Copyright Information
The copyrights to all images and projects are held by their respective owners. cpoy.org publishes these images with the photographer’s permission. Any other usage must be approved by the photographer.
Archive
- CPOY 75 Winning Images
- CPOY 74 Winning Images
- CPOY 73 Winning Images
- CPOY 72 Winning Images
- CPOY 71 Winning Images
- CPOY 70 Winning Images
- CPOY 69 Winning Images
- CPOY 68 Winning Images
- CPOY 67 Winning Images
- CPOY 66 Winning Images
- CPOY 65 Winning Images
- CPOY 64 Winning Images
- CPOY 63 Winning Images
- CPOY 62 Winning Images
- CPOY 61 Winning Images
- CPOY 60 Winning Images
- CPOY 59 Winning Images
Brad Vest (Ohio University)
Adrift
Gold
Documentary
Documentary
This is a story about drugs and family along the bend in the river. In and out of incarceration, Travis Simmons and his family deal with an emotional, social, and physical landscape that shifts constantly beneath them. Their hopes and dreams hinge on the ability of the 28-year-old father to stay away from drugs and support his family. Travis attempts to move past his addiction, escape a constant state of incarceration and become the father that he knows he can be. “Right now, at this time and this place in my life is a time to straighten up, get my act together and be the father that I need to be. And that is one that is sober,†Travis said the night before he was sentenced to prison.
Story: Adrift
Adrift
Travis adjusts his home confinement ankle bracelet as his daughter Patience, 3-years-old when Travis started his home confinement, left, sleeps, and Journey, 3-months-old, nurses her last bottle of formula before bed. Since being placed under home confinement by the West Virginia Division of Corrections, Travis Simmons has struggled with his capacity to only provide his family with uncertainty. Their life along the Ohio River has been tested by the friends and prescription drug abuse of his past, the influences that initially put Travis behind bars.
[ BACK TO TOP ]
Story: Adrift
Adrift
Travis Simmons watches over his two young daughters, Patience and Journey, as they play outside of his one room camper. "I sat in that room for 28 days," Travis said about the county jail cell he stayed in after breaking probation for the first time after his original three-months. "I felt, goddamn, this [camper's] a mansion."
[ BACK TO TOP ]
Story: Adrift
Adrift
Travis Simmons watches over his two young daughters, Patience and Journey, as they play outside of his one room camper. "I sat in that room for 28 days," Travis said about the county jail cell he stayed in after breaking probation for the first time after his original three-months. "I felt, goddamn, this [camper's] a mansion."
[ BACK TO TOP ]
Story: Adrift
Adrift
Short, an old friend of Travis, snorts a line of Suboxone as Travis attempts to block Patience's view of the drug. Suboxone is a prescription drug used to help treat opiate addiction; however, it is also abused to get high. Travis has struggled to break off friendships with old friends. Most of them are recovering addicts or still using. "The less I'm around them the less temptation," he said.
[ BACK TO TOP ]
Story: Adrift
Adrift
Steve Anderson, Travis' home confinement officer, takes a seat while waiting for Travis to finish wrapping his daughter’s birthday presents for Patience’s fourth birthday party. Travis was worried about spending her birthday in jail and being unable to have a party for her.
[ BACK TO TOP ]
Story: Adrift
Adrift
Shelia Simmons confronts her son, Travis, after he was released on bond. Travis’ grandfather put his home’s mortgage up for the bail money required to prevent Travis from returning to jail. “This is the last fucking time,†Shelia said. “I’m not coming back here if you get in trouble, no more.â€
[ BACK TO TOP ]
Story: Adrift
Adrift
Travis and Journey stand at the banks of the Ohio River right behind their camper. The bail provided only bought Travis two extra weeks of freedom before he was headed back to the courtroom.
[ BACK TO TOP ]
Story: Adrift
Adrift
Travis is taken to a holding cell in the Jackson County courthouse after the Judge denied his request to continue serving his sentence on home confinement. Judge Reynolds ruled for Travis to serve the remainder of his sentence in the West Virginia prison system. “Hell, up until I got hooked on pills. Life was pretty good.†Travis's original sentencing was until June of 2012.
[ BACK TO TOP ]
Story: Adrift
Adrift
A new Barbie doll sits atop Patience's fourth birthday cake as the Simmons family gathered the children to sing happy birthday. Travis has been incarcerated for nearly a quarter of his oldest daughters life, nearly half on home confinement or probation.
[ BACK TO TOP ]
Story: Adrift
Adrift
Travis sits in the back seat of his parents' car after being released onto probation from the Huttonsville State Correctional Center on May 24, 2011. Travis left prison with a partially completed tattoo of his fiance's name, Tiffany, on his chest. His cellmate was put into solitary confinement before he could finish.
[ BACK TO TOP ]
Story: Adrift
Adrift
Travis and Tiffany kiss embrace in her Ford pickup truck outside of the McDonalds in Ripley, West Virginia, for the first time after Travis was released from a five-month stay in the Huttonsville State Correctional Facility. Travis was released onto a one-year probation.
[ BACK TO TOP ]
Story: Adrift
Adrift
Travis and Tiffany were married in September of 2011 expanding their family to five children. The two moved into a trailer together with their children. Travis has six months of probation left on his sentence before being a free man.
[ BACK TO TOP ]
