Social Documentary Photography – A Beautiful Mind: The Tyner White B-Cart

Please help this website by sharing my content on your social media platforms. This is an awesome way to help my efforts with no cost to you. Thanks!

Originally published on Jul 21, 2015 

UPDATE:  Social Documentary Photography- Today is March 2, 2024. I’m working on writing my upcoming book, Alley Boys. Tyner White is one of the minor characters who will drop in for a visit during the story. I believe he was 72 years old at the time I posted this, so I’m not sure if he is still with us. The other day when I was going through my notebooks I came across his old phone number and address. I’ve thought about dialing the number. I’m not exactly sure when I haven’t. I spent a bit of time with Tyner and I’ll be developing his character much more in-depth in the upcoming book. Anyway, social documentary photography has been a wonderful gateway into other worlds. I look forward to completing Alley Boys, as well as Putting a Price on Heaven. Have you ever thought about working a photo documentary project? What subject would you cover if you could?

Jul 21, 2015  What a pleasure it was running into Tyner White at Talkers’ Park yesterday. At 72 years old, Tyner’s creative mind is as sharp as a tack. Tyner makes all kinds of things out of items people throw away. The last time Tyner purchased ANY type of food, was in 1989, when he bought a small jar of olive oil. Tyner eats exclusively from dumpsters.

Tyner has file cabinets filled with schematic drawings for all sorts of contraptions, many of them designed for children – all made from garbage. Tyner also claims to have 11 semitrailers filled with items needed to make said inventions. From what I have gathered, hoarding has been an issue Tyner and his son have struggled with.

A beautiful mind…

Tyner loves classical music. His knowledge of classical composers is quite extensive, and he loves to spend hours in the library listening to musical scores. It’s wonderful to be around creative people, and I look forward to spending time with Tyner again in the future.