Walk For Life 2009 San Francisco

The 2 Groups did mix at times. This mother was trying to keep her daughter away from the Pro-choice people.










The Pro-Life people were very organized and outnumbered the the Pro-Choice group by at least 10-1.

Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence

http://www.thesisters.org/

This group is Pro-Life and I was standing next to 2 Officers when this group entered the Pro-Life area. The Officers were alarmed because they thought that this was an Obama/Left/Pro choice group because of how the signs looked. A brief moment of Oh-Shit panic on the Officers faces.








http://raginggrannies.com/

Gaza Protest 4 1/16/2009 Sacramento Capital

Gaza Protest 3 1/15/2009 16th & J Streets

Another peaceful protest with quite a few people honking their horns in support. While I was standing there taking pictures someone yelled out "Fagots" to the protesters. The Pickup Truck with the camper on it just happened to be parked there and one of the protesters asked him if he could move his vehicle so as not to confuse people what the protest was about.

Gaza Protest Sacramento 2

This protest was on the corner of "I" street and 5th. Very peaceful protest with alot of support from cars passing by. They had as many American flags as any other flag.

The Famous Frank Chu

The famous Frank Chu taken on the steps of City Hall, Berkeley, Ca.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Chu
www.eightyfourfilms.com/lunch_play.htm

San Francisco Bush Man

It is illegal to take pictures of the Bush Man without paying up. Or is it?
I use to like this guy and felt that he brought a bit of entertainment to Fisherman's Warf. I went to San Fran with a buddy that I met from Flickr and on the drive over I even asked him about the Bush Man and thought that it would be a good Photo Op to get a sequence of him scaring the tourists.
A little info here....the Bush Man sits on a box and hides behind some twigs/branches/bushes and when people get near he shakes them and scares them. It is actually pretty funny.
I have nothing against giving these street entertainers a buck or 2 and usually ask them if I can take their picture. I wasn't really interested in getting his picture but more getting a series of shots of the people getting scared. In order to do this we were on the other side of the street. This was also done so as to not tip off any unsuspecting tourists about the Bush Man in hiding.
He saw me (and a few other people) standing on the other side of the street and started yelling out that if we were going to take pictures that it was going to cost and that we should pay up. This was on the other side of a busy street (The Embarcadero) which I was not going to cross just to give him a buck and especially when he was demanding it. He was fairly aggressive in his assertion that we should/would pay and I yelled back at him with a question “are you paying taxes on that money?” This infuriated him and he got off his box and crossed over the street walking towards me. I put my camera behind my back (to protect it) and stood my ground as he got in my face and called me a “cheep MF”. I told him to walk off and he then wanted to know if I was going to make him. This went on for a bit and then I thought to myself that this would actually be a great Photo Op so I took a couple of pictures of him and told him that these were going on the internet with a story of what happened. This was very effective in making him leave.
The way that he was acting was as if we were doing something illegal by taking pictures of him.
I found all of this very entertaining and I am sure that many of the tourists that gathered also felt the same way.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_World_Famous_Bushman

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/03/24/BAG5S5Q3251.DTL

www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cbBdydQlrk

Gaza Protest Sacramento 16th & J Streets

Saw this protest on the corner of J street and 16th downtown Sacramento. Got there late and was only able to get in a few pictures. There was ONLY protest for Israel and not protest for what Hamas is doing. People in cars were honking in support of the protesters. The guy with the Einstein sign was on the other side of the street from the main group.....he told me that he just protests any war and wants peace. Also told me that this intersection is the place for protests every tues from 4-6PM. I did not see any support for Israel there at all.

Portrait for a Cigarette Jake

Jake is my 1st portrait for a cigarette.
I was walking through the mall and he stopped me and asked if I was an artist when he saw my camera. I said yea...I guess so if you consider photography an art.
I looked down at the book that he was reading and saw that it was called "The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists" He told me that he lost his game with women and was looking to get it back. He wanted me to help him get his game back.
I offered him a smoke for a portrait and he took me up on it.

Portrait for a Cigarette MK

Saw MK in his wheelchair crossing the street and asked him if he knew any blues.
The guy was actually pretty good and gave him a smoke for a portrait.
He then told me that he needed money to turn his electricity back on. I told him that with his talent, he should be able to get that money in no time by playing and gave him some money for the song. So many people ask for money and have nothing to offer back. Not that they have to or should, however this guy was very entertaining with his music and well worth $1. He also tried to sell me some personal hygiene products which I thought was odd.