Introduction to Em’s Square

 

Emily Potter poses for Head Shot assignment outside of checkout on the Ventura Campus of Brooks Institute in Ventura Calif., Wednesday afternoon, Jan. 29 2014. (© Rebekah A Romero 2014)

In a New York Times op-ed this summer, author and columnist David Brooks wrote about how a series of portraits of 19th century abolitionist Frederick Douglassinfluenced attitudes toward slavery.

A photograph, Brooks wrote, “is powerful, even in the age of video, because of its ability to ingrain a single …