Street Photography

A few frames - 12.21.2020

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Hello again! It has been awhile since my last entry. The last couple months have been one hell of a rollercoaster. With that said, I have been photographing a lot but developing less and I’ve been trying to wrap up a project that I have been working on since the beginning of the pandemic (more on that in a future entry) which explains the lack of content for these entries.

This entry is dedicated to disembodied faces. What I mean by this is; faces are visible, yet they do not appear or are attached to the body or bodies in frame. I tend to “fire from the hip” and zone focus a lot when I’m out in the street. This results in 10% semi well composed happy accidents and 90% missed or uninteresting photographs. Not all of these are “from the hip”, some are composed solely based on the subject manner and what is present in the frame. These photographs were made with the intent of composition practice, which is something that I have been working on and wanting to improve for the past couple of months. After seeing these results, I feel a bit more confident in my “from the hip” compositions as well as choosing what to show in the frame.

Shot on Kodak Tri-X 400 with a Leica M-A and a 35mm Summicron.

A few frames - 09.16.2020

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This entry is about photographs that are visual time stamps of an era.

The inspiration for this post mainly has to do with looking at photo books that are period specific (ie: photographed in earlier decades of the 20th century). The photographers of that time lived through the reality of what they were photographing and as a result, they were able to share and showcase what they’ve experienced to others. Some notable photographers are: Fred Lyon who photographed SF throughout the 1940’s until current day. Vivian Maier photographed her day to day in Chicago during the late 1950’s until the late 1990’s. And lastly, Gordon Parks documented a large part of the civil rights movement and showcased segregation through his eyes during the late 1950’s. This fascinated me because not only did they photograph important events of their time but also the quiet moments of their day to day. I got to see glimpses of different eras in a more intimate manner. This led me to rethink the way I want to photograph my own life and experiences.

Ever since I started commuting to work again, I’ve noticed how this pandemic and the fight to end systemic racism has been reshaping San Francisco. This has been a time of great change. In such a short amount of time we’ve undergone changes in business practices and social etiquette, an increased sense of empathy, and for the most part, some level of collective action to stay safe and healthy. These photographs for me, are a reflection of what’s going on in the mid to later half of 2020. With 3 months left in the year and 2 months left until the election, the rest of 2020 and the years that follow will be one to remember.

Shot on Kodak Tri-X 400 with a Leica M-A and a 40mm Summicron.

From the archives - 08.12.2020

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While I was in the process of revamping my website and figuring out a better system for cataloging my archive, I came across these photos. These are from my first trip to New York City back in 2017 while I was on my first paid travel freelance shoot (expenses paid for by my client). What makes these photos special to me is that they were all taken in the span of 15 hours and this was my fist time developing color negative film.

During this time I was still working full time at a coffee shop in SF and balancing freelance jobs here and there. While I was at work, I got an email from a previous client asking me for my availability for a shoot and that they had a surprise. After a bit of back and forth, we lock in dates and my client revealed to me we were doing a 2 day shoot in New York! I was in shock. I never thought that I would get the opportunity to get paid to travel for a shoot. Excited about the news, I immediately talked to my manager to get the days I needed off. Long story short, I could only get 1 of the days off effectively turning a 2 day shoot into a really packed 1 day shoot. And to make matters more difficult, I had to come back the same day in order to make it to work at the coffee shop the following day. So I booked a ticket for a red eye flight (8:40pm) from SFO to JFK and return red eye (9:10pm the following day) from JFK to SFO.

Fast forward to the airport, I had a bag full of gear with me (Camera, 3-4 lenses, tripod, external mic, extra batteries, tripod, laptop, and chargers, my film camera, and 2 rolls of film) and I’m waiting to board my flight in the terminal. While I was waiting, I was going over the schedule for the day. We had call time for the first shoot at 8am-11am in Brooklyn and a call time for 12pm-3pm for the second shoot in Manhattan. This gave me about 2 hours of free time upon my arrival and 6 hours of free time before my departure. When I finally got to JKF, I quickly figured out how to navigate the NY MTA and get to Brooklyn as fast as I could. I managed to make my way to the Brooklyn Bridge and walk about half of the span, then squeezed in enough time to wander around DUMBO before making it to the first call time.

After the first shoot, we hopped in an Uber and headed to Manhattan. Seeing the busy streets of NY from a car for the first time was very overwhelming especially compared to the streets of SF. This got me excited to hit the streets as soon as we wrapped on set. After we finished on set, my client and I parted ways and I was free to wander the streets of Manhattan. I made my way from SoHo, to LES, to East Village, to Time Square, to Grand Central Station then booked it back to JKF in order to catch my flight back to SF. I was so tired from walking around and carrying a heavy bag that by the end of the night, I fell asleep in my seat before the plane even took off haha. I drank so much coffee the following day just to keep me up.

Looking back I really wished I had brought more film with me on this short trip because every place I went I had to think about if the shot was worth taking. I had my digital camera with me but after using it all day on set, it was nice to snap some photos and wait to see the results. I was really pleased with how these came out. I’m not sure if its because of how I developed it or how I scanned it but I’ve never been able to get replicate this look from this film stock. In any case I think that is part of what makes them special to me.

Shot on Kodak Gold 200 with a Contax G1 using a 45mm and 90mm Zeiss Contax G lenses.

A few frames - 08.04.2020

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This entry was inspired by a conversation I had the other day with a homie that I ran into at the skate park. We chopped it up; talked skating, how things are going, and photo stuff. It was during that part of our conversation, he showed me a photo he took of a packed muni bus (or train I kind of forgot) and it got me thinking about how a photo like that seems like it’s from an entirely different time period.

These photographs span late 2017 to early 2020 and they represent a time when you would navigate crowds, try to squish into a packed train during rush hour, or even touch things in public without a second thought.

It’s really crazy to think as of March 2020, we would plunge head first in whole new way of living.

Stay safe, wash your hands, and wear a mask.

Shot on various film stocks and various cameras.

A few frames - 07.31.2020

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These were shot maybe about a month or so ago after California’s Shelter in Place (maybe sometime in April or early May?) orders were put into effect. This was such a surreal time; the once busy city of San Francisco at a stand still. Streets were so empty that there was a slight eeriness in the air. This was also during the time that outdoor activities were deemed “low risk” so some areas of SF started to breathe life again.

In retrospect, that little bit of uncertainty put the things we took for granted and what was considered “safe” and “not safe” from that time into perspective.

Shot on Kodak Gold 200 with a Contax T3

A few frames - 07.27.2020

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Shot on Kodak Tri-X 400 with a Leica M-A and 40mm Summicron.