I work in Montgomery’s poorest, most dangerous neighborhoods. It’s my job to drive to these neighborhoods and step into the homes of those that have been stricken by poverty, snap a few photos, and write up the work scopes of home repairs that are necessary to keep these homeowners warm, safe, and dry in their homes.

These dilapidated homes are in the middle of abandoned streets. They have bullet holes in their walls. They used to be crack houses or homes to Montgomery’s classiest ladies of the night.

There is more to these home’s stories than what this white girl from a Los Angeles suburb can speculate. These homes are victim to the wear and tear of the cycle of poverty.

I recently decided to add a new feature to Red Pointe Shoe called “Montgomery Mondays.” It’s a working title of course. I think I need something a bit less cheesy, but I digress…

Montgomery Mondays will serve as my attempt to document the sights of Montgomery that I see every day. I want to bring to light the conditions of the forgotten neighborhoods in the birthplace of the civil rights movement. I’d like to post 5(ish) photos per Monday that show the abandoned houses, empty lots, and broken souls that sit within miles of my own apartment.

To keep things interesting and focused, each week’s photos will be themed. This post has a few sneak peak photos sprinkled into it to show you what I saw today.

I took 175 photos this afternoon to kick off the upcoming Montgomery Monday. I got off work at 5 and was in a race against the sun to get as many photos as possible before the night gremlins came out. Not twenty minutes into my adventure, I was yelled at by a stranger for taking photos of an abandoned gas station. Not yelled at like “hey girl, get off my granddaddy’s gas station!”

…it was more like: “hey baby, come here. I wanna talk to you.”

Having learned my lesson, the rest of my photos were taken from safe within the confines of Mrs. Potts. You’ll likely see her window framing a bunch of these photos because I really, truly fear for my safety in the areas I’m trying to photograph.

These neighborhoods are genuinely unsafe. There was a direct correlation of the relation of the sinking sun to the horizon line and the number of cops that were on patrol.

The first Montgomery Monday launches in three days. Keep your eyes peeled.