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.