Recent portraiture on assignment
August 1, 2022

Work permit delays for legal immigrants and asylum seekers for Bloomberg Businessweek

Maria Eran, 49, is an Iranian political asylum seeker who has experienced difficulty renewing her work permit this year, seen here in a recreation area near Cochituate Lake State Park near her apartment in Natick, Massachusetts, on Fri., March 11, 2022. Eran has been working as a Senior Relationship Manager at Santander Bank, working mostly on a business accounts. She applied for asylum in late 2016 after having received threats from the Iranian government after working in an American consulate in Turkey in the early 2000s. Her work permit required a renewal in January 2022, for which she applied in September 2021; the US government has acknowledged receipt of the work permit renewal but has not given her the proper paperwork to continue working. As a result she hasn't been able to work since Jan. 14, 2022. This has made life difficult for Eran, who, along with her husband, has to pay rent and pays for their daughter's tuition at Temple University. The work permit issue has also caused difficulty in renewing her driver's license and a house purchase that the couple is trying to complete. "Taking my business from me is like I'm handicapped," Eran says. She says she's been stuck at home for the past two months and has had to walk to complete errands. "I try to be positive," she says, "I don't want to go the other direction [toward negative thoughts] because it's difficult." Eran says she has been volunteering as a translator for Afghan refugees while unable to legally work.
Maria Eran, 49, is an Iranian political asylum seeker who has experienced difficulty renewing her work permit this year, seen here in a recreation area near Cochituate Lake State Park near her apartment in Natick, Massachusetts, on Fri., March 11, 2022. Eran has been working as a Senior Relationship Manager at Santander Bank, working mostly on a business accounts. She applied for asylum in late 2016 after having received threats from the Iranian government after working in an American consulate in Turkey in the early 2000s. Her work permit required a renewal in January 2022, for which she applied in September 2021; the US government has acknowledged receipt of the work permit renewal but has not given her the proper paperwork to continue working. As a result she hasn't been able to work since Jan. 14, 2022. This has made life difficult for Eran, who, along with her husband, has to pay rent and pays for their daughter's tuition at Temple University. The work permit issue has also caused difficulty in renewing her driver's license and a house purchase that the couple is trying to complete. "Taking my business from me is like I'm handicapped," Eran says. She says she's been stuck at home for the past two months and has had to walk to complete errands. "I try to be positive," she says, "I don't want to go the other direction [toward negative thoughts] because it's difficult." Eran says she has been volunteering as a translator for Afghan refugees while unable to legally work.
Maria Eran, 49, is an Iranian political asylum seeker who has experienced difficulty renewing her work permit this year, seen here in her apartment in Natick, Massachusetts, on Fri., March 11, 2022. Eran has been working as a Senior Relationship Manager at Santander Bank, working mostly on a business accounts. She applied for asylum in late 2016 after having received threats from the Iranian government after working in an American consulate in Turkey in the early 2000s. Her work permit required a renewal in January 2022, for which she applied in September 2021; the US government has acknowledged receipt of the work permit renewal but has not given her the proper paperwork to continue working. As a result she hasn't been able to work since Jan. 14, 2022. This has made life difficult for Eran, who, along with her husband, has to pay rent and pays for their daughter's tuition at Temple University. The work permit issue has also caused difficulty in renewing her driver's license and a house purchase that the couple is trying to complete. "Taking my business from me is like I'm handicapped," Eran says. She says she's been stuck at home for the past two months and has had to walk to complete errands. "I try to be positive," she says, "I don't want to go the other direction [toward negative thoughts] because it's difficult." Eran says she has been volunteering as a translator for Afghan refugees while unable to legally work.
Maria Eran, 49, is an Iranian political asylum seeker who has experienced difficulty renewing her work permit this year, seen here in a recreation area near Cochituate Lake State Park near her apartment in Natick, Massachusetts, on Fri., March 11, 2022. Eran has been working as a Senior Relationship Manager at Santander Bank, working mostly on a business accounts. She applied for asylum in late 2016 after having received threats from the Iranian government after working in an American consulate in Turkey in the early 2000s. Her work permit required a renewal in January 2022, for which she applied in September 2021; the US government has acknowledged receipt of the work permit renewal but has not given her the proper paperwork to continue working. As a result she hasn't been able to work since Jan. 14, 2022. This has made life difficult for Eran, who, along with her husband, has to pay rent and pays for their daughter's tuition at Temple University. The work permit issue has also caused difficulty in renewing her driver's license and a house purchase that the couple is trying to complete. "Taking my business from me is like I'm handicapped," Eran says. She says she's been stuck at home for the past two months and has had to walk to complete errands. "I try to be positive," she says, "I don't want to go the other direction [toward negative thoughts] because it's difficult." Eran says she has been volunteering as a translator for Afghan refugees while unable to legally work.

