11th and Bryant St.

This past Thursday, I woke up in the mood for a city outing. I wanted to drive to San Francisco and explore a new area and also experiment with some film. I grabbed my camera bag and headed over to this area that my girlfriend I drove by the week prior. I stopped at Samys Camera shop to load up on some film I got three rolls of Ilford HP5+ and a few rolls of Kodak TriX-400. I loaded my Pentax K1000 with a roll of HP5+, and I decided to push it (+2) 1600(iso). I drove over to 11th and Bryant St. And managed to find parking quickly, and I started to explore the area. The reason I enjoyed this area is the overall location; it’s mostly a busy street that is right underneath a freeway bridge. There is a lot of steel, cars, and chaos happening down. It fits the bill for a place to take some creative pictures. I decided to push the film, two stops was that I wanted to capture a lot of shadow details, and since I was shooting under a bridge, it would give me a little more range.

The images I got were Interesting; the shadows are dramatic; however, some of the highlights appeared blown out; usually, I would be disappointed, but this time, I was excited. This area is not a tourist hot spot, and a place tourists would avoid for good reasons. The area is a homeless hotspot; there is a lot of tents and makeshift homes along with homeless people wandering up and down the street. I do not photograph the homeless since it goes against my street photography ethics. I was homeless at one point in my life, and I recall having to break into my own home to get the last of things since my parents decided it was best to cut me loose. I remember having to carry all my belongings through downtown San Jose when I was feeling overwhelmed and hopeless. I know that the scene would have been a great a photograph of struggle and strength, but it would have made me feel embarrassed since I was down on my few strings of confidence. I learned that it’s unethical to take advantage of a group of people in their darkest times.

This area was very loud, and there were people constantly honking their horns trying to get in and out of lanes. This area reminds of the classic nightmare of driving through San Francisco lanes that end into turning lanes, people cutting each other off and the stress of being under a bridge. The walls here are filled with graffiti, and the streets were filled with people loading and unloading goods. I enjoyed the overall feel of this place when I was walking through driving was a different story. I was able to reflect a lot about specific areas of my life; this place could have been my life if I had taken a different route in my younger years when I was homeless. I was a little more fortunate since I had a full-time job and a living room to sleep at night. I asked myself what if I did not have a job or lost my job, what if I did not have a safe space to sleep and night? I also did not have a car, so I relied heavily on all forms of public transport I remember always shaving my face so I would qualify for the Youth Pass that was 30 dollars less per month than the adult pass.

As I continued to the end, there was an exceptional surprise, a skatepark that tied my entire journey through this area. When I was younger, I relied on my skateboard just as much I did on public transportation. It filled the gaps between bus transfers. The skatepark down here was a light at the end of the tunnel. I enjoyed watching the people skate, watching them clear the stair sets, and grind on the ledges. I recall how free I would feel when I skate down the street, it was like if all my problems would melt away.