So I'm going to comment on this. As an outsider I gather that there is a journalistic/photographer code that basically amounts to "don't help or get involved with your subjects."

Well, if you follow Chris' work or have read his book, that's a pretty fucking hard ask.

I saw this first hand when I met him outside a McDonald's in Portsmouth, Ohio. Portsmouth is ground-zero for the opioid epidemic.

I met Chris Arnade in Portsmouth on a whim. I drove into town. Navigated to a McDonald's and spotted him outside photographing what appeared to be a homeless family. They had been right outside the McDonald's begging. They were all filthy and pushing around their toddler in a shopping cart. It was late fall and getting cold.

Once Chris finished interviewing them and taking their picture I walked up and introduced myself. He was on his way inside to buy them some food, which we did.

Then we went back inside together and talked. He was shook. This guy had been all over but it was the cold and the kid that really got to Chris. He goes to the places most journalists don't--like his first stops are children's services and McDonald's in areas he visits. He talks to the people. He knew already that Portsmouth's children's services was beyond overwhelmed. They were underfunded ten years ago. Now they were barely treading water and the opioid epidemic had flooded them. I had been a teacher so he asked my opinion of what I saw with the toddler. Was this neglect and if so what would I do? Teachers in Ohio are 'mandatory reporters' meaning we are legally obligated to report anything with our students that we think might be neglect. From my training, this was unequivocally neglect.

He was torn. The journalist's code says "do nothing."

I had a two hour drive home that night to process this. It was fucked up. When I got home I e-mailed him my thoughts and said I thought we should alert children's services. I didn't have the families names though.

He e-mailed back and said he had been thinking about it too and agreed. But he didn't pass the buck to me. He made the call himself.

That night I saw Chris Arnade interact with people the rest of the world overlooks. I saw him treat them as people. Listen to them. Worry about them, give a few of them a meal, and ultimately wrestle with morality, ethics, and being a human being.

Those are my words. Chris' words are here about how he grappled with his time in Portsmouth. [1]

[1] https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/may/17/drugs-opiod-...