Over 18 days between November 29 and December 29, Ghislaine Maxwell, the former girlfriend of the late accused sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein, stood trial for her role in Epstein’s alleged crimes. Covering the trial for the New York Post with digital cameras alongside photographers doing the same thing for dozens of other outlets and agencies, I produced a series of non-fungible outtakes and portraits using a Mint RF70 rangefinder Instax camera. These Polaroids comprise a kind of alternate visual history of an event that was covered redundantly, in a professional but inevitably homogenizing way, dissenting from the pictorial consensus my colleagues and I offered the world.
"Is that the Polaroid?" Defense attorney Laura Menninger about 24 hours before the conviction of her client.
Kevin Maxwell is one of Ghislaine's eight siblings. He was jolly enough towards the beginning of the trial, posing up as the face of the supporter sibs.
Isabel Maxwell is one of Ghislaine's sisters. She is pictured hiding in a corner.
Defense attorney Bobbi Sternheim took her client's conviction some minutes prior to this images' making pretty well. I don't understand humorless criminal defense attorneys.
Expert witnesses are sort of like pundits, but juries are encouraged to believe that experts' general knowledge of a subject has bearing on the particular of the case they're considering. Elizabeth Loftus is a psychologist who specializes in telling juries about how sex assault victims, generally speaking, might not have true memories.
The argument against photography in courtrooms is a weak one, but the sketches of Elizabeth Williams are the strongest evidence that people like me and our activities in there are indecorous and unnecessary. Her sketches are realistic and beautiful—one seldom gets to have it both ways.
Isabel, the closest thing available to the Maxwell one really wanted, moves again with rapidity.
Teresa Helm is an Epstein accuser. She was brought to court by a documentary crew to film scenes for their movie based on a trial.
The patron saint of marooned photographers, Adam Klasfeld live-tweeted the trial over nearly 200 hours. This would be more and less impressive if he were just a dude, but he is the managing editor of Law & Crime.
Ron Kuby is a stretch, but if reporters are allowed to get comment from lawyers they know to help them write stories, I can too.
Surprisingly on-topic day one signage. Much of the prosecution's case did involve the Epstein plane--and the things no witness called to testify saw onboard.
In his capacity as sound recordist, Paul McGuire, of Brooklyn by way of Essex, also worked on the Ch. 4 doc.
Jane Rosenberg is a courtroom sketch artist, one of hundreds working in the borough of Manhattan. She sketched Maxwell drawing her sketching Maxwell. The fabric of space-time held.
If you've never camped out all night for concert tickets, you might as well do something that is even less cool than that: pay someone to wait in line to get you into a government building before dawn.
Lisa Phillips, an outcry witness for an alternate universe Jeffrey Epstein trial, was one of the two or three most exciting people to show up for the trial and appear in public. Unfortunately, she had nothing to do with Maxwell's trial.
Addy Adds came to the trial every day and live-streamed his impressions of it outside the courthouse. He also harangued the Maxwell siblings about their alleged involvement with Israeli intelligence. A lot.
"Tough but great." Michelle Healy, a former Epstein employee, described her former boss Ghislaine's management style. Okay.
Kevin calls on AG Merrick Garland to improve Ghislaine's jail conditions. The food, Kevin said, was inevitable, and his sister had only two bags of crisps to eat the previous day.
Diane Desobeau, Agence France-Presse video reporter, absorbs all of the camera flash intended for a decorative cabbage.
Two ghost photographers fight during the first day of jury deliberations. When would the verdict come. The professed knowledge, and yet they were semi-transparent.
Dee Delgado is a metro wire photojournalist who is responsible for scores of fantastic pictures a week. He also has a small dog named Leica.
The story of my life.