San Francisco

I'm 6 days into my mid summer excursion to San Francisco to make a new photo book (I will be teasing any where from 10-30 images later this week). I did a lot of research before I came in hopes of bringing my normal style of shooting to another city, but I've found that dynamic between the image and the audience is missing something that is very San Franciscan, The homeless community. 

Im not one who normally photographs the people on the streets that im photographing, I much more enjoy the symmetry of the man made aspects of the cities and places I am, but in shooting these last six days I have found that there is not a San Francisco to show, without showing the homeless community here. I intend to do so in a just manner plainly documenting the streets but i will pull back my lens to show you more of what is in front of it, like the man sleeping on the curb or the two people searching for cigarette butts in the streets, or the friendly guys who just want to play music on the corner with whatever and whoever they may have to jam with, the spirit is jovial here, and there is a certain grit to the city that is not shown to the vast majority of us. We think of San Francisco and we think Sports, Food and Culture maybe we think of how gentrification is hammering the cities most stoic places into the the history books but we don't think about the neighborhoods and the neighbors who are occupying them as often as we should. 

Now this isn't to say i've done a full pivot from my view of the city, I will continue to shoot in my normal process and try to obtain the soundest images I possibly can, but what I've found is not something I intend to hide, or not photograph but its also not something I want to highlight completely and make the main focus. I want to shoot in my same manner but allow for documentation of the people around to fit in or around that image if it can without sacrificing composition or our brothers and sisters personal feelings of being photographed.