The Where We Live Project

Michael Napper

2009-06-20T17:26:00.000-07:00

There is more to where we live than our physical surroundings and the spaces we occupy. Where we live is also a frame of mind: a perception of a time and space in which we feel most alive, where we feel most fulfilled. I live in a specific neighborhood in San Francisco, but I actually "live" in a community of painters, photographers, writers, musicians and poets. It's a community I've helped to create and it's the "community" in which I do my most important and fulfilling work. The essay Michael submitted to "The Project" asks us to think a little deeper and consider just exactly "where" is it that we do live. That intrigues me. -- David W. Sumner

Michael Napper is a painter and film-based photographer living and working in Los Angeles. For more info go here:
www.dencontemporaryart.com
http://mixdmedia.blogspot.com/

"I am primarily a painter, working in oil paint, of abstract paintings. In the last few years I have also been working with black and white film. In both oil painting and black and white film photography I find a certain alchemy, an imperfect and often-times unpredictable alchemy, that for me mirrors the world. The elements of chance, randomness, fragility, serendipity are what I find most interesting in the process of both painting and shooting/developing film. There are artists and photographers who try to capture a representation of something they've seen...I guess I'm the other sort, the one that relies on a collaboration of the materials and the above mentioned elements to show me something previously unseen."

I've worked in very large studios, small studios, backyards, and hotel rooms....it's always the same, not too long into the work I find that I've created a small area, a little corner, where things get messy, pile up...and as much as I dislike the mess, it's out of the juxtaposition of this working detritus that a platform emerges for my ideas of what the work will be.

In the last few years, as my life has become less nomadic, more anchored, I find myself wanting see less in the paintings. The work now has more light, more breathing space, there isn't the dark frenzy of blacks and reds that there used to be. I suppose shooting in black and white has also had a simplifying influence on the paintings as well. I go through more Titanium white than any other paint.

I've worked with acrylic paints, and I've shot with digital cameras. They're convenient, fast, cheap. But I love the history that lies behind both oil painting and black and white silver-based photography. Both film and oil paint force one to slow down. I work as a painter in a very archaic, and some may say, hopelessly anachronistic and sentimental medium. I have no defense against such claims, but the nature of time does seem to change when I'm involved in the process of either film or paint.

Although I'm an abstract painter, there is something refreshing to pick up the simplest drawing tool and to draw something more realistic. There is something very meditative about doing a drawing of something that exists out there in the world, and sometimes I envy those artists who are satisfied with re-presenting an image that exists. But in the end I always end up returning to the unknown.

I believe a lot in instinct. One should never dull it by wanting to know everything.
-Josef Sudek

Phu Tran: Patea, New Zealand

2009-05-10T20:28:00.000-07:00

Phu Tran was born in Southeast Asia and raised in Northern California. He now lives and works in Patea, New Zealand. With graphic design being a primary profession, photography has always been an accompanying tool and continues to be a growing practice.

Life in Patea is quiet with the occasional strong coastal winds and the rumbling of milk trucks passing through. This small town was once a major boom town with all the essential businesses driven mainly by a thriving Freezing Works. Today, 25 years after the closing of the Works, only a handful of shops and clinics support less than 2000 remaining residents.

The Albion Hotel and Bar accommodates
farming contractors, traveling workers and tourists.

Patea locals get up at dawn to commemorate Anzac Day, 25th of April. It is a remembrance day for those who died in the 1st and 2nd World Wars.

Highway 3 Food bar is one of the busiest shops in town
serving typical Kiwi fish and chips.

The Freezing Works Display created by artist Nigel Ogle is reminiscent of
the days of success and wealth.

All images ©Phu M. Tran

Delmi Alvarez: Riga, Latvia

2009-04-12T11:34:00.000-07:00

Delmi Alvarez is a freelance photojournalist currently living in Riga, Latvia. Originally from the port city of Vigo, in the autonomous region of Galicia, in Northwest Spain, Delmi began his career photographing social conflict in the streets of Vigo.

Delmi has completed long term documentary projects, the most notable of which are his year long documentation of daily life in Cuba, and his twenty year documentation of the Galician Diaspora around the world.

Galegos na Diaspora 1989-2009 took Delmi on journeys through Europe, Russia, Africa and the Americas culminating in an edited work of 576 black and white duotone images.

Today Delmi lives among the Galician Diaspora in Riga.

In Latvia women clean the streets all year round starting very early each morning. In winter, as snow accumulates, the heavy work takes many hours.

March 16th is Latvian Legion Day when soldiers of the Latvian Legion, part of the Waffen SS, are commemorated. It was made an official day of remembrance in 1998 and has since sparked much controversy. Many Red Army veterans and leftist activists see the Legion as an arm of the Nazi regime and consider Legion Day a Nazi festival. In 2000, the Latvian government abolished the holiday.

Jurmala beach is a resort near Riga where the rich and diplomats live.

Freedom Monument Guard, Riga, Latvia.

Old car with advertisement: Moving?

All photos © Delmi Alvarez

Alan Dejecacion

2008-04-23T20:28:00.000-07:00

Alan Dejecacion is a photojournalist and documentary photographer living and working in San Francisco.

