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.