Bringing memories back to the 19th Ward community

Every Tuesday, Samaria Turner packs up her car with a box of photos that her father, Bob Burris, took as far back as 1970. She wrangles her three kids into the car, strapping them into their seats before making the hour-long drive back to Rochester from Buffalo.

As she drives into the 19th Ward, she sees the familiar streets of the neighborhood she grew up in, the one her father had lived in since moving to Rochester in the 1970s to work at Eastman Kodak Co., before driving up to the Westside Farmers Market.

Turner, a Rochester native, returns every week to the Westside Farmers Market with these photos. The images were taken not just while running his business, Burris Photography, but also as a community photographer. Burris died last year.

“I’m coming to the market, in hopes that people recognize themselves or a loved one, a friend or a neighbor, and that they can have those memories to cherish for years to come,” Turner says.

As her kids run around the market, she organizes packets of photos in neat rows on her table, representing only a fraction of the thousands of photos that fill her basement after her father’s passing, accumulated since Burris arrived in Rochester in the 1970s. 

“The amount of photos that I bring to the market week after week is not even a drop in the bucket in comparison to how many photos we have,” Turner observes.

Like many in the area, Burris accepted a position at Kodak after graduation, moving from St. Louis and starting up in the 19th Ward, where he resided in the same house for over 50 years.

“He loved working for Kodak. He worked for Kodak all the way up until retirement. And in his retirement, he started Burris Photography,” says Turner. She describes the business as a family affair. Most of his eight children and some grandchildren worked at the business.  

When it came to looking for a spot to connect with people in the community, Turner went to the Westside Farmers Market, a place her father loved since its start in 2008.

“He would come up to the market when Mrs. Jackie Farrell was running it,” says Turner. “He would come into the market and take pictures at the market, different church events, different festivals like the Clarissa Street Festival.”

Burris would set up a kiosk using equipment bought from Kodak, allowing him to develop pictures on the spot, charging $5 a photo, usually operating at a loss.

The photos cover his time at weddings or baby showers. Still, the vast majority of them were taken before Burris Photography—impromptu photos, shot at community events like the Westside Farmers Market or when the community residents were just out and about. 

“In the neighborhood, we have the Square Fair. He would take pictures at the Square Fair. If someone was having a family dinner, he would wanna capture that, or if they were having family coming in from out of town, he would want to capture that,” says Turner.  “He believed in people having and capturing memories.”

Slowly, but surely, people have been finding their photos at the market.

“So far it’s been mostly younger people, younger than me, and I’m 34,” Turner says. “It’s been a lot of younger people seeing, especially the Halloween photos, because they see themselves or a friend or a family member, from 20 years ago.”

Burris would never throw away a photo, even making duplicates in case someone came back looking for a picture.

“I have a lot of pictures from Halloween of ’04, which was before he started his business,” Turner recalls. “That’s just something that he would do during that time. … People would come to the door, he would take a picture of them, and try to print it out before they left.”

Burris was a staple in the community and at the Aenon Missionary Baptist Church, up the road from the Westside Farmers Market, where he worked in the audio department and as the unofficial photographer for the church.

Every Sunday, Burris managed the cameras and the sound system for the pastor. During the summer, he would help out with vacation Bible school. Burris’ funeral was held at the church. Deacon Lawrence Floyd recalls the church being packed, filled with family and community members who knew him.

Throughout his time as a member of the church, Burris captured key moments for families, whether it was weddings, services, or just dinners. 

“His skill was catching people when they were unaware, in the moment,” Floyd says. 

He describes Burris as kind, saying, “You looked at him and kept going until you knew who he was, and everyone knew who he was.”

At the funeral, Turner and her siblings brought trunks full of photos for people to look through and collect their favorites from the church. That collection has dwindled as people have been reunited with photos of their loved ones. 

“(Photography) is just something that he’s always done. The ability to capture a memory and being able to share it with others,” says Turner.

A stay-at-home mom who volunteers at a soup kitchen in Buffalo, Turner plans to come for the rest of the summer and hopefully through the end of the market season if she’s able to once her kids are back at school. 

For Turner, it’s about continuing to do what her father would’ve wanted. 

“He was always really big on not ever throwing away a picture,” she says. “So, if I can get as many people as possible to be able to reunite with the photos, that would mean a lot to me and our family.”

Emmely Eli Texcucano is a Rochester Beacon contributing writer and member of the Oasis Project’s second cohort.

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