Photojournalism Downtown

I don't even know where to begin, but this one is going to be a long one, so bear with me. :-)

Yesterday, four of us decided to take the train down to Downtown and get our photojournalism on (thanks to our Missional Photography course). We spent a few hours wandering all around Union Station, Olvera Street, Chinatown and everywhere in between (not as much area as it sounds). We came armed with our gear (under 85mm lenses as per the assignment) and set out to get permission for as many shots as possible. Surprisingly, it wasn't nearly as difficult this time around. It even got less scary as time went by. Yay!

Lucky for us, Saturday was the 50th Celebration of the market on Olvera Street. There were celebrations going on everywhere - I was excited to snag this spontaneous dance between a few performers during another bands' concert in the square. My gaining permission went something like my pointing at my camera and then them and getting a nod and a wink.




Then it was off to taquito-land. One of my favorite lands by the way. ;-p After a brief explanation by Steve and Nate about them not being "together", I got permission to take some shots of the cooks. They were aweseom! I'm trying not to think about all that oil though.... Worth it for the food!




We continued our wandering, and Steve seemed to make a lot of friends. We didn't think it would be nice to let him know they weren't all real....




Btw, we're committed to our photography. ;-)




Again, Steve makes many friends....or "YAAAOOOOOoooo!" as he would say...



More dancers after after their performance. They were so awesome - we asked to take their photo and they smiled, said yes, and started voguing. This is what we call "BAMF"



Now this one I felt sort of bad about. When I asked him if I could take his picture next to his taxi, he agreed, but then had to grab his sunglasses to add to the "cool". I think he thought we were going to use his taxi though...




Nate wanted some camera time too...




The floor of the Chinatown station. :-)




Ok, so Nate REALLY needed some camera time.... He's single ladies!




This guy was one of my favorites. He was so blatantly honest. When we asked him if we could take his photo, he readily agreed and then pulled out his favorite "prop" - his pocket vodka. There was something tragically real about the entire exchange (he even told us he was about to buy more). He was missing most of his teeth, clearly had some problems, and yet retained a general love of people he didn't even know. It's amazing where you find little glimpses of God - bits of eternal peeking through - even in an unstable drunk man.




We ended with some fun taking pictures of each other (gotta keep practicing our portrait shots!) with this awesome painted tile wall just outside Olvera Street. Michelle went first.




Nate took these ones of me. I'm surprised the flesh on his hands didn't burn off while he was holding my Nikon... ;-)




Sorry I put my watermark on your shot Nate - force of habit. But NATE TOOK THIS SHOT, I promise! - clearly I didn't, I'm in it....



Check out Nate and his crazy shooting style. He even manages to hold his ice cream sandwich while shooting.... Nice.




Ok. That's all for now. But trust me, that isn't the only shots from today - there are sooo many! If you have a fav from this post that you recommend for my print to submit this week, let me know! I'm going to have a hard time picking!

More to come!
~B

PS: We're thinking we may make this a regular monthly thing. If you're interested in joining us for a fun day of random shooting, comment or email me to let me know. :-)