OK, so I’m a sucker for photos of hands. Especially close-ups. These belong to Ezra, a guy I blogged a bit about earlier who works in SF. I ran into him on Powell awhile and just started bs-ing with him and took some pix in the process.
So this is Lawrence. He’s a guy I ran into a few years ago in SF while I was into doing superwide shots at 10mm (16mm equiv) with my 10-22mm zoom. Lately, I’ve been shooting much less at such extremes and pretty much just using a 17-50 f/2.8 zoom on my crop cam for street pix. With a max aperture of f/2.8, it’s much better at throwing the background out of focus for effect.
What’s nice about shooting on the street is that every once in a while you bump into another photographer doing similar street photography to what you’re doing. In this case, it was John Agoncillo, who is a friend I know from shooting and get-togethers of other photgraphers in the area. I was staking out a wall graphic on Market St. one day and out the blue John walked by, out on his lunch break. He has a great eye for street pix and shoots mostly film (Leica M6 below), and has a great blog he posts his street photos to daily. Click here to check out his work - it’s really excellent…
I surprised my photo-friend Athea at Cafe Trieste in Northbeach awhile back. And being a good sport, she hammed it up pretty good for my cam.
In addition to shooting weird stuff on the street, she’s also quite the photo-show impresario (impresaria?), organizing exhibitions for a group of Bay Area photographers. But I’m a little worried now. Because after she sees this photo on my blog, there may be an opening for another photographer real soon…
Awhile back I created a handmade book from a few of the Alcatraz photos I’ve captured over the years. The book is different in that it’s a double accordion design - and it fits inside a tin box. I considered and tried a lot of different binding and packaging options before going with that.
The above stop-motion video of the book being handled was created by photo-friend and great photographer Joe Reifer. It came out really nice. Click here to go to Joe’s blog page and check out the description. While you’re there, take a look around the rest of his blog. He’s got a great eye and has snagged a lot of neat stuff. I check it out everyday…
I’ve also just completed another photo project. Also using a tin for packaging; except it is much larger and contains 12 limited edition Alcatraz prints within an interior insert. I’ll be posting more on that soon. You can see some thumbnails of the prints two posts down.
If you’re in the neighborhood this Saturday evening, stop by Cafe Que Tal in the Mission district and say hello. I’m part of a photography exhibition along with nine other Bay Area photographers and we’re holding a reception. A great mix of work will be displayed.
I’ll have some prints on the wall, my portfolio box, and my latest project - a limited edition set of twelve Alcatraz prints in a 9×12 tin.
Reception: Saturday, November 8, from 5pm to 7pm
Address: 1005 Guerrero St (at 22nd), San Francsico 94110
From my iPhone cam…
Today I had the pleasure of following and taking pictures of Mayor Gavin Newsom as he engaged merchants in The Mission area of San Francisco, urging them to vote no on Proposition 8. That’s on the ballot to prohibit same-sex marriage in California.
Starting in the 2500 block of Mission St, the Mayor stopped and talked to people on the street and in shops. The group ended up at Philz Coffee on 24th and Folsom, where he chatted with Phil the owner over coffee. If you’re in the neighborhood, be sure and stop by Philz and have a cup of coffee…
Yesterday there was a pretty neat Obama phone bank rally in downtown Palo Alto. Lots of volunteers with cellphones, clipboards and pens making calls to people in other states encouraging an Obama vote.
And, there was a big effort signing up people for do door-to-door volunteer work in key states; Nevada, Colorado, and New Mexico.
I’ve been playing around with a really cool application called Poladroid. You drop a photo on the app (Mac only) and the image slowly develops right before your eyes. And with all the character of Polaroid prints of past.
This pic is of my photographer friend Eleonora, snapped a couple weeks ago in Chinatown.
On Grant Avenue, in Chinatown…
Here’s another shot of Owen. He’s usually sitting at Market and Powell with his No Sex sign, preaching the virtues of abstinence. He’s a great guy to talk to…
I’ve been staking out this black wall on Market and Ellis where a building remodel is going on. There are lots of edgy black and white photos on the wall and it’s a great place to pose people for portraits. So far, almost everyone I’ve asked has agreed to pose for me. Though it did take a second trip for the woman below to finally agree!
