California

Many places and people that I met while on a self-supported tandem bicycle tour with my wife stand out to me. Many occurrences and flukes also.  on my trip to California where my wife and I rode 1773 miles from Crescent City California just a few minutes drive from the Oregon border to the Mexican border at Chula Vista CA  the thing that really stood out and made an impression was the California State Park debacle .

There are hundreds of beautiful state parks that pepper California, with 1000’s of campsites on them. We found our selves on dozens of them over our 4 weeks on the road.

The dilemma is that over 70 of these gorgeous state recreation areas and State Parks are under the threat of being closed. The term “closed” means what will likely happen as with so many other things lately is that the parks will actually be privatized. An individual or a corporation will buy the land. Some of these people will preserve the space to keep it exactly as they are now. Others will convert them into something else. This disrupts the area tremendously of course. Both the flora and the fauna are affected. The human cost can be several fold. One aspect is the amount of jobs that can be lost. The communities surrounded by the parks often are dependent on the income brought in by the campers and their families.

Another aspect if a park is bought and then “closed temporarily” which can take years, is that there will be many young and old people that never have a chance to experience the wonder of being in nature. My time as a child being in the great outdoors with my family tend to be some of the best memories I have of my childhood which was chaotic to say the least. The woods and a riverbed were always a place of peace and a place where it seemed like all the pieces fit together and made sense.

The idea that other kids and their families may not be able to have the same experience seems criminal. It seems more important than ever that kids and their parents can have time in the woods or in true natural environments so that we don’t lose this ever important connection with the earth.

California is almost completely bankrupt due to frivolous spending at the Capitol in Sacramento and throughout other myopic financial choices.  Now the entire state and tourists will suffer.

The unemployment rate in California as I’m writing this s now 10.7% and will surely increase. The homeless rate is high and will also be sure to grow. By closing these parks we will add to the daunting number of these two statistics and countless other ramifications. I’m glad to have these images to show, in the hopes that it may encourage others to head out west.

Some people I saw in India

The people I saw in India might not have been the people you saw in India, or the people your friends saw in India. I want to believe that these were the people of MY trip to India. Special. Individual, and all mine. Experientially.

 I was struck by their kindness. The complete honest feeling I got from 99% of the people I met and came across. These are good hearted and warm people. In the chaotic struggle of survival that is India, their spirit seemed unbroken.

When my wife was speaking about Bollywood movies to some young girls and she was asked what her favorite movie was my wife replied “Life in a Metro”, a movie that the girls said they didn’t like because it was too “realistic". Bollywood makes more sense to me now having seen the cities and villages of India; you want to escape your reality for a minute, or maybe for 5 hours. Whichever comes first.

I saw the largest slum in all of Asia. Larger than the population of New York City. The train tracks split right through the middle of it. There were human beings stitched into every fiber of the filthy cardboard, wood, metal, plastic tarp encampment. It went on for miles and miles along the train tracks. I hung cautiously out of the train will all the other young men trying to get fresher air and to see the landscape, or a passing friend. I wondered if the boys dangling from the train were at all concerned with their lives or more to the point with the loss of their own lives.

The value of a human life seemed puzzling to me. Are the Hindus content with this life as it is? Do they make no attempt to change it because they believe in reincarnation and are they just merely awaiting the next life? Are they galvanized by their living conditions and feel powerless about changing their country? These were some thoughts that would swirl around my head.

What really left the strongest impression on me was not the piles of burning plastic bags and bottles or the smell of the river at low tide, or even the site of unsupervised infants left to their own devices in a mass of trash and feces.

What left the strongest impression was the spirit of the people in the city and slums. They were not dejected. They were smiling and going about their lives the best way that they knew how under the circumstances.

All things considered my time in India was a whirlwind of emotions and inexplicable feelings that even now as I write this are very difficult to describe. However, the people left and indelible impression on me that I would like to share with others that I know.

I hope to be able to convey a fraction of that with these photos.

Nina

Nina approached me for an interview for her blog NYthology. She is a journalist who works for CNN. Her blog which she operates witha friend is about cool New Yorkers doing cool things. She used to work for NY1 and missed the field work of meeting New Yorkers and hearing their stories.

The Outlaw Bobby Steele

This is the Outlaw. He was at a demonstration for Occupy at Union Square. He told me he was a wall street stock broker and day trader for 30 years.  When he retired several years ago he spent one year getting his face tattooed. He didnt give me a reason why other than he always wanted to do it. 

Kent

This is Kent. He is a 21 year old artist living on the street. I met him on 33rd street near Madison. He graduated from the Highschool of Art and Design on 57th and 2nd ave. He was living partially in Connecticut also. He was selling his drawings for $10 and $20 depending on the size. I didn't photograph the drawings .

