the story of my first photo yesterday. I started peddling around 12:30pm on this spot, there were 2 couples sitting on the benches and a couple who were standing, all looking at this view of San Francisco. I offered them a photograph but they all kindly declined but suddenly I heard someone said “i would like to have one”, i did not notice that there was a person in the corner of a plant box laying down on a sleeping bag, a caucasian woman, looks like she is going thru tough times, battling life high on drugs, i saw a lot of needle marks on her arm, and haven’t cleaned herself for a while. I said “sure”. I explained to her what i do, she said, “let’s do it”. I asked what is her name, she replied, “it’s “KK”.
I told her she can remain seated or we can stand infront of the skyline and it could be her background, she agreed to stand up. I framed, pressed the shutter and felt that it was a beautiful moment even if she is going thru a lot, she is alive and wanted a photograph of herself.
i asked her where she is from and she said that she grew up in the bay area and she is 37 years old. The image of her has started to appear and is slowly developing., i gave the photo to her, she looked at it and laughed out loud, i saw a brief happiness appear on her face, she turned around pulled out the coins from her pocket, “that’s all i have” and gave it to me, i said, no worries , the world will take care of us and thank you for the support. she then started collecting her jacket, backpack, sleeping bag. before she turned away and walk she looked at me and said “thank you”.
When she left i counted the coins, it was $0.86 and an Alcatraz coin. Seeing a brief moment of happiness in her face while she watches her image develop in a photograph, was more than enough for me.
I have survived for almost one year now with this give what you can system. it has given me a feeling of some kind of peace and fulfillment everyday before i sleep to rest my body. 🚶🏾📸🙏🏾✨
This photo is the photo of the coins that she gave me.
photo of the day.
yesterday afternoon, a man who doesn’t want to be named, supported what i do but didn’t want to be photographed. so i accepted the gift and told him that i am going to pass it forward.
The sun is almost setting when i met this family, as i was explaining what i do to the adults, the kids came up and got really excited, they wanted to be photographed with their family but the adults said that they didn’t have anything to donate. i didn’t want the kids to be disappointed and i know this photo will be treasured by them. so i told them that someone has donated and they can get the photo for free. the kids eyes lit up.
peddled memories.
I love taking photographs for families. I know the kids will appreciate them many years from now, and I love seeing them get excited as they shake the photo and watch it develop right in front of their eyes.
Thank you everyone!
Rose is on her way home after a long shift at work. She said she is going through something. I asked, "Heartache?" She got teary-eyed. Thank you, Rose. You got this!