Yesterday I ran into Frank Chu on Market Street and asked him how it was going. He told me that he’s recently been interviewed by the San Jose Mercury News and was also on television. Frank has been carrying a sign for many years in San Francisco in the downtown area, and other cities hosting large events. He’s a nice guy and enjoys chatting with people.
Asking him what was up, Frank said there are advanced space civilizations in the 12 Galaxies that are aligned with the current Bush administration. And they are ultimately responsible for the demise of civilizations in many other friendly galaxies.
Next time I run into him I’d like to spend more time and go a bit more in depth on this…
Yesterday I was hanging out by the set of edgy graphics on a building remodel at Market and Ellis, waiting for interesting people to walk by. I asked the guy above, Terrence, if I could pose him against the wall and take his picture. Initially he was pretty upset with the idea, saying that a lot of people ask him that. And nobody has ever thought about him; and what would motivate him to do that. So I talked with him for a bit and told him that if he would, I be glad to send him a print. He really liked that idea and was now OK with being photographed. So I posed him, took a few snaps, and then got his address. I’ll send him a couple prints; one for himself and another he can give to a friend. It ended up being a great encounter!
Was walking down Powell today taking snaps and saw this guy who was sharply dressed. Surprisingly, that’s a bit rare here. Asked him if I could take a few pix, he said sure. His name is Ezra. He’s into fashion and taking pix of nicely dressed people in SF. Click here to check out his blog.
Lately I’ve been handing out 4×6 prints to some of the regulars I’ve been shooting. Today, I gave a few to SF rhythm tapper Edward Jackson. It’s a cool thing to do, people are first surprised and then appreciate the gesture. Here’s a couple more pix I snapped of him today, the first where’s he’s looking over the prints.
Was walking down Valencia Street and saw this white paint on the sidewalk. Random drips? Or maybe a Pollock…
Today I spent six hours and snapped more than 1,000 pix capturing the energy at the Folsom Street Fair. Went up to meet a few photo friends Jeff, John, and Alan, but after a half hour got totally separated. By 2pm the streets were totally jammed packed with people - it took a chunk of time just to move 10 feet!
Everybody had a great time. Techno-trance music thumping in the background, people socializing and having a super day. There was something there for everyone; gay and straight.
While snapping a rope bondage performance I met this really great couple from LA, Scott and Andrea. They were so nice and incredibly photogenic, I thought I’d lead with a photo of them. Scott’s a CPA and Andrea is a massage therapist.
I’ll post some more pix of the Fair in the next couple days. Here’s a couple to start the series:
Two months ago I hooked up with some photo-friends; Lenny, Athea, Rose-Marie and Marcelo to do some night shooting in Northbeach.
Northbeach is a great San Francisco neighborhood due to all its activity. Tons of people, cars, bright lights, restaurants, coffee shops, and strip clubs. It’s also home to City Lights Bookstore; once frequented by Beat Generation writer Jack Kerouac decades ago. It’s also a great place for photography. Here are a few snaps I took:
Finally got stopped by the police in SF - happened a few months ago, first time in seven years of shooting here…
It all started hooking up with my photo buddy Ray in the downtown to do some street photography. We started at the 5th and Mission garage, went to Market, up Powell, and then cut over a bit and went into Chinatown; taking snaps all along the way. From Chinatown, we then headed back hooking over to Northbeach, then through the financial district. All the time taking snaps of this and that. Everything was pretty routine having shot a lot in San Francisco over the years. Have never had a problem. Once in awhile someone will ask why I’m taking pictures and I just say, “It’s what I do.” Or I’ll pull a small book out of my bag that has my street photos in it to show and explain. That works well - most people get it. And no one has ever cared.
1. As we were walking back through Embarcadero Center, Ray took a snap of a woman on the sidewalk. No big deal, something we’ve both done thousands of times. About ten seconds later, as we’re a couple dozen feet past, we hear, “Excuse me! Excuse me, did you just take my picture?”
2. We turned around, and it was clear she was talking to us. So we replied, “Yes!” To which she replied, “You can’t do that!” We responded that yes we could, it’s a public sidewalk and we’re free to take pictures of anything we want. And that’s when things started going bad. She complained that we need permission, to which we replied we didn’t. We went back and forth on this for awhile, and then her husband and son joined in. More questions. Why did we take her picture, how come you didn’t ask, it’s illegal, and on and on. We explained what the law is, that basically shooting in public on the street there are no restrictions on taking pictures. They didn’t buy it, and were argumentative.