Marie and Drew

Marie is one of my wife's high school friends. We recently held a baby shower for her and she let me photograph her and her belly.

Shane

I came across Shane in the Grand Street Settlement Housing Project in the lower east side. Shane told me he was born and raised in midtown Manhattan. 33rd and 1st ave. He hadn't slept in 5 days. Hadn't eaten in 3. He hadn't had a fix in 6 hours. He started crying because he said he lost his dog and his girlfriend was going to kill him. 

Cam and Roger

These two men are San Francisco friends from my old bike shop. Nomad Cyclery. Their stories are very different. Roger the one in the chair is a Pennsylvania Quaker who came to SF in the 6os and was a leather worker who mad bike saddles and eventually bought Nomad. Cam is a SF native, Vietman vet with shrapnel in his leg from a morter round. These guys amaze me because in their 60's and 70's they still do 75 mile bike rides on the weekends. They also make me laugh alot.

Headshot client

When shooting people for headshots or portraits, especially actors I try to loosen them up. Actors more than most people really get in their heads about how they look and how they are being perceived. I remind them that they should be playful and that we will get to a more real, or natural state. Which is what we are ultimately what we are striving for. To capture a real moment in time.

Manhattan Men

On my way to meet Carol Warner my photography and new media professor at SUNY I saw these two men. They were both approximately 45. One Black the other White or Latino. They must have a story to tell. There was something about the way they were so close together. Like lovers or family. Im sure allegiances need to be formed to survive the streets.

International Center for Photography

My impressions of the ICP walking in for the first time was nice. It was a little underwhelming but it was a good vibe.

The main show on display was the Weegee exhibit. It turned out to be the show I was the least interested in. All of his photos were great but I've seen enough violence in my own life to have satisfied that interest.

The building is really nice. I made a friend in one of the security guards.

He allowed me to take a few shots. But not of the images. I snuck a few.

I was particularly struck by the Loving Family. The three photos that are at the top of this post. A mixed race marriage shot by Grey Villet. The photos document this family. Richard Loving and white man  and Mildred Loving a mixed African and Native American woman. They were tried and found guilty of loving each other and having been wed in DC in 1965. They were sentenced to 1 year in prison or 25 years banishment from Virginia.  They brought their case to the Supreme Court in 1967 and forever changed the face of marriage in America. Their story hit home with me. Coming from a mixed race family I
Identified with this story.

It made me a bit sad how far we've come and how far we have to go.

The images had a wonderful intimacy. The camera seemed ro be invisible to the subjects. I want to learn how to be that unnoticeable. I want to be a fly on the wall but at the same time to be accepted and allowed to exist with my subjects.

I'm including a few photos of my parents. My mother met my Aunt Nancy at the elementary school that they both taught at in Northern California in the early 1960's. My mother was setup withy Uncle Denny for a date. When that didn't go as well as Nancy had hoped my mom was set up with my father Gary. They hit it off.

I've often been surprised by people's reaction to me being half Japanese. At first as a kid I just felt weird and different. The older I got I found pride in that part of my history. Especially when people in the 80s became obsessed with Japan and everything Japanese

I still get pretty strange reactions from new Yorker. Where they haven't been as exposed to as many half Japanese people as Californians have.

I've posted few photos from my visit to the ICP and a dragged a few from the Internet that were particularly interesting to me.

Across from Mission High School

This person was in front of what looked like an abandoned building across the street from Mission High School on Church street near 18th street. At first I couldn't tell if there was a person there at all or if it were just a pile of blankets. Until it moved.

Boutique man

This man was very well geared as far as his backpack and sleeping bag were very high quality. Not what you see with the other homeless. What struck me was the boutique that he was sleeping in front of. Something about the sign saying "Gorgeous little things" with this far from gorgeous human in front of it. Down on his luck. I took this photo late night. Around 12 or 1 am on 18th street near Gurerro street. 

Heroine addicts

This was a very young guy. He was on Market street near Van Ness. Looked maybe to be in his early 20's. He was beaten up and had lots of damage to his face and hands. He had all the tell tale signs of a junkie like swollen hands and face. He was awake and was slumping around and moving quite a bit. His belt was what caught my eye. As I was about to ask him if I could photograph his face a Transvestite around the same age walked up to him and crouched down beside him. They exchanged a few words and she gave him a few wadded up dollars.

Recycler

There are clearly many homeless people that are collecting and recycling glass and plastic all over the city. This is nothing unusual. The front half of his cart had bottles in bags. The back half were all stuffed with what looked like soft material. Maybe bedding or something like it. This man was old but was surprisingly fit. He was trying to interact with the lady and her child right next to him. They were unresponsive. 

