Papa Bear

He was sitting on the corner of Mason and O’Farrell reaching out to everyone who passed by.  “How about some help?”  I asked him if he’s heard of $2 Portraits - he had and agreed to participate.  “You’ll take my picture and give me $2?  For sure.”

Papa Bear is 53 years old and has lived in San Francisco his whole life.  He’s out of work, but is a self-described jack-of-all-trades.  He’d like to get a job doing anything.  I asked him how he got the name Papa Bear.  “8 kids”, he responded.  “So where’s Mama Bear”, I asked.  “She left me.”

He was a super-friendly guy, but distracted from our conversation.  All the while I’m talking to Papa Bear, he’s hitting up every person that walks by.  Being out of $2 Portrait practice, I was really off my game.  Afterwards, I thought of a dozen questions I could have asked.  If I see him again, we can pick-up where we left off.

Taken 4/6/16

Puff

O'Farrell Street
San Francisco, CA

Submitted for SliderSunday.  HSS!

Amelia

She was on the corner, cup in hand, with a sign that said “…traveling to Colorado…”  I asked her where in Colorado, snapped a couple of photos and then told her about the $2 portrait project to which she agreed to participate.  It turned out to be a good thing that I took some shots first because in all the others, she was looking off in the distance.

Amelia is 25 years old and was born in California, spent several years in Florida and then returned to California all before high school age.  Her parents were divorced when she was young and each remarried.  She has no siblings but several step-siblings that she doesn't see very often.

Having completed high school in 3.5 years and not wanting to live with either of her parents and their new families, she struck out on her own.  Culinary arts was what she really liked and worked under some well known chefs in several restaurants in San Francisco and Lake Tahoe over the last several years.  Living between Sacramento and Lake Tahoe for part of her life, she also loves skiing and snowboarding.

When her boyfriend moved out to Boulder, Colorado, she decided  since she loves the restaurant/food service business and loves to ski & snowboard, that Boulder would be a perfect place to go.  Her dream is to cook in the kitchen at a ski resort and snowboard on her free time.  Amelia plans to take a bus or an “Uber-like” long distance car service to Denver sometime in the next couple of months.  She’s tired of all this concrete.

I gave her $2 and wished her luck.  She thanked me for the money and conversation.

Taken 7/24/14

Joe

After dining at King of Thai Noodle House on O’Farrell in San Francisco, I bumped into a guy who asked me for a cigarette or something to eat.  Having neither on me, I told him about the $2 Portrait project and he replied, “That’s a good deal. Sure.”

 I asked him his name, age and to tell me a little about himself.  And that he did.

Joe Fong is 64 years old;  born and raised in San Francisco.  He went to San Francisco State for a Bachelor’s degree in psychology and to UC Berkeley for his PhD.  Following that he was recruited to Harvard Medical School where he completed his medical training and residency over a 10 year period. My jaw dropped because Joe was so well spoken in describing this with a strong, clear and confident voice.  “Could it be true?”, I wondered aloud.  “The eyes don’t lie”, Joe said as he stared me down.  I then asked him where he worked after returning to San Francisco, expecting to hear he had been a mucky muck at some large medical facility in SF.  “The US Postal Service as a carrier and at Safeway”, was his reply.  In answer to my inquiry, Joe never practiced medicine because he was (past tense) mentally ill - and his training was “not only on the theoretical side, but also on the practical side….me, as a schizophrenic”.

 Joe used to live at the Baldwin Hotel until “ a black guy told me not to come back or he’d throw me out."  Now he lives on the street and tries to avoid the rain.  Joe talked a little about his family who are all deceased.  His father died of a heart attack at age 70 and his mother in her sleep.  Joe cautioned me to keep stress low - it causes heart disease.

The last piece of wisdom that Joe provided was that he discovered what caused earthquakes. “It is those particles of stuff from the stars that hit the nuclear waste at the bottom of the ocean that sets them off.” He was however, unaware of the Chilean earthquake of a few days ago, but did recount the 7.1 in SF a few years back.

I talked to Joe for about 15 minutes and I could see some folks standing around eavesdropping on our conversation and as I was taking his photo.  Aside from some of the crazy stuff he was saying, he sounded perfectly normal - the paradox was astounding.  We shook hands as I gave him $2 and he had a surprisingly strong grip.  Since he hangs out around the Union Square area, I told him that if I see him again, we’ll have dinner together.  He was grinning ear to ear.

Taken 4/3/14

Kirk

At the corner of Powell & O'Farrell, sitting on a milk crate with a "Homeless & Hungry" sign, I met Kirk.  There was nothing unusual about him that said "STOP" other than his position right in the line of pedestrian traffic.  Unfortunately, there are a lot of "Kirks" along Powell.  I stooped down beside him and told him about the $2 Portrait project - that I'd be happy to give him $2 if I could take his picture and he tell me a little about his story.  Kirk said that's a good deal and we began to talk.

Kirk is 54 years old and originally from El Segundo, CA.  He worked as a truck driver until he became disabled.  He's been in San Francisco for 12 years and did say that it is a lot colder than LA, but it could be worse.  "Like Chicago", I said, "where you'd be freezing your butt off 6 months of the year."  "You got that right", Kirk chuckled.  We continued to talk and I asked if he had any family.  Kirk has a 25 year old daughter living in San Bernadino who he hasn't seen in a long time.  He says his ex turned her against him and didn't allow any contact.  A whole list of questions was passing through my mind on this subject, but I saw that Kirk was getting uncomfortable and I chose not to pursue them.

Physically, Kirk looked okay so I asked about his disability.  "HIV", he replied.  "Couldn't work after I got it."  He went on to tell me he gets a disability check once a month, but usually into the third week, he's out of money and has to take to the street.  He's on medication every day for the HIV - 18 pills - the $2,000/month cost of which is covered by MediCal (a state program I presume).  I asked him if he was clean and he replied that he is and that he's too old to be messin' around with that s__ any more.

I had been shooting the occasional picture during our conversation and I think Kirk became a little wary that he might get stiffed on the $2.  Recognizing this, I stood up and pulled out $2 and thanked him for his time and for sharing his story.  He stood up, shook my hand and offered thanks.  He then packed up his milk crate and signs and walked on down O'Farrell.

Also submitted for Daily Shoot #529: "Make a black and white photograph today."

Taken 4/25/11
Posted Flickr 4/28/11
Posted Project52 4/30/11 - Week 18

Check out my other $2 Portraits at http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeffm211/sets/72157626211920319/