Photos of the Week (Ending 05/11/07)

This week I got to accompany the San Francisco Daily's society writer, Carla, to a fashion show benefitting the San Francisco Ballet Company. In addition to the traditional small group photos that compromise a lot of the society page, I was given an invitation to shoot the actual show.

Here is one of the dancers, Jeremy and Samantha, who entertained the crowd before the fashion show. We ran this yesterday to tease the society page which ran today.



The models walked down the runway fast, even the official photographer for the society running the show said they "ran like racehorses". Nonetheless, it was a great show, with beautiful clothes, and I especially liked this one as it showed the different colors and the motion of the event.


I will post the pdfs of the pages of the paper as they are sent to me.

The Silver Man at Fisherman's Wharf

Since I often don't have a schedule completly set in stone at the paper, I often get to spend time talking with interesting people. Here is someone I find fascinating because of his approach and dedication to his job.

Meet The Silver Man who works at differen piers at Fisherman's Wharf. When not in costume (non-toxic paint that takes about a quarter of an hour to apply and take off), he's known as Evan.



He acts as a human robot and takes pride in his work. At his feet is a tip jar, and when given a tip, will let passersby take photos of him (often with their kids), he also gives the kids candy.



His job is unpredictable, the weather especially determines if he has a good day or a bad.



He's been doing this since 1984 when a cousin suggested the idea. He proudly states that he's one of the original and most consistent human robot performers.



When asked what he'd like to be doing in a few years, his answer surprised me. He said he is going to school part-time and would like to be a chef. I told him about the chef profiles I am doing for my paper, and told him when he accomplishes his dream we would definitely be interested in doing a piece on him.

As Seen in SF

Working in San Francisco I've seen a lot of great city specific things. Here AAA Andy, a horse about to be retired, bonds for a final moment with Officer Chris Olocco at The Police Stables at Golden Gate Park. The service (the retirement of three police horses, and comission of two new ones) was short and I liked this natural moment best (one of several I submitted to the paper).


Our paper also does a feature called where in SF, I submitted this one to see if anyone knew where exactly it was located. Since the answer has been printed, it's on Chestnut Street downtown near the Los Hermanos Mexican Restaurant.

Crafting Independence: An Enterprising Teen

Today I went to three restaurants and boutiques to profile for the San Francisco Daily. One of the boutiques was started by two ladies in their early 20's. I enjoy hearing about young entrepreneurs, and it reminded me of some photos I took of Dominique Flores, 17, who is planning on starting a business designing and making clothing for older people to help put her through college.


Dominique got the idea from designs she created to help her grandmother who had had a stroke and required her grandfather's help in getting dressed. She wants to design clothes they will enjoy wearing in terms of design and functionality.




As a winner of the California State "I Made it With Wool" contest, she travelled and competed with this outfit.


She enjoys making quilts, which first motivated her to begin learning how to sew.

Kel-C Jeffries, Boxer Extrordinaire

One of the most interesting people I've been privileged to meet and photograph is professional boxer Kel-C Jeffries. Jeffries trains and works hard in a field not taken seriously by some. Here are two shots of her sparring on the left, with Lisa Lewis.



I love the determination in her eyes, the same look she has when she steps into the ring.



I photographed her demolishing Stephanie Dobbs, here on the left, at the HP Pavilion.






Kel-C won the fight unanimously, and with hits like this the entire match, it's easy to see why.

Pain? What Pain?

On Saturday I went to The Body Art Expo at the Cow Palace, an event that brought in hundreds of tattoo artists from all over the nation and tens of thousands of attendees. Many visitors started new tattoos, and as a correspondent for the SF Daily, I was there to both shoot and write about the event.

Today one of my photos was the front page photo as Renee Jean, 23, gets a prior tattoo corrected by Dodge (who like many people in the tattoo business just goes by a single name). Renee had just gone to a tattoo shop and on her 18th birthday and picked something from the wall, this makeover one was more meaningful, a lotus blossom (a flower that means rebirth like her first name does), with a pearl, her birthstone. (Click on image to see larger cover.)


Inside, the story , "Some say tattoos don't hurt" many of the people I talked with didn't find the experience that painful at all including Renee on the cover who compared it to getting her back scratched. (Click on either image to enlarge to read story.)

Wilfredo Castano, my photo professor at DeAnza College, a school I attended for a year before transferring to San Jose State University, told me that even when I'm shooting a color photo I'm thinking in black and white, an assesment I agreed with a lot. I was conciously thinking black and white as I shot the expo and I really like how the lines and details came out.

As Professor Castano told me, "Sometimes by taking away the color, you get a more realistic and honest picture of what was there, you make the viewer really grasp the subject."

I'm still a huge fan of color, though. Here are my favorites in color:



This was the photo that really started me thinking about the no pain concept, Jesus Hernandez talks on his phone while Javier Espinoza puts on his tattoo. Hernandez was just smiling and joking the whole time. Other attendees ate lunch, drank beverages and even tried to sleep during the process.

As Daryle Fountain puts a foot tattoo on Lisa Barbazota, she lets me interview her and says that the small amount of pain is worth having the design she really wants (a lady bug on a sunflower) added to her body. Barbazoto told me that having a lady bug land on your foot means you will have good luck.

