FAYETTEVILLE — Celebrated photographer Andrew Kilgore calls the photo collection “A Reluctance to Engage,” though his striking portraits of Community Meals patrons lining the east wall of the parish hall at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church depict his subjects as willing participants.

The name “Reluctance to Engage” stems from thesubjects’ attitude toward life.

“They’re not strivers, they’re just survivors,” Kilgore said. “I have an enormous amount of respect for them.”

At the advice of friends, he formally calls it The $20 Bill Project.

Kilgore, an active member of the church, has photographed the likes of former President Bill Clinton (when he was Arkansas governor), former U.S. Sen. David Pryor and a host of Arkansas-born notables who went on to make it in Hollywood and elsewhere. His simple, yet arresting, black-and-white portraits of children and families can be found in homes across the state.

But it’s a different clientele he captures at the Community Meals hot-lunch program at St. Paul’s. At least once a month, he setsup portable backdrop at the front of the parish hall, using light from a north-facing window to take closeups of whoever wants to participate. His expertise in the use of natural light grabs even the finest hair on a child’s face and the deepest wrinkles in a man’s weathered skin.

“Andrew gives our guests a wonderful gift of dignityand identity,” said the Rev. Lowell Grisham, who helped start Community Meals at Central United Methodist Church across the street years ago and then took the concept to St. Paul’s in 2002.

“He has a way of capturing their substance in compelling and delightful images,” Grisham said. “He raises up and honors people who can feel almost invisible.”

The Community Meals lunch program, hosted by St. Paul’s on Mondays and Wednesdays, is open to anyone who needs or wants a hot meal, said Laura Wilkins, communications coordinator and director of children’s ministry at St. Paul’s.

There are no income requirements. A sign at the church declares: “All are welcome who behave like ladies and gentlemen.” Some people on fixed incomes are there for the camaraderie, Wilkins said.

Kilgore pays subjects $20 for the one-time opportunity to photograph them. On any given day, Kilgore photographs 12 to 14 people - until his money is gone.

Most people won’t miss $20 from their wallet, but $20 can improve the quality of his subjects’ lives substantially for a few days, he said.

He normally charges a sitting fee of $100 per person.

“People offer me $20 bills to keep the project going,” Kilgore said. “I have people who give me as many as 10$20 bills to redistribute. The people who give me that money, it doesn’t affect their lifestyle [to go without it].”

He posts some of the photos with prayers on his Facebook page, which helps spread the word beyond the St.

Paul’s community. It’s not uncommon for someone to see him in the grocery store and give him a $20 bill, or for him to receive one in the mail from an anonymous donor.

Kilgore engages little with his subjects. He invites them to participate without asking them to divulge information about themselves or their circumstances.

He said he’s not trying to “fix” or “change” anyone.

“All they’re offering is their presence,” he said.

“For me, a successful experience with one of my subjects results in a compelling, beautiful photograph which resonates with those who see it in an appropriate fashion, hopefully eliciting some compassion,” Kilgore added.

He’s photographed more than 300 people since he began the project a year and a half ago.

When Kilgore’s around, folks line up for the pictures.

“Even if he wasn’t paying, they like the attention and conversation,” Wilkins said of the meal participants. “It’s something we all take for granted, but they seldom get.”

Parishioners and visitors alike are taken with Kilgore’s photos of the Community Meals children.

“He zooms in right through their eyes and into their souls,” Wilkins said. “You can see how hard their lives have been and how innocent they are.”

Eventually, Kilgore hopes the portraits will become part of a book with the prayers.

Northwest Arkansas, Pages 11 on 01/06/2013