About this time I’m looking around off in the distance for a cop as I could tell this situation wasn’t going to improve. My friend Ray told the woman he’s going to delete her image - and did so right in front of her. Not that he had to, but as a good-will gesture to calm the woman and her family down. You’d think that would have been the end of it, but nope, they now wanted to report us to the police. I said great, just punch 911 on your cell phone. Which she did. We decided to wait around, just to see how it would play out. While waiting we endured more arguing and insults.
After five minutes of that, we decided it was time to go, the police were not going to respond to this. So we said see-ya, and walked away, heading towards Market Street to go home. The woman and family followed behind us saying we couldn’t leave - to which we replied, “Oh yes we can!”
3. They followed us to Market, we turned right (heading South), and they stayed behind. Great, I thought - this enounter is over.
4. About 5 minutes and a block or so later, I see two police cars speeding with lights and siren fly past us towards where we’d been. I remember thinking, no way, must be something else. There would never be that kind of response from someone complaining about having their photo snapped.
We get to Fremont Street and turn left, to get to Mission and the garage where our cars are parked.
5. And then, just as we get to the intersection of Fremont and Mission, four police cars race up next to us at the curb. And then a fifth turns the corner and stops. The cop in the first car, a Sergeant, looks at us through his down car window and says to stop and stay right there. We do and stand around kind of stunned that the woman complaining about her picture being snapped could cause this level of response. The sergeant listens to something on his radio, and then gets out of his car and looks us over. And then he says there was a complaint about two guys taking pictures, and that we also fit the description of two suspects of a robbery that just occurred. We were both wearing brown jackets, same as the robbers. We say, sure, there was an argument with a woman who objected to her picture being snapped, but we’re not robbers. Seemed like he believed us, maybe because we’re acting so incredulously, or more likely because the whole thing isn’t adding up to him. A cop in the third car gets out and says, “No, that’s not them…” A minute later 4 of the five police cars leave and it’s just us and the Sergeant.
And then, just when you think it couldn’t get any weirder, the woman who was snapped more than a half mile away comes running down the street and yells, “That’s them!” Had no idea how she found us…
When she finally gets to us, she tells the Sergeant that we were the ones who took her picture. I tell her it’s a public street and no foul occurred. The cop tells her the same thing. And then she says, “Well, they didn’t get my permission and I didn’t sign anything.” To which the Sergeant replied, “No need to. And it would only be needed if the photo were going to be subsequently used for commercial use.” At that point I’m thinking, wow, this is interesting. Needing releases for commercial use isn’t something non-photographers would know about - it’s not an element of criminal law. So now I’m wondering if the Sergeant might also be a photographer….
The woman complains and argues some more, but the cop tells her no law was broken and sends her away. And then, he asks us what kind of cameras we’re using. Ah ha, I was right. So the three of us end up bs-ing about photography and gear for ten minutes. I ask him if he knows another Sergeant who is also a photographer - someone I had exchanged emails with a couple years ago. He replied yes, he’s talking to the woman’s husband - he’ll be here in a few minutes. He later comes by and we meet and then the four of us are talking about photography for another 15 minutes. That was great - a lot of stories… We exchange cards and email addresses.
So all in all, it turned out to be a really interesting experience. First encounter with a person who objected to being snapped on the street. And my first encounter with the SF police, who were really great - and I enjoyed bs-ing about photography with them.
Walking back to my car on Saturday from a second round of snaps of the Buffalo Bill reenactment on the beach (covered in my Sept 11 & 13 posts, below), I came across several Native Americans who were speaking out against the exhibit.
Their view was that Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show was just the Indian version of the Black minstrel shows popular in the late 1800s, and were degrading and exploitive to Native Americans. Apparently there were many similar traveling shows in the late 1800s with circus-like performances.
I talked with Antonio Gonzales from the American Indian Movement, below, and he made a lot of excellent points. Don’t agree with all of them, but the majority were persuasive.
Rather than report what he said, click the play icon to listen to his speech as it left his bullhorn:
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A few minutes after he was through, a tourist came up apparently unaware of what he was saying and said, ”Are you the artist who made those nice figures down there on the beach, I really love them!”
Everyone was incredulous with mouths open on that…