Journalist and author Jeff Chu for the New York Times

Jeff Chu is a journalist and author who finished Rachel Held Evans' book "Wholehearted Faith," which will be published on Nov. 2, 2021. Chu is seen here outside his home in East Sandwich, Massachusetts, on Mon., Oct. 18, 2021. Rachel Held Evans died in 2019 and her husband asked Chu, who had been friends with Evans since 2013, to help complete the book. Asked about finishing the book, Chu said, "I mean it sucks, right? It's an honor but it's an honor I wouldn't want anyone to have because she's not around to do it herself." Chu said that the manuscript was about twenty percent complete when he took over, but he says, "I would never say I did eighty percent of it." Chu says he cobbled the book together from Evans other writings including blog posts and talks she'd given. "My background as an editor came in handy," Chu says.
Jeff Chu is a journalist and author who finished Rachel Held Evans' book "Wholehearted Faith," which will be published on Nov. 2, 2021. Chu is seen here outside his home in East Sandwich, Massachusetts, on Mon., Oct. 18, 2021. Rachel Held Evans died in 2019 and her husband asked Chu, who had been friends with Evans since 2013, to help complete the book. Asked about finishing the book, Chu said, "I mean it sucks, right? It's an honor but it's an honor I wouldn't want anyone to have because she's not around to do it herself." Chu said that the manuscript was about twenty percent complete when he took over, but he says, "I would never say I did eighty percent of it." Chu says he cobbled the book together from Evans other writings including blog posts and talks she'd given. "My background as an editor came in handy," Chu says.
A copy of Rachel Held Evans' posthumous book "Wholehearted Faith," which was completed after her death by friend Jeff Chu, is seen in Chu's house in East Sandwich, Massachusetts, on Mon., Oct. 18, 2021. Chu is a journalist and author and the book will be published on Nov. 2, 2021. Rachel Held Evans died in 2019 and her husband asked Chu, who had been friends with Evans since 2013, to help complete the book. Asked about finishing the book, Chu said, "I mean it sucks, right? It's an honor but it's an honor I wouldn't want anyone to have because she's not around to do it herself." Chu said that the manuscript was about twenty percent complete when he took over, but he says, "I would never say I did eighty percent of it." Chu says he cobbled the book together from Evans other writings including blog posts and talks she'd given. "My background as an editor came in handy," Chu says.
Jeff Chu is a journalist and author who finished Rachel Held Evans' book "Wholehearted Faith," which will be published on Nov. 2, 2021. Chu is seen here at Scorton Neck Beach near his home in East Sandwich, Massachusetts, on Mon., Oct. 18, 2021. Rachel Held Evans died in 2019 and her husband asked Chu, who had been friends with Evans since 2013, to help complete the book. Asked about finishing the book, Chu said, "I mean it sucks, right? It's an honor but it's an honor I wouldn't want anyone to have because she's not around to do it herself." Chu said that the manuscript was about twenty percent complete when he took over, but he says, "I would never say I did eighty percent of it." Chu says he cobbled the book together from Evans other writings including blog posts and talks she'd given. "My background as an editor came in handy," Chu says.
Jeff Chu is a journalist and author who finished Rachel Held Evans' book "Wholehearted Faith," which will be published on Nov. 2, 2021. Chu is seen here at his home in East Sandwich, Massachusetts, on Mon., Oct. 18, 2021. Rachel Held Evans died in 2019 and her husband asked Chu, who had been friends with Evans since 2013, to help complete the book. Asked about finishing the book, Chu said, "I mean it sucks, right? It's an honor but it's an honor I wouldn't want anyone to have because she's not around to do it herself." Chu said that the manuscript was about twenty percent complete when he took over, but he says, "I would never say I did eighty percent of it." Chu says he cobbled the book together from Evans other writings including blog posts and talks she'd given. "My background as an editor came in handy," Chu says.

