The Neighborhood Photographer, Milton Rogovin, b. 1909

The Lives They Lived

This year seemed to have more than its fair share of iconic deaths, but this is not a greatest-hits issue. Instead, we gravitated to those with an untold tale. Ira Glass of “This American Life” edits a special section devoted to ordinary people.

Link: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/12/22/magazine/the-lives-they-lived.html#view=the_neighborhood_photographer

The documentary photographer Milton Rogovin (b. 1909) sometimes returned to the same people over and over for decades. He took these portraits of one family in Buffalo in 1973, 1984, 1992 and 2001. This interview, which has been edited, was conducted by Dave Isay for their 2003 book, “The Forgotten Ones.”