"I worked as a photojournalist for eight years while living in Los Angeles doing mostly editorial assignments for magazines and as contract photographer for the Gamma-Liaison photographic agency (acquired by Getty Images in 1997). I value the experienced gained from those times, but my approach to making a photograph has changed –partly from being inspired by friends, colleagues, and others. Those days of running around trying to meet deadlines are pretty much over for me. I prefer a much slower pace now, working mostly on long-term documentary projects some of which are posted on my Flickr site. In between these personal projects, the stunning light that we're so blessed here in San Francisco (my home for the last 15 years) is enough to keep me busy. "

Waitress at Rain Tree Cafe watching television on a slow evening.
Irving Street, San Francisco © Alan Dejecacion

Above Jones Street on a morning stroll with my Holga. San Francisco
© Alan Dejecacion

Tony Remington

2008-04-18T19:08:00.000-07:00

Tony Remington is a photographer of considerable accomplishment. He has recently been dividing his time between the Philippines and the San Francisco Bay Area.

"My father a Bataan Veteran POW was offered US citzenship. Thus, I was born a hypehnenated American Citizen in Manila, at doon ako pinananak. I grew up in San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury in the postwar fifties and reached adolescence when the country was reinventing itself through the colateral damage of Vietnam and the Civil Rights movement. I'm the diaspora of one country and the metamorphosis of another, and a contradiction to both. In 2006 I was consumed in the flaming embrace of Shiva and was briefly reincarnated in a prank called 'Death By Stork.' "

Pasig City, San Nicolas, Philippines. I caught three schoolgirls waiting for a tricycle after it had rained. The streets were still wet, lit up like sheets of glass flickering under passing headlights. I can still smell the Jeepney exhaust in the hot humid air as the girls laughed and talked without a care. © Tony Remington

Pasig City, San Nicolas, Philippines. I managed to isolate this tricycle as the rain returned. From among the hoards of tricycles found in Pasig City proper, malipit sa palenke, they come out in droves to ferry the children to and from school. I love the streets when they are wet like this. It is etched into my mind, I can still taste it. © Tony Remington

Pasig City, San Nicolas, Philippines. The "Eggman." A man crossing the street with a bag of eggs. My house is in the unmodernized part of Pasig City, free of pretense, Where I could get a clear understanding. © Tony Remington

Pasig City, San Nicolas, Philippines. The world truly is a bizarre composite of contradictions. It wasn't till I lost everything that I realized what i had found, and in doing so revealed an almost unbearable truth about being an American. © Tony Remington

John Wall

2008-03-02T15:57:00.001-08:00

John Wall is a nature and wildlife photographer living in San Francisco's Golden Gate Heights neighborhood.

#1: The San Francisco Wallflower is an endangered species, due mainly to an obvious loss of habitat. One of its last remaining haunts is tiny-but-excellent Grandview Park. © John Wall

#2: I loved this dog's posture and demeanor, especially that left rear paw sticking out, as he occupied this warm and sunny stoop one morning. No barking, no jumping up to say hello. Just casual and easygoing. © John Wall

#3: I often see this rose bush escaping the bounds of its enclosure. As a nature-lover in the city, I can relate. I also liked the religious imagery of the Rose on a Cross. © John Wall

#4: There are lots of steep, narrow streets in my neighborhood, and the steepest are actually terraced and separated by concrete walls. These are part of the local viewscape and have to be defended against encroachment of graffiti. Someone has even planted calla lilies along this one. I shot this scene when it was in shadow in the morning, then again in the afternoon when it was in the sun. Maybe because we don't take the sun for granted around here, I was drawn more to this brightly lit scene. © John Wall

Alyson Belcher

2008-03-02T15:33:00.000-08:00

Alyson Belcher is a fine art photographer living in San Francisco's Richmond District. She teaches photography at the Academy of Art University.

"I'm really drawn to the visual signs of old San Francisco. The City has changed so much over the past 20 years or so, and I'm always drawn to the places and things that haven't changed so much. That's why I love living in the Richmond. It's so regular and unchanged. I love the diversity of people who have come here from Europe and who have established their own communities in this neighborhood. There's a timeless feeling about this area. Or maybe it's just old and funky. But it's cool." - Alyson Belcher

#1: This car is a bright blue Le Mans, and when I took the photograph it was in beautiful condition. It is usually parked on 19th Ave. near Cabrillo, and it's often covered. On this day it was obviously not covered, and it sparkled in the sun. This car isolated against the residential architecture that is common in the Richmond District makes it difficult to tell exactly when this photograph was taken. Image: © 2007 Alyson Belcher

#2: The Holy Virgin Cathedral is a gold-domed Russian Orthodox church on Geary Blvd. (at 26th Ave.). I chose to photograph it from behind, where one can get a sense of the residential neighborhood that surrounds this amazing cathedral. The presence of the houses, cars, garbage cans and telephone wires in the foreground create an odd juxtaposition with this majestic structure in the background. Image: © 2007 Alyson Belcher

#3: We have a large population of Russian and Jewish immigrants in the Richmond District, and there are several markets that sell imported and kosher foods. Walking down Geary Blvd. is like shopping in old country. Not that I would really know. But I do know that when I go into these markets, I have no idea what any of the products are. All of the labels are in Russian or Hebrew. This particular store is the best place to buy Challah on Fridays.
Image: © 2007 Alyson Belcher

#4: The 4 Star Theater is my favorite movie theater in San Francisco. It's a small, cozy theater that has been around since the 1940's. Image: © 2007 Alyson Belcher