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Gift to last a lifetime of holidays
By KATHRYN WEXLER, Times Staff Writer TAMPA -- The crowded lobby of the homeless shelter was lighthearted on Christmas morning, with employees handing out candy canes and families waiting to pose for free portraits. But a tiny slip of a girl with pigtails sat on her mother's knee and stared into the camera's eye, silent and sad. "Look at her! Look at her! Wheeeew!" coaxed photographer Pepito Valdes, hoping for even a hint of a smile from 3-year-old Yesenia Lemus. "Have we got a bear anywhere?" he finally asked, playfully thrusting a stuffed animal above the camera. "Whew-whew!" Nothing. Yesenia stayed stone-faced. The camera clicked away. This is the second Christmas that Pepito, as he calls himself professionally, has brought $35,000 in photography equipment to the Metropolitan Ministries shelter so he can shoot portraits of the families who live there. Fuji Films donated the film. Reedy Photofinishing volunteered to do the developing. Someone else will frame the photos, which will then be given to the families. Three of Pepito's assistants gave up their Christmas morning to help with the shoot. While his regular clients drop $2,300 or more for portraits that "capture their essence," these are snapshots of people in hard times.
"All I'm doing is keeping a record of the family," said Pepito, the owner of Masterpiece Portraits of South Tampa. Yesenia's mother, Norma Perez, said their print will be a reminder of when they fled an abusive man. And missed him anyway. "I wish it was with their father," said Perez, 35, even though Yesenia asks if the police have taken him away, and if he is dead. For many, it was their first real portrait. "Maybe I'll go to Hollywood," said a laughing J.B. Gills, 50, after posing with a niece and two nephews. Pepito normally spends hours with his subjects, studying their personalities and tastes, and suggesting the clothes they should wear. But many women at the shelter are single moms fleeing domestic violence. They sat for the photos in their best second-hand clothes. The same was true for their children. Pepito, who cheerfully instructed the children to tilt their heads or smile, didn't linger on their hardships. "They're not homeless to me. They're just children," said Pepito, who emigrated from Cuba at the age of 5 and has no children of his own. "They're beautiful." James Roel adjusted lights at the shelter on Tampa Avenue just north of downtown. Brian Sweet, Pepito's 15-year-old nephew, positioned a light reflector. Dan Perry worked the Hasselblad camera. "We're happy to do it," said Roel, who goes by the name of "Cookie." One woman asked for a solitary portrait. "Sure, honey, whatever you want," Pepito said. She stuck a candy cane in her mouth, making it hard to smile. Pepito urged her to turn up her lips, even slightly, and she finally did. The woman, in a festive plaid dress, didn't want her name used. "I know too many people here in Tampa," she said, "and I don't want them to know we're here." -- Kathryn Wexler can be reached at wexler@sptimes.com or 226-3383.
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
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