booth found himself creating what he calls re- alistic art. He took a photograph of two friends dressed in 1960s-era bridesmaid dresses in front of his grandmother’s house. Although admittedly not a great photograph, he liked what he saw, what he created and the potential to express himself through art. “I love the fact that I can make my own little world in photography and it still seems like reality,” he said. “With painting there is a separation be- tween what you paint on a canvas and reality.” After graduating from Nebraska Wesleyan, Booth attended the pres- tigious Savannah College of Art and Design to earn a master’s degree in fine arts. It was an era that Booth calls both excruciating and “the best time of my “Souvenir” 24|Winter 2008/2009 “Innocent”

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