Johanna Chao Kreilick, Union of Concerned Scientists president, for the Chronicle of Philanthropy

Johanna Chao Kreilick is the president of the Union of Concerned Scientists, seen here at her home in Gloucester, Massachusetts, on Mon., Jan. 17, 2022. Kreilick became president of the advocacy organization in May 2021 and says she hopes to "help anchor science as the center of the [United States'] super power and bring the organization up to face the future [including] an internal reorg and transformation that centers equity and inclusion." Kreilick previously served on the executive board of the Open Society Foundation where she founded the organization's Climate Action Initiative and led its strategy unit.
Johanna Chao Kreilick is the president of the Union of Concerned Scientists, seen here at her home in Gloucester, Massachusetts, on Mon., Jan. 17, 2022. Kreilick became president of the advocacy organization in May 2021 and says she hopes to "help anchor science as the center of the [United States'] super power and bring the organization up to face the future [including] an internal reorg and transformation that centers equity and inclusion." Kreilick previously served on the executive board of the Open Society Foundation where she founded the organization's Climate Action Initiative and led its strategy unit.
Johanna Chao Kreilick is the president of the Union of Concerned Scientists, seen here at her home in Gloucester, Massachusetts, on Mon., Jan. 17, 2022. Kreilick became president of the advocacy organization in May 2021 and says she hopes to "help anchor science as the center of the [United States'] super power and bring the organization up to face the future [including] an internal reorg and transformation that centers equity and inclusion." Kreilick previously served on the executive board of the Open Society Foundation where she founded the organization's Climate Action Initiative and led its strategy unit.

January 6 insurrection defendant Suzanne Ianni for NPR

Sue Ianni, 59, was charged by federal authorities for participating in Trump supporters' Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol, seen here outside her home in Natick, Massachusetts, on Wed., June 16, 2021. Ianni was charged with federal misdemeanors for trespassing on federal property and disorderly conduct inside the US Capitol. "A bunch of people go the same charges, and that was the minimum," Ianni saiys, "I don't know how they're going to hold that one [disorderly conduct]. I mean, people were disorderly, but I wasn't." Ianni is an elected member of the Natick Town Meeting and the Natick Republican Town Committee and is an active organizer with the Boston-area alt-right group Super Happy Fun America, serving as its Director of Operations. Super Happy Fun America is most well known for holding the 2019 Straight Pride Parade in Boston. Ianni also helped organize 11 buses to take people from New England to attend then-president Donald Trump's Jan. 6, DC rally that preceded the attack on the Capitol.
NATICK, MASSACHUSETTS - JUN 16, 2021. Sue Ianni, 59, was charged by federal authorities for participating in Trump supporters' Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol, seen here with her dog Benny outside her home in Natick, Massachusetts, on Wed., June 16, 2021. Ianni was charged with federal misdemeanors for trespassing on federal property and disorderly conduct inside the US Capitol. "A bunch of people go the same charges, and that was the minimum," Ianni saiys, "I don't know how they're going to hold that one [disorderly conduct]. I mean, people were disorderly, but I wasn't." Ianni is an elected member of the Natick Town Meeting and the Natick Republican Town Committee and is an active organizer with the Boston-area alt-right group Super Happy Fun America, serving as its Director of Operations. Super Happy Fun America is most well known for holding the 2019 Straight Pride Parade in Boston. Ianni also helped organize 11 buses to take people from New England to attend then-president Donald Trump's Jan. 6, DC rally that preceded the attack on the Capitol. CREDIT: M. Scott Brauer
Sue Ianni, 59, was charged by federal authorities for participating in Trump supporters' Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol, seen here outside her home in Natick, Massachusetts, on Wed., June 16, 2021. Ianni was charged with federal misdemeanors for trespassing on federal property and disorderly conduct inside the US Capitol. "A bunch of people go the same charges, and that was the minimum," Ianni saiys, "I don't know how they're going to hold that one [disorderly conduct]. I mean, people were disorderly, but I wasn't." Ianni is an elected member of the Natick Town Meeting and the Natick Republican Town Committee and is an active organizer with the Boston-area alt-right group Super Happy Fun America, serving as its Director of Operations. Super Happy Fun America is most well known for holding the 2019 Straight Pride Parade in Boston. Ianni also helped organize 11 buses to take people from New England to attend then-president Donald Trump's Jan. 6, DC rally that preceded the attack on the Capitol.
NATICK, MASSACHUSETTS - JUN 16, 2021. Sue Ianni, 59, was charged by federal authorities for participating in Trump supporters' Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol, seen here outside her home in Natick, Massachusetts, on Wed., June 16, 2021. Ianni was charged with federal misdemeanors for trespassing on federal property and disorderly conduct inside the US Capitol. "A bunch of people go the same charges, and that was the minimum," Ianni saiys, "I don't know how they're going to hold that one [disorderly conduct]. I mean, people were disorderly, but I wasn't." Ianni is an elected member of the Natick Town Meeting and the Natick Republican Town Committee and is an active organizer with the Boston-area alt-right group Super Happy Fun America, serving as its Director of Operations. Super Happy Fun America is most well known for holding the 2019 Straight Pride Parade in Boston. Ianni also helped organize 11 buses to take people from New England to attend then-president Donald Trump's Jan. 6, DC rally that preceded the attack on the Capitol. CREDIT: M. Scott Brauer
NATICK, MASSACHUSETTS - JUN 16, 2021. Sue Ianni, 59, was charged by federal authorities for participating in Trump supporters' Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol, seen here outside her home in Natick, Massachusetts, on Wed., June 16, 2021. Ianni was charged with federal misdemeanors for trespassing on federal property and disorderly conduct inside the US Capitol. "A bunch of people go the same charges, and that was the minimum," Ianni saiys, "I don't know how they're going to hold that one [disorderly conduct]. I mean, people were disorderly, but I wasn't." Ianni is an elected member of the Natick Town Meeting and the Natick Republican Town Committee and is an active organizer with the Boston-area alt-right group Super Happy Fun America, serving as its Director of Operations. Super Happy Fun America is most well known for holding the 2019 Straight Pride Parade in Boston. Ianni also helped organize 11 buses to take people from New England to attend then-president Donald Trump's Jan. 6, DC rally that preceded the attack on the Capitol. CREDIT: M. Scott Brauer

