Glenelg junior Jordan Maisel was undefeated throughout the year, clenching the county and Region V  championship titles. She suffered her first loss of the year at the state championship match. She is photographed at Glenelg High School Sunday, June 13, 2010.

Atholton graduating senior John Healey was the County champ and placed third in the state. He is photographed at Glenelg High School Sunday, June 13, 2010.

Bryn Mawr graduating senior Paige Hanson played top-level field hockey, ice hockey and lacrosse for her school. She chose lacrosse as her collegiate sport of focus. Next year she will play for the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. She is photographed at St. Paul’s School Thursday, June 10, 2010.

Glenelg junior Robbie Creese set a 2A two-mile record at the state championships. He is the 2010 outdoor track of the year. He is photographed at Glenelg High School Monday, June 7, 2010.

Atholton junior shortstop Kory Britton is the baseball player of the year. He is photographed at Atholton High School Saturday, June 5, 2010.

River Hill senior Jim Marlatt led the Hawks with more than 70 goals and well over 100 points. He will play lacrosse for Notre Dame next year. He is photographed at River Hill High School Friday, June 4, 2010.

McDonogh senior Joe Meurer is the Towson Times boys lacrosse player of the year. He is photographed at Boys’ Latin School Thursday, June 3, 2010.

Glenelg’s Casey Schmidt is one of those powerhouses at the plate and on the pitching rubber. To clench the 2010 county championship she hit her second homerun of the game against Howard in the eighth inning. She plays volleyball with equal veracity. Next year the seventeen-year-old won’t have to decide which one to focus on, she will play both for Grove City (Pa.) College. She is photographed at Glenelg High School Tuesday, June 1, 2010.

Below are photos I recently made for an AARP Bulletin story about how New Jersey’s high property taxes effect seniors on fixed incomes.

Corinne Bell, partially obscured by artificial flowers on her kitchen table, has lived in the home she and her husband built for 52 years. The widow now lives with three cats, Tiny, Cece, and Sheba, former strays who now call the split level on Main Street, Pilesgrove “home,” too. “Somedays they’re the only company I get,” says the 79-year-old New Jersey woman. Bell, like other New Jersey seniors who live on fixed incomes, are in danger of losing their homes because of the state’s high property taxes — the highest in the nation. “I have too much stuff to move,” and worries about the future of her cats. In the past a social program called Senior Freeze alleviated a portion of the property taxes for those who qualified. The state’s former governor changed the program’s eligibility, but the state’s new Republican Governor Christopher Christie said he would restore the rebates to those who lost them, but has yet to fully reinstate the program.

Recently, I’ve been making visual side stories while on assignment. Sometimes they’re totally off task, but other times they tie into story.

When I met Corinne, who’s a lovely lady, I couldn’t help but notice some loneliness in the widow. But I wasn’t doing a story on looniness. Stay on task, Matt! Focus. Property Taxes. But lets be honest, visualizing property taxes in an interesting AND literal way is a bit tough. Well, the obvious idea is to make a portrait of her in front of her home… Snoozezilla, right? But if there’s one thing I learned from the failings of Time Burton’s Alice in Wonderland is that you have to develop your protagonists. …make people care about them. Lucky for me, the wind was so inhospitable (lightstands be damned!) we couldn’t make a decent picture of her (windblown hair) in front of her house. “Okay Corinne. It’s crazy out here. lets see if we can’t do this inside.”

“Okay. Well, while I’m out here, I might as well get my mail.”

And that’s when the light switch turned on. I’ve always been a fan of, as I like to call it, “exploding the ordinary.” So, as Corinne walks back to her home, mail in hand, I notice a simple composition: house, yard, Corinne. The wind was knocking her around. She seemed vulnerable. And there it is. There’s that loneliness I felt when I first met her. I make a few frames. The one I chose is of her, in a slight stumble — a shuffle, really — en route to her front door. Her home has always given her shelter. And I saw a beautiful connection between Corinne and her home in a mundane moment. Her home is the glue that ties her life together. So, there’s the tie-in, exorbitant taxes would disrupt her life.

Corinne Bell sits down for a cup of tea and a Tastee Cake.

Corinne Bell pets her cat Tiny while sipping on tea and nibbling on a Tastee Cake.

Sometimes Corinne Bell can see the neighbors’ livestock from her window.

Tiny, one of Corinne Bell’s three cats, asks to be let back in the house.

Corinne Bell can see the cemetery where her husband is buried in from her kitchen window.

One toothbrush. One rinse cup. Fantastic wall paper!

A photo of Corinne Bell’s late husband “Slim,” sits on her bedroom dresser.

Corinne Bell waits for her cat Tiny to come back in the house.

If you like, feel free to embed the slideshow at the bottom of the page on your blog or wherever. And if you do, I’d love a heads up and possibly link to your link.

NJ Taxes and Corinne Bell – Images by Matt Roth

With tears in his eyes, Matt Porter sits in a squad car under arrest as the suspect in an accidental shooting incident Tuesday September 2, 2003. Porter’s close friend, Rob Brickle, 21, below, a local late night DJ, was taken to the Medical Center of Central Georgia where he later died from his wounds. Porter accidentally shot Brickle in the neck with a .380 handgun. Alcohol and gun horseplay were reportedly involved. Local officials waited for a loved one to join Porter before telling him of Brickle’s death.

The crazy thing was, I thought he was going to pull through. See. He’s moving around. What a bad situation.

The 10am Update is a regular blog feature showcasing some of the best photos from my archives.