WASHINGTON 鈥� Whatever you may think of the situation in Baltimore, the riots that caused it and the investigation into the police-custody death of Freddie Gray, one thing is for sure: Some of the pictures have been deeply moving. And one aspiring photographer鈥檚 shots have brought him recognition of which he couldn鈥檛 have dreamed.
Devin Allen, 26, lives in Baltimore, a few minutes from where Gray suffered fatal injuries in police custody, and his black-and-white photos of the aftermath have been shared widely on social media, eventually coming to the attention of TIME magazine, which put one of his photos on its cover.
鈥淚 knew I was going to cover it,鈥� , 鈥渂ut I never thought it would get this big. My city kind of has a bad rap, but I thought if we can come together peacefully, it [would] be epic for this city, and it was my goal to capture that.鈥�
He says of the violence, 鈥淚 know my city. With all the frustration with the city, the mayor, the economy, the pot has been boiling.鈥�
But he was determined to show 鈥渢he good, the bad and the ugly鈥� of what was going on.
鈥淥f course, since I鈥檓 a black man, I understand the frustration, but at the same time, I鈥檓 a photographer. I鈥檓 not going to lie to you. I鈥檓 going to tell you exactly what happened. That was the goal.鈥�
His photos have been shared by social-media giants, including Rihanna (17.7 million Instagram followers), and of the exposure, Allen says, 鈥淚鈥檓 still in awe of it all. 鈥� For me, who鈥檚 from Baltimore city, to be on the cover of , I don鈥檛 even know what to say. I鈥檓 speechless.鈥�
But it didn鈥檛 make a difference to him at the time: The photo that eventually made it to TIME went viral while he was 鈥渟till shooting, still snapping till the sun went down.鈥�
A photo posted by KnownNobody 鈼硷笍鈼撅笍鈻笍 (@bydvnlln) on