Author and data scientist Cathy O'Neill for The Observer

Cathy O'Neil is a data scientist and best-selling author, most recently of the book "The Shame Machine: Who Profits in the New Age of Humiliation," seen here at home in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on Mon., April 4, 2022. O'Neil also wrote "Weapons of Math Destruction," for which she received the Euler Book Prize. "The Shame Machine" looks at what she calls "the shame industrial complex," especially in the realm of social media and partisan politics. O'Neil is also CEO of ORCAA (O'Neil Risk Consulting & Algorithmic Auditing) a consulting group focused on examining bias in algorithms. ORCAA audits algorithms for racist, sexist, ableist, or otherwise discriminatory results in fields including hiring, insurance, and banking.
Copies of "The Shame Machine," a book published by Crown in March 2022, by Cathy O'Neil, are seen on the author's dining room table at her home in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on Mon., April 4, 2022. O'Neil is a data scientist and best-selling author, most recently of the book "The Shame Machine: Who Profits in the New Age of Humiliation" and "Weapons of Math Destruction," for which she received the Euler Book Prize. "The Shame Machine" looks at what she calls "the shame industrial complex," especially in the realm of social media and partisan politics. O'Neil is also CEO of ORCAA (O'Neil Risk Consulting & Algorithmic Auditing) a consulting group focused on examining bias in algorithms. ORCAA audits algorithms for racist, sexist, ableist, or otherwise discriminatory results in fields including hiring, insurance, and banking.
Copies of "The Shame Machine," a book published by Crown in March 2022, by Cathy O'Neil, are seen on the author's dining room table at her home in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on Mon., April 4, 2022. O'Neil is a data scientist and best-selling author, most recently of the book "The Shame Machine: Who Profits in the New Age of Humiliation" and "Weapons of Math Destruction," for which she received the Euler Book Prize. "The Shame Machine" looks at what she calls "the shame industrial complex," especially in the realm of social media and partisan politics. O'Neil is also CEO of ORCAA (O'Neil Risk Consulting & Algorithmic Auditing) a consulting group focused on examining bias in algorithms. ORCAA audits algorithms for racist, sexist, ableist, or otherwise discriminatory results in fields including hiring, insurance, and banking.
Cathy O'Neil is a data scientist and best-selling author, most recently of the book "The Shame Machine: Who Profits in the New Age of Humiliation," seen here at home in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on Mon., April 4, 2022. O'Neil also wrote "Weapons of Math Destruction," for which she received the Euler Book Prize. "The Shame Machine" looks at what she calls "the shame industrial complex," especially in the realm of social media and partisan politics. O'Neil is also CEO of ORCAA (O'Neil Risk Consulting & Algorithmic Auditing) a consulting group focused on examining bias in algorithms. ORCAA audits algorithms for racist, sexist, ableist, or otherwise discriminatory results in fields including hiring, insurance, and banking.

