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NOTE: We have moved to Journalimage.com from Feb 2008. Please visit us on the new site & update your bookmarks.

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While I have been writing about colors and the festivities of Castro Street Fair, the other obvious feature are the hair dresses. Some fancy elaborate hair decorations, while others keep it hip and yet sophisticated. Paul here has a tigress cut beard which coupled beautifully with the tiger claws ear rings. An expert in film making, Paul took a few moments to pose for the photographs.

Portraits from Castro Street Fair 2007 @ photoduniya.com

The image was taken on hand held Nikon D200 on Lexar pro media card. A few of these images will be uploaded on the Projects section of Photoduniya.com.

NOTE: We have moved to Journalimage.com from Feb 2008. Please visit us on the new site & update your bookmarks.

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Masks carry a long history in their evolution. From being the faces of protectors to just being an alter-self, they have been used in all possible situations. The word mask could be having its origin in French, Latin or Arabic, though many of the ancient languages seem to have some form of relevance to such a thing. The most famous mask, believed to be the oldest known to the present day man, is the Warka.

Masked Man in San Francisco @ photoduniya.com

This is a part of the Faces from San Francisco book project from photoduniya.com.

Well this gentleman, from a retail jewelery store seemed to have made a nice way to breathe in fresh air, enjoy the prettiness outside, and manage to get through the pain of counting the inventory.

Having a pen and a paper, dressed in suits and shining boots, and a cigarette seems to be a fabulous way of working through the break hours too. It’s hard to know whether he is increasing efficiency, or saving on the cost of a clerk.

I wrote about Chen Wei sometime back – he is one of the saxophone players who spends the evenings and after work hours playing at various corners of San Francisco.

Chen works at a restaurant during the day to keep the living. The evenings and night are mostly spent playing the saxophone. He does it mainly to keep the art alive in him and it also helps if people donate some money. But boy! you should see how he pours his heart and soul into each breath. Unlike the traditional suited-booted saxophone player, Chen brings the life to his music as he sways and turns with each toned expression.

This is part of the photoduniya.com project on San Francisco Street Artists (0507-001).

While people went on their way, I kept staring at one who sat on a road side “assistance”. I could not figure out how someone could sit on a tapered fire hydrant? And he seemed not to mind the discomfort that pointy iron seat might cause! In fact, he had a glitter in his eyes and a smile on his lips!

So I walked up to him and smiled too. “Hey man! Wass’ up?” he asked. A police cop pulled up behind with the sirens blowing and the car all lit up with red and blue. Our attention diverted as the cop pulled up a driver who jumped the red lights! That’s when he said the most brilliant thing one could ever! “We could go and control a country, but we can’t control gangs!”

Think!  There’s more than just truth in that. We make more wars than we bring peace. And did anyone say charity begins at home? Well, not many heard that I guess.

So it came to pass, that Ernesto Romero had spent a lot of time in Los Angeles where community and gang wars claim to have taken a lot of lives of innocent people. From what I see in National Geographic, these gangs have international reach and fairly “rule” posh areas of the world.

Not to sideline the reason why I approached Ernesto in the first place, he was waiting for his family to meet him and got fairly tired of waiting. The commuters make use of stand rails, fire hydrants and anything that they could land their rear on for a moment’s rest. And no, these fire hydrants have a flat top. The city planners had a lot in mind when they built them!

Gary has traveled widely, when we was in the army. He has a keenness to identify if a passerby is a “good guy” or a “bad guy”, but his indulgence in the “bottled drinks” impairs is judgment almost all the time. He says he is Italian by birth and his affinity towards the “bottle” comes from the Italians’ love to party.

A window washer by day, Gary picks his weekend spot at various corners of San Francisco away from the mauling night crowds.

The pictures were taken with his permission on hand held D200. The image has been cropped a little. It was also an experimentation with remotely using SB 600. A few of his images will also appear in photoduniya.com under the Projects section.

He was seated on one of the bus stand benches, clothed wearily in rags and was carrying his paraphernalia around. I am used to such people since they make good portraits in exchange of usually a few cigarettes, or at the most a pack of Marlboro lights! He glanced at me with a “what’s up man” in the leo style (for those who watch “the 70’s show”). Very soon we got talking. I offered him a cigarette with my left hand and brought out the lighter with my right. He refused!

I usually dont offer money (mostly because I dont carry much with me on such situations) and I was quite on the verge of leaving, thinking that he may not be interested in anything as trivial as a smoke. As I was about to leave, he waved his hand asking me to sit and in a very calm yet paternal tone said “offer me with your right hand”! He was undoubtedly offended at my mis behaviour. And we got talking.

A few smokes and an hour later the stage had changed quite a bit. To my surprise, he was a college graduate, a passionate hippie (pardon me if that is an insentitive use of the word), an avid traveller and a full time beggar! Yes a beggar! But as he liked to put it “a beggar by choice”!

In his early life he had moved from one job to another, picking up enough money to keep him mobile and fed, gone through the era of social change in the seventies and finally decided to beg, at his own will made sure that he doesn’t get trapped in the claustrophobic cubiclism of modern day blue collar jobs.

It got me thinking more! Is it a misery when we limit our dreams in three by three feet of space and enough money to buy milk, bread and a carton of beer a week? When we make a choice, do we know that we have considered all the options? If am in no way preferring the choice of being a beggar, how could I possibly limit my choices to a three by three or even a corner office by any chance?