Abandoned encampment

These types of encampments are all over the city. This one was under the freeway at Division and Valencia street right next to several other men and women who were set up all around the overpass. The smell in this area was unmistakable.

Man with 2 pairs of pants

Many things were striking when I noticed this man but the two pairs of pants and the two belts really informed me as to this mans situation. To have all of your possessions on you at the same time. It was surely for purposes of warmth and to have less in bags to carry around. He was under the 101 freeway at Division and Valencia street. There were dozens of encampments all over the area.

Before and after

As I was walking with my wife to our friends house at 19th and Dolores street right across the street from Dolores Park I saw this man. The rain was really starting to pick up and when we came back by a few hours later the man was gone. The bedding remained. There were many camps all over the sity that I wish I had taken photos of. I got a few of them.

Men at the Caltrain Station

I myself many years ago missed the last train out of San Francisco to the South Bay and had to sleep in the station. I didn't get much rest that night. These men didn't look like commuters that had missed the last train. This was taken around 7 pm at the station near 4th and King street.

Lady pan handling on Market street

This woman was around 50 years old I guess. She had clearly been sitting here for quite a while. I noticed that she had a wad of cash and would take any thing that anyone would put into her cup, remove it and pocket it to make her cup look empty again. In the 30 minutes or so that I watched her no one stopped and gave her much.

Church huddler

It had been raining all day and all night the night before I came across this man. Im not really sure that it is a man or a woman. The Church was not open from what I could tell. This was on 18th and Valencia streets.

Man on Misson Street

I had only been in the city for a few minutes when I came upon this man. He was much younger than he looked. He was sitting on Mission street and 29th. The Mission is full of transient characters. Something about the way he was seated, with his shoe off and all of his possessions in the cart broke my heart.

San Francisco March 2012

While on a trip to San Francisco for my friends wedding I was struck by the homeless situation in the city. Growing up in San Francisco I had become a bit numb to the catastrophic conditions of the homeless community there. Of course I remember the homeless when I lived there, but after spending the last 10 years in New York City I had almost forgotten the issue.

It is horribly saddening to see the problem today. I feel it has gotten much worse recently. Every where I went in the city you would see them. Whether it was under a bridge, under the freeway, on corners, in the backs of buildings. Pan handling on the streets, in wheel chairs, stoops of homes, Church entries. There was evidence of them everywhere.

Now moving into my mid 30's, I find myself often thinking about the how I would like to build a home for my wife and I. A structure that would shelter us from the elements. A place where our children would feel safe. A place where our friends and family would be able to come and relax. These are basic rights that I feel every person deserves. These people on the streets of San Francisco must have at one time or another had similar dreams.

The Victorians of San Francisco have always been a point of pride for that city. The shapes, the colors, the individual expression of the owners. Ive never seen another city in the US that has such vibrant and unique looking homes. Isn't it ironic that the city also has one of the largest homeless communities in the industrialized world. The stark contrast of multi million dollar Victorians that have had so much love and attention devoted to preserving them through fires and earthquakes, while right in front of them or down the block are the ancestors of some of the people that originally helped construct them.

I sourced this from Wikipedias, Homelessness in the United States page:

 The city of San Francisco, California, due to its mild climate and its social programs that have provided cash payments for homeless individuals, is often considered the homelessness capital of the United States^[90], together with Los Angeles. The city's homeless population has been estimated at 7,000-10,000 people, of which approximately 3,000-5,000 refuse shelter. The city spends $200 million a year on homelessness related programs.^[91] On May 3, 2004 [17], San Francisco officially began an attempt to scale back the scope of its homelessness problem by changing its strategy from cash payments to the "Care Not Cash" plan. At the same time, grassroots organizations within the Bay Area such as the Suitcase Clinic work to provide referrals for housing and employment to the homeless population. In 2010, a city ordinance was passed which will disallow sitting and lying down on public sidewalks for most of the day, from 7am until 11pm.^[92]

The 10,000 number in my opinion is completely inaccurate. When I lived in San Francisco in the 90's the number was officially around the same, but many officials cited it as being much larger than that. In a city as small as San Francisco you can just feel its brimming with a much larger number.  There are so many kids and young adults who live in Golden Gate Park and many other public areas who would never end up on a census.

I worked in a volunteer position from time to time at Glide Memorial Church's soup kitchen in The Tenderloin district of San Francisco, serving the homeless on Saturdays. This gave me an interesting perspective on their situation. It also afforded me the opportunity to see and interact with these people face to face. I was too young then to have the compassion I have for them now.

Stopping to photograph them on this last trip at times would make me feel like some opportunist, or that I should give them a dollar or a cup of coffee instead of taking a snapshot. Shedding light on this problem through this blog is my best attempt to spread some awareness and hopefully start some sort of dialogue.