Global Rescue security operations manager Harding Bush for Bloomberg Green

Harding Bush is the Associate Manager, Security Operations, for Global Rescue, seen here in the company's Operations Center in Lebanon, New Hampshire, on Tue., Aug. 31, 2021. Global Rescue is a travel services company that provides medical, security, travel risk, and crisis management services to clients around the world, delivered by the company's team of paramedics and military special operations veterans. Harding Bush served more than 20 years as a US Navy Seal and served as a Command Senior Chief of the Navy's Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape (SERE) Course.
Harding Bush is the Associate Manager, Security Operations, for Global Rescue, seen here in the company's Operations Center in Lebanon, New Hampshire, on Tue., Aug. 31, 2021. Global Rescue is a travel services company that provides medical, security, travel risk, and crisis management services to clients around the world, delivered by the company's team of paramedics and military special operations veterans. Harding Bush served more than 20 years as a US Navy Seal and served as a Command Senior Chief of the Navy's Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape (SERE) Course.
A sign reads "Optimism is NOT a strategy" near his name tag as Harding Bush works at his desk at Global Rescue, where he is the Associate Manager, Security Operations, in Lebanon, New Hampshire, on Tue., Aug. 31, 2021. Global Rescue is a travel services company that provides medical, security, travel risk, and crisis management services to clients around the world, delivered by the company's team of paramedics and military special operations veterans. Harding Bush served more than 20 years as a US Navy Seal and served as a Command Senior Chief of the Navy's Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape (SERE) Course. The blue patch reading "Climb to Conquer" is the patch of the University of Norwich ROTC Mountain and Cold Weather Company, a training program for cold weather operations at the Vermont university. Bush earned both bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Norwich.

Computer scientist Dina Katabi for MIT Spectrum

Dina Katabi is the Thuan and Nicole Pham Professor at MIT's Computer Science & Artificial Intelligence Lab, seen here in the STATA Center's Gates Building in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on Fri., Dec. 17, 2021. Katabi is the leader of the NETMIT Research Group and Director of the MIT Center for Wireless Networks and Mobile Computing and was a 2013 MacArthur Foundation Fellow. Katabi has developed the Emerald, a device that uses radio waves like wifi signals to monitor a person's health and well-being without having sensors attached to their body.
Dina Katabi is the Thuan and Nicole Pham Professor at MIT's Computer Science & Artificial Intelligence Lab, seen here in her lab at the Cambridge Innovation Center (CIC) in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on Fri., Dec. 17, 2021. Katabi is the leader of the NETMIT Research Group and Director of the MIT Center for Wireless Networks and Mobile Computing and was a 2013 MacArthur Foundation Fellow. Katabi has developed the Emerald (rear, right; white box on wall), a device that uses radio waves like wifi signals to monitor a person's health and well-being without having sensors attached to their body.
Dina Katabi is the Thuan and Nicole Pham Professor at MIT's Computer Science & Artificial Intelligence Lab, seen here standing near a student's project in the STATA Center's Gates Building in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on Fri., Dec. 17, 2021. Katabi is the leader of the NETMIT Research Group and Director of the MIT Center for Wireless Networks and Mobile Computing and was a 2013 MacArthur Foundation Fellow. Katabi has developed the Emerald, a device that uses radio waves like wifi signals to monitor a person's health and well-being without having sensors attached to their body.

Writer and trauma researcher Bessel van der Kolk for the Guardian

Bessel van der Kolk is a writer and researcher focusing on trauma and PTSD, seen here near his home in the Berkshires in western Massachusetts, USA, on Wed., Sept. 15, 2021.
Bessel van der Kolk is a writer and researcher focusing on trauma and PTSD, seen here near his home in the Berkshires in western Massachusetts, USA, on Wed., Sept. 15, 2021.
Bessel van der Kolk is a writer and researcher focusing on trauma and PTSD, seen here near his home in the Berkshires in western Massachusetts, USA, on Wed., Sept. 15, 2021.
Bessel van der Kolk is a writer and researcher focusing on trauma and PTSD, seen here near his home in the Berkshires in western Massachusetts, USA, on Wed., Sept. 15, 2021.
All content © 2005-2024 M. Scott Brauer