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When a Picture Becomes a Lifeline

Earlier this month, Delano Burrowes asked fellow Brooklynites on social media to pinpoint the location of where an old photo was taken, which catapulted his road to recovery. He got over 200 responses, words of encouragement and much love from the borough.
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Brooklyn resident Delano Burrowes found his way to recovery after a friend snapped this photo of him in Fort Greene in 2011.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but what if it's an extraordinary path to recovery? 

Brooklyn resident Delano Burrowes recently posted on Facebook a photo of himself sitting on a set of blue steps that was taken nearly fourteen years ago. He asked Brooklynites to help pinpoint the exact location, which he could not– but wanted desperately– to remember. 

To the normal eye, the steps in front of the Paul Robeson Theatre in Fort Greene may simply look like a nice place to take a photo, but to Burrowes, it was the moment he realized he needed to seek help during a dark time in his life. 

Fourteen years ago, Burrowes said he was living the dream, working in the restaurant industry as a waiter in New York City. However, he quickly fell into a darker part of the food industry culture, which included drinking and going out after his shift almost every night.

“My addiction started first with alcohol and then it gravitated to cocaine before progressing to crystal meth,” Burrowes said. 

Within a few months of doing crystal meth, Burrowes said his life collapsed very quickly. “I was about to lose my job, I’ve been evicted, I was collapsing in the streets, I had a mini stroke and I knew that I needed help.”

Burrowes decided to return home to Massachusetts where he stopped using meth, but was still indulging in drinking. Once he returned to the city two years later, things didn’t get better as he thought it would. Although he stopped doing crystal meth, he didn’t understand that he wasn’t completely sober. 

“I thought being sober meant not doing that one thing, I didn’t realize that it was a change of life,” he explained. 

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Delano Burrowes on the steps of the Paul Robeson Theatre in Fort Greene in 2025. Photo: Supplied/Delano Burrowes

Then Burrowes met photographer Richard Koek while waiting on him and his friends at a restaurant and everything changed at once. 

Koek, the photographer behind the image of Burrowes on the blue steps, came along just in the nick of time. He urged Burrowes to dig deep, accept sobriety and join a support group.

Fast forward to 2011, Burrowes recalls Koek asking him about a recent relapse while they were walking in Fort Greene. “Just as we were talking, I was kind of overwhelmed with how serious it all was, and I just sat on the stoop without thinking, and he took the photo,” he said.

Something happened to Burrowes that day with Koek. “After that photo, I got a sponsor and started doing step work,” Burrowes said.  

Koek recalled the moment he took the photo: “Because I’m a photographer, if I find something that looks very beautiful, I would love to capture it,” he said. “I snapped the picture because it’s a very beautiful site, not realizing that many years later, it was a very powerful moment in both of our lives.” 

For Burrowes, the photo is near and dear to him, and he made it his mission to find the exact place that changed his life forever. On June 5, he posted the photo on Facebook and asked Brooklynites to pinpoint the location. 

The post received over 200 comments, a mixture of congratulatory comments and helpful hints. Koek believes the photo resonated with the public because it was a testament to Burrowes’ honest assessment of his adversity.

“The photo transcended within the Facebook post that people not only saw a picture of a young guy in a nice picture, but it’s also a visual testament of somebody's success in life, and that is powerful,” Koek said. “That’s the powerful energy that a photograph can have.”

Burrowes now inspires others through his non-profit organization, The Blackyard Collective, a support network for Black queer individuals recovering from addiction and alcoholism.

He recently returned to the steps of the Paul Robeson Theatre with the realization that something good can come out of tragic situations. 

“I have a really blessed life, and that photo shows where I was in life,” he said. “It's inspired me so much, and reminds me that we all have stuff we are going through, and it’s never too late to change course.”

 




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