Shawn Barber, a painter and apprentice tattooer, has traveled the world painting tattooed artists (other painters and many tattoo artists), who, like himself are tattooed. Here he is painting a portrait of fellow painter, Amanda Lynn. Barber's new show, "Tattooed Portraits II," will open at The Shooting Gallery on Larkin Ave on May 5th.



Michael Barron, 45, was one of the few people who told me that the process did hurt. He was getting his tattoo, a large rendition of the Archangel Michael, put on his back by Matthew Hamlet, to help him deal with adversity.



Most of the attendees fit into a neat demographic section of young with tattoos or piercings. Not these folks, though, Mary and Grady Proctor, both 57, came to learn about the artwork, though neither had or would even consider getting a tatoo. They likened the experience to going to a museum and were pleased that no one treated them as strange for having attended.

Here they are watching Tim Goodrich finish up a tattoo, a Chinese character for loyalty, on Lawrence Pratt.

First SF Daily Cover Photo

When I went to the office of the San Francisco Daily I was looking forward to shooting again soon for a daily newspaper. I had no idea they would be sending me out so quickly on my first assignment - literally before they interviewed me (though they had seen my portfolio and work on this blog).

The Daily is a community paper that especially covers things happening near their office, so when the editor realized the work would be completed demolishing a building two blocks from the office that day (Wednesday), he had me run out and take some shots.

Here is my first cover with the paper, a shot of Jose Sanchez running an excavator across the demolished KFC/Taco Bell hybrid building, you can see the KFC sign of the old building in the distance, as well as a large building that might provide the first new customers of the new structure going up in about four months (another bigger and better KFC/Taco Bell hybrid).


A closeup of my shot.



I knew it was going to be black and white when I shot it (as the daily is a non-color publication), but I still like color a lot for this subject, so here it is in color:



I look forward to featuring some more of the photojournalism and advertising work I will be doing for the paper in future entries.

My Day with CALSTAR

When the Gilroy crew of the California Shock/Trauma Air Rescue (CALSTAR) reports to work, they never know what their day will be like. Thus began a story I wrote in which I spent the day with the crew.

It was a Friday and though we only went on one call, and ended up being cancelled en route, I learned a lot about the crew and what it's like to be waiting for the phone to ring with a call they only learn the details about after they agree to take it. Though rare a call could be refused, such as if a crew member was injured, or due to poor weather conditions, etc.

The crew is made up of two flight nurses, who are both RN's,and a pilot. Here is flight nurse Jaime Hill checking out the gear.




Another shot of Jamie (who kept on his sunglasses almost all day) in a closeup of him and the gear.




When I saw the aircraft controls I was mesmerized by the sheer volume of all of them. As I have friends in the SJSU aviation program I've been up in a Piper and a Cesna, and I didn't recognize hardly anything. However, this is a helicopter, unlike the two aircraft I mentioned which are planes. Only the pilot is given instructions on how to fly it, and luckily even if one engine broke the second could be used to land. Also, the pilot sits on the right, which I found interesting.





Here is flight nurse David Wiebe preparing the radio for our flight.




I had David take some "prove I was there" shots. In this one, he caught me mid blink, but it's the only one I have with the land in the background showing we are truly airborne.





Luckily, in this other one, my eyes were wide open.




One final shot taken while we were still airborne, and before we were told to head back to base.

Photos of the Week (Ending 03/23/07)

The photos I chose this week are of life up close. First Valerie Nicolaysen in the 100 meter individual medeley (which she swam all butterfly).


Next, I photographed and wrote a story on spring. As part of it I visited Filice Farms which recently obtained bees. So with a long lens and lots of courage, I went to the bees' boxes and waited and took several shots. I didn't even get stung. This is my favorite.

My Photojournalism Portfolio

Author James McNay Brumfield ropes a steer as he rode his mule on his Watsonville ranch.


Keith Barefoot of Nocturnal Sunshine performs as a fire dancer at a private party in Santa Cruz.


Dorothy Oster, 83, hangs from a diving board at UC Santa Cruz.



Hollister Engineer John Parinello, left, and Capt. Tim Schneider direct water towards a fire on Hill Street.

Former Biologist Tom Fields stocks the racks of the newsstand he bought to work closer to home and spend more time with his family.



Students at R. O. Hardin Elementary School practice their yoga at Parents' Back to School Night.


Hollister's David Smith completes his final lap of the 200-yard freestyle event match up against Gilroy High in which he took first place.



Karla Ramirez leaves her own bike behind and rides an adult bike with the help of her dad, Jose Ramirez, at Tony Aguirre Memorial Park.



Employees of Milgard Windows help prepare food bags at Community Pantry.


Robert "The Ghost" Guererro, right, pummels Sandro Marcos in the corner to end the fight by technical knock out at the HP Pavilion.



San Jose State University guard Brittany Imaku, center, leaps into the air to avoid losing the ball to Louisiana Tech forward Ty Moore during the second half at the Event Center.



Tom Pack, assistant manager of Beat the Bookstore, left, is placed in a squad car by Cpl. Victor Quintero, right, after being arrested by Officer Frits van der Hoek, center, in front of the Spartan Bookstore.



Protestors carrying flags demonstrate outside San Jose City Hall to show opposition to proposed new immigration laws.



San Jose State University students show up an hour early to wait in line outside the Student Union to attend the career fair sponsored by the Justice Department.