I wanted to alert you that this week, I will be running a series of images that for some, may appear disturbing as the imagery of the week focuses on what some of us may consider the fringe of society. Last week, I was able to visit Tracy, her family and her new niece Addison, an adorable one month old baby girl. When I held Addy, I remembered that my own children often wanted to hold/chew/fondle items that had an ‘edge’ since we all surround our infants with items that are only smooth or soft. ‘Real’ car keys were much preferred by my kids over the cute smooth plastic ones. All humans want and need a wide variety of textures in our lives, be they physical or emotional.
This past Sunday I visited San Francisco’s Folsom Street Fair, listed as “the most outrageous leather/rubber/fetish attire enjoying the worlds largest and best loved Leather fair” I have sorely missed street shooting and since Tracy is back on the East Coast, I wanted to go out and forget that I miss her. What better way than to pursue my passion of humanity! She was shooting this weekend as well at an equine event. Our two venues could not have been more different. Oh and shooting just made me miss her more…
I have noticed that as of late, I have been enamored with and shooting things of beauty; beautiful people, beautiful places, blah blah blah. But just like a baby, I need the entire texture of humanity, not just that which we all gravitate towards. The Folsom Street Fair was my transition back into the ‘other side’ of the world and on this particular Sunday, a world foreign to me, but is as real as any other part of humanity. As I strolled among the nude, the sublime and the outrageous, I noticed that the expressions of the people I observed were no different than ‘normal’ people that I often make my subjects. They were simply wearing (or in many cases, NOT wearing) a different type of ‘mask’ on this particular day. One that surrounded fetishes or an identity they wished to display on this specific Sunday. Much like our upcoming American Halloween, people feel free to be ‘who they want to be’ one day a year. But it was so reassuring that my smile was met with a smile, my hello was acknowledged with a returned greeting.
And as I shot on this gorgeously sunny Sunday, I was again honored to be part of this feeling we call humanity.
