Oakland

Hyphee in Motion: The Art of “Tut” & “Turf” Reflects the Vitality of Oakland Arts Cutting Edge

Oakland’s First Friday art walk continues to demonstrate that this city might be second to none when it comes to incubating and generating unique visionaries that push content and form in the arts. This set was shot at First Friday, an event most think of as a showcase for the East Bay’s creative communities. Turf (referring to the foot work) and Tut (referring to the arm work) take show case to another level as it’s energy is infectious and exalts the amazing beauty of the human form in movement.

Photographing the performing arts in lowlight without flash helps me record and show motion. Shooting under these setting also limit the sharpness of the shots. A fact I can live with in order to show in photographs the fleeting energy of innovative youth at the top of their game.

—JMG

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Solace in Community: Oakland Mourns Ghost Ship Warehouse Fire Victims

On Friday, December 2nd, 36 people lost their life in a deadly fire at an artist live/work warehouse space know as the Ghost Ship in Oakland’s Fruitvale District. A night of celebration turned tragic at the warehouse when a fire broke out trapping dozens inside. This set documents the community’s overwhelming sense of loss and their need to express it.

Untitled (Oakland de luto set), Oakland CA, Winter 2016.

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Untitled (Oakland de luto set), Oakland CA, Winter 2016.

Portrait of a Chinatown Pop-up Grocer

Chinatown Pop-up Grocer (Chinatown Hustle Series), Oakland CA, Fall 2016.

Oakland’s Chinatown is all about getting a bargain on fresh food. Close enough to the Port of Oakland and Oakland’s central produce market, you can’t beat the prices on fresh greens, pork, poultry, or fresh sea food (from cat fish to eel).

Lately I have been preoccupied, pondering why photography seems to gravitate to these ethnic enclaves. One can read Chinatown photographs as a kind of internal travel photography that at some level objectifies the subjects it captures. Weary of enacting the colonial gaze, I battle with my desire to shoot as an outsider.

This shot illustrates the anxiety I articulate above because I wanted to make a portrait of this friendly pop-up fruit seller as she seemed friendly enough but every time I pointed that lens at her she raised her hand as if saying hello, but blocking her face on purpose. After the fourth click I realized that was the shot: her clean, tidy fruit set up waiting for the next customer to sell her handful of goods. I like the shot because it was clear it was ok for me to take the shot, but it needed to be done on her terms, stripping away the power of the camera and a potential colonial gaze.

I began this series because more and more, this corner of Oakland is becoming dear to me and I fear that it is only a matter of time before the sea-change that is rapidly transforming the cityscape also claims Chinatown for the sake if new luxury development. It’s only a matter of time, thus the Chinatown Hustle series seeks to document its working life and people.

–JMG

21st Century Stockings (Diptych)

21st Century Stockings II (Diptych), Summer 2014, Oakland CA

The title I gave this shot reaches back to a series of photographs Dorothea Lange made during the Great Depression. Depicting women wearing mended stocking, Lange thought these shots said much about the time in which they were made. Her subject was the way the femininity responded to the shortcoming of the economy.

This shot is more about women’s empowerment in the 21st Century and their ability define themselves (even in eyebrow raising ways). The value of the shot isn’t so much in the expression it caught on the frame, but rather in the way the picture allows us to reflect on how much things have changed.

If you need to be reminded or see for yourself, here is a link to one of the mended stockings shots by Lange: www.mocp.org/detail.php?t=objects&type=group&f=&a…. After that shot you might want to say about the shot above, “Those aren’t your grandma’s stockings!”

–JMG

White Silence Is Violence

White Violence is Silence (Black Lives Matters Series), Oakland CA, Summer 2016.

A white majority made itself heard last week in the U.S. putting its support behind a candidate that promises to keep his bigoted, White-nationalist, Islamophobic promises.

This shot (taken this summer the day after Alton Brown murder) signals irony and impossibility given the recent turn of events in the Presidential election. Irony lies behind the predictions and poll models that were confident most Americans would make an ethical choice. The impossibility of being trapped between White silence and the White rural vote for the next four years leaves many of us with nothing but disappointment because making America great never includes making room for folks of color.

Sorry Langston, we are still having to fight for our place on the table.

***See more of my Black Lives Matter Series in my galleries section.***

–JMG

Waiting

Waiting, Oakland CA, Summer 2016.

Some say bus stops are excellent spaces to photograph people in their urban environment. The Bay Area has ferry stops too.

Like bus stops, waiting for the next one forces riders to slow down. If you look close enough, you’ll notice that waiting can turn into a siesta sometimes. Who needs a bed when you have grassy shade to nap on?

— JMG

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA, ISO 100/ 1/640 / f. 11

Last Call in Oakland (Diptych)

Last Call In Oakland, Oakland CA, Winter 2015.

There’s a bar in Oakland (which I won’t mention by name here to keep it out of the wrong ears) that has a fun tradition where the bartenders light the bar on fire when they make the last call for drinks. It’s places like this that have shifted the tide in night life in Oakland.

Being a transplant from Los Angeles, I too went through the phase where I thought I had to go to “the city” (a.k.a San Francisco) to find down-to-earth, unpolished, almost grimy joints where unique progressive folk of all classes gather for a drink. If that’s what you are looking for and live in or near Oakland you can join me in saying, “Forget San Francisco!” Seriously, its been months since I’ve felt the need to dip into the coolness of the city because Oakland IS where it’s at. If this shot doesn’t convince you of the fact that Oakland is hot and the place to be in the Bay Area, take a walk in Uptown Oakland (on Telegraph Ave.) any given Friday Night and see for yourself.

I can’t celebrate the freshness and dynamic energy I have encountered out in Oakland nights without making a second observation lamenting the underside of the first. And that that this shot also signals another kind of last call for Oakland. For many who grew up in Oakland and the East Bay in general know that it’s been the home for communities of color who could not afford to live in San Francisco. Oakland’s recent renaissance has pushed large segments of communities of color out the last four years. Things are at a critical point if you appreciate property maps that illustrate neighborhood foreclosure rates.

If you happen upon this place before the buffers and homogenous modern design floods out the fun, dynamic, colorful vibe Oakland nights have to offer, look around and ask yourself whose missing as we further into the last days of Oakland as we know it.

–JMG

HTC One M8 (cell phone camera, f. 2.0/ 1/30 / ISO 125)

The Magic Carpets of Town Park

Untitled, Oakland CA, Fall 2016.

Oakland’s Defremery Park has a special place in Oakland history because of the role it played in the late 60s to convene Oakland’s black community in defense of Huey P. Newton when he was charged for the murder of a police officer. Town Park’s history is relatively recent but the spirit of the Black Panthers struggles for equal protection and civic participation is not lost since the funds to build out Town Park were raised by and for the West Oakland community. Empowering projects like this are remarkable because they also empower those who both work on and benefit from opening public space.

Taken during one of Oakland’s most meaningful, community driven festivals, Life Is Living, this set captures the dynamic energy and form. Beside the main stage, good food, and healthy, balanced living theme, I often visit to see the Extreme sports that go on in a section of Defremery Park known as Town Park. In true gonzo photography fashion, what the camera froze on frame shows that the lens is an active participant in the way subject’s act and react in front of it. I went of my way to publish some of these because it was evident the young men in them went out of their way to give me fabulous shots. I was very appreciative of their “hard skating” and the way they tolerated an intruding eye as they glide and bust tricks on their magic carpets.

–JMG

Holding Back Desire

Desire, Oakland CA, Summer 2016.

Oakland’s regular Friday Nights party draws out my photographic sensibility because there is a range of emotions it opens to capture with a camera. The outdoor amphitheater always challenges my technical skills as I like to shoot low light situations without flash.

This shot says tons about desire self control. It reflects the internal conversation we must have to not act on what we most want. That observation is most evident in the subject’s gaze into the wand. Holding back desire can also be read into the background. I think many would agree an interesting kind of tension is present when one encounters a fabulous dance partner. In those rare cases, one has to hold back desire to actually get on with the dancing.

–JMG

A Series of Decisive Moments (Piñata Sequence)

A Series of Decisive Moments (Piñata Sequence), Oakland CA, Summer 2016.

Blindfold or no blindfold this kid was going to smash something. You can tell it was all about delivering a kill shot on the pinãta because most kids go for the candy and this kid didn’t even think twice about it when he saw he took it down. In true Steph Curry fashion he walks off cool as ice. Tilden National Park casting a shadow on the ground and the reactions of my bestie’s engagement party guests are my favorite part of the picture.

I have been enjoying getting to know my OMD-EM5. Like any new camera it has its plus and minus side. Overall I love that I can carry it around given its size, and to be quite honest, its price. No matter how fabulously clean shots I might get from a full frame, high end DSLR, I wouldn’t fell comfortable using it as a “commuter.” That’s what I call the M5 because I take to work everyday in case inspiration strikes between the parking lot and the office. This sequence was shot withe a Lumix f.1.8 / 14-35mm, a very clean lens when optimal focus is achieved.

–JMG

Oakland Photo Journal

Oakland Photo Journal

Oakland

Hyphee in Motion: The Art of “Tut” & “Turf” Reflects the Vitality of Oakland Arts Cutting Edge

Solace in Community: Oakland Mourns Ghost Ship Warehouse Fire Victims

Portrait of a Chinatown Pop-up Grocer

Oakland’s Chinatown is all about getting a bargain on fresh food. Close enough to the Port of Oakland and Oakland’s central produce market, you can’t beat the prices on fresh greens, pork, poultry, or fresh sea food (from cat fish to eel).

21st Century Stockings (Diptych)

White Silence Is Violence

A white majority made itself heard last week in the U.S. putting its support behind a candidate that promises to keep his bigoted, White-nationalist, Islamophobic promises.

Waiting

Some say bus stops are excellent spaces to photograph people in their urban environment. The Bay Area has ferry stops too.

Last Call in Oakland (Diptych)

There’s a bar in Oakland (which I won’t mention by name here to keep it out of the wrong ears) that has a fun tradition where the bartenders light the bar on fire when they make the last call for drinks. It’s places like this that have shifted the tide in night life in Oakland.

The Magic Carpets of Town Park

Holding Back Desire

A Series of Decisive Moments (Piñata Sequence)