Portraits from the Belly of the Whale

100 disturbing portraits that sardonically reveal the darker edges of the human personality -- the Jonah, the pariah, the marked man, the renegade. Garlington’s eye is unsparing, and he captures the glittering madness in a face, the pretense in a look. Yet his images also convey a wry compassion for the outcast or the emotionally stricken. His images of those who have been "in the belly" -- the circus contortionist, the convict, the cripple -- are more than mere portraits of the bizarre. Garlington dissects his subjects while simultaneously embracing them, with a wink and a smile, as fellow pilgrims. Some of the images in this book come from cross-country excursions in Photo Car, a sedan Garlington covered with samples of his work. The car served as a magnet and an ice-breaker to draw subjects to his lens.