The blog

The Grace House is at risk of being shut down due to some rather unfortunate and dirty city tactics to ‘limit’ the number of homeless services the city can offer. Cindy Burger (the head of the Grace House) asked me to prepare a presentation for their fundraiser on Valentines Day (2/14) and this is part 2 of my photos. First was with Tawn which can be seen a few posts down. Many feel that as a photojournalist I shouldn’t be involved with my subjects and with the issue at hand, but quite honestly, to be a photojournalist means to be involved and care about the subject. That is our responsibility!

Taking photos of the homeless is actually remarkably difficult because many are reluctant to promote themselves as it can result in easier targeting and increased danger. I have to really tread softly when I come here and ask to take photos, but its a story worth fighting for I feel.
Please read the captions as well as they give an idea to the type of people i am photographing.

Brennan from The Domes

Had a pretty simple assignment to shoot a photograph of a student who has decided to collect his trash for a year. This is only week 2, but expect big (and smelly) things. Apparently the photography professor at UC Davis told his class about the ‘interesting perspective’ of this photo. Sweeet 😉

http://theaggie.org/article/2010/01/13/student-stinks-up-dome-for-research-project

Shot an all Russian wedding at the Fandorin Restaurant right alongside The Bay in Burlingame. Was a totally fun and exciting wedding! Ive never been around so many Russians before so it was a new experience I am glad I was a part of.

Shot an all Russian wedding at the Fandorin Restaurant right alongside The Bay in Burlingame. Was a totally fun and exciting wedding! Ive never been around so many Russians before so it was a new experience I am glad I was a part of.

Tawn–The Cat Man.
Tawns story is a very interesting one. I ran into a homeless man on the streets of Davis over the summer and we began to talk. He was overjoyed to see that someone took the time to stand and talk to him for ten minutes. I took that as a sign. We talked bout this and about that and he notices I have a UC Davis Journalism T-shirt on. I throw out an idea about doing a story on the homeless and asked for his help. He was more than willing, which made me ecstatic. We talked some more and he told me to go to The Grace House which give out free lunch and other homeless services on Mondays and Wednesdays. I end up going with a friend of mine and introduce ourselves to everyone there (about 25 homeless) and start talking. I could say we were there for easily 5 hours as people were dying to be heard. After the second day of talking with people, I meet Tawn. A shy, quiet guy who didnt seem to go out of his way to talk to me. I took that as a sign. We talk and I just become intrigued by his story and more importantly, his personality. He is very comfortable with himself, does not blame anyone or anything, and is very questionable of authority…whether it be police, religion or the Grace House Caretaker (in a polite way with the latter of course) I was not able to spend much time with because as soon as I met him, he graduated from a probationary program which took 3 years long and I nor Cindy (the caretaker) have really seen him since.

Here are the photos:

Tawn–The Cat Man.
Tawns story is a very interesting one. I ran into a homeless man on the streets of Davis over the summer and we began to talk. He was overjoyed to see that someone took the time to stand and talk to him for ten minutes. I took that as a sign. We talked bout this and about that and he notices I have a UC Davis Journalism T-shirt on. I throw out an idea about doing a story on the homeless and asked for his help. He was more than willing, which made me ecstatic. We talked some more and he told me to go to The Grace House which give out free lunch and other homeless services on Mondays and Wednesdays. I end up going with a friend of mine and introduce ourselves to everyone there (about 25 homeless) and start talking. I could say we were there for easily 5 hours as people were dying to be heard. After the second day of talking with people, I meet Tawn. A shy, quiet guy who didnt seem to go out of his way to talk to me. I took that as a sign. We talk and I just become intrigued by his story and more importantly, his personality. He is very comfortable with himself, does not blame anyone or anything, and is very questionable of authority…whether it be police, religion or the Grace House Caretaker (in a polite way with the latter of course) I was not able to spend much time with because as soon as I met him, he graduated from a probationary program which took 3 years long and I nor Cindy (the caretaker) have really seen him since.

Here are the photos: