safe from harm

The LGBTQ+ community of Los Angeles has existed as long as Los Angeles herself has existed. The Vienna Buffet, a hearty little restaurant located in Victorian era Downtown Los Angeles, served as a popular meeting place for gay men to meet in a time where these “abominable” acts were persecuted. At that time, being LGBTQ+ was something hidden in the shadows, cast away and obscured. A century and then some later, Los Angeles can now call herself home of one of the most vibrant and diverse LGBTQ+ communities in the nation. 

Pockets of the LGBTQ+ community exist all through Los Angeles. West Hollywood, with its seaside charm and cosmopolitan feel, is the arguable capital of this community. Home to hundreds of businesses ran and owned by members of the LGBTQ+ community, West Hollywood has offered sanctuary to disaffected queer folks for as long as West Hollywood has existed. Silver Lake, Venice, Santa Monica, Hollywood, North Hollywood, Sherman Oaks, and much more - all of these places play host to vibrant and eclectic members of the community.

Performance has long since served as a crucial means of expressing LGBTQ+ identity since time immemorial. Today, members of the LGBTQ+ community have carved out their own niches in varying fields; film, music, performing arts, visual arts, poetry, writing - all have their own unique subcultures inspired by this community. Forms of performance like drag culture or ballroom culture can trace their origins back through the efforts of minority LGBTQ+ folks creating their own space to express themselves - in a world which often spurned them.

Today, Los Angeles can proudly call herself home to such a diverse and unique community of people. The LGBTQ+ community comprises thousands of folks, all united in commonality with being “different” than the norms of society. No matter how long people may spurn and reject them, the LGBTQ+ community always manages to rise up stronger and brighter. Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, this bold and brazen community will always stand strong, no matter what.

December 14th. The Pride Center has served as the central hub of CSUN's LGBTQ+ community ever since its' opening in the Fall of 2022. Here, the Pride Center waits to be opened on some wintry December morning.

December 9th. Marzen, a student mentor part of the Pride Center, enjoys a game of Uno with their fellow members of the Pride Center. This was taken at a mixer for the mentees and mentors of the Pride Center.

December 9th. Various employees of the Pride Center, of varying ethnicities, sexualities, and gender identities, all co-mingle at the Pride Center Mixer.

October 29th. Coco, a nonbinary student here at CSUN. "I think it's good that the LGBTQ+ community has been more accepting of people of differing gender identities. It's not just gay men, after all," they said.

October 28th. "I'm Mexican. There needs to be so much more work with my community in order for it to be a lot more accepting. I still have to hide a part of myself every time I come home," Coco recounted to me while at the CSUN campus.

October 14th. Danny, a gay man and LGBTQ+ advocate, actor, and writer. "There's a massive drug issue in the gay community that doesn't talked about enough. I've seen way too many guys ruin their lives over crack or poppers," he said.

October 14th. "I used to be one of those guys. I would snort crack and go home with random men. I'm happy to say that I'm no longer like that. I've been sober for 3 years, thankfully," Danny said to me. We were waiting at a cafe for coffee that day.

December 7th.  The photographer himself, at a friend's apartment in Van Nuys. My friend was getting his car ready and I decided I was going to experiment with how I usually present myself. This was how I looked at the drag show that night.

October 5th. The band Unbothered plays at C.Frenz, a gay bar located on Reseda. For the past Fall and Winter seasons, C.Frenz has been hosting a LGBTQ+ arts night dedicated to artists of the San Fernando Valley.

December 5th. My friend Anthony, who has thankfully accompanied me on many of my excursions for this project, smokes a quick cigarette. Anthony, who is the child of immigrants, identifies as a gay nonbinary person.

December 5th. "Every time we fuck, we win" has been a phrase often repeated by many a LGBTQ+ person in reference to the expectations of hetero society. This particular mural was captured at Precinct, a popular and historic gay bar in Downtown Los Angeles.

October 5th. Unbothered, a band hailing from the San Fernando Valley, plays at C.Frenz. Music has often served as means of social expression for various minority communities, and the LGBTQ+ community is no different.

December 5th. Katalina De Isla, a drag queen based out of Fullerton, performs a Selena-inspired number at Precinct. Her number brought the house down, and she easily collected the most tips of the night.

December 5th. Kaylani Rose does a take on I Love Lucy as her performance at Precinct. Rose and multiple other drag performers featured in this essay were competing in a decades inspired challenge that night.

December 5th. Elektro Rouge, a self-titled "glittery goblin drag king", performs a Siouxsie Sioux number during the decades-themed challenge at Precinct. This was in a series of weekly challenges to win a cash prize and host a weekly show at the bar.

December 5th. BOSS, a drag performer, did an electrifying performance of Come Together at Precinct. They opened up the competition during that night.

December 5th. Aiyah, a drag queen, performs a Rihanna inspired number. Aiyah was one of the first to go up for the weekly challenge at Precinct and unfortunately landed in the bottom 3 that night. They avoided being eliminated in the end however.

December 5th. "Long live the queen," reads a neon sign at Precinct. A phrase best apt for the LGBTQ+ community; despite decades of mistreatment, abuse, and disease, this community has still managed to shake themselves off and rise up once more. May they live long indeed.

December 6th. After a long night of partying and performance, Precinct closes down for the night. Once, these bars were the only places where LGBTQ+ folks could meet others. Now they are simply islands in great sea that is the modern community. The LGBTQ+ community of Los Angeles no longer has to hide in darkened corners and dusty old bars; they are now free to be who they are and take pride in who they are.

This photo essay has been a simple ride along the complex and diverse group of people that is the LGBTQ+ community. I plan to expand on this project for my own personal usage and personal time. These photos are only a simple glimpse into this unique and diverse crowd of folks, and I encourage everyone who reads this to explore their own communities around them.

One thing that has been rattling about in my mind since reading these chapters was how Kobre noted how no two portfolios are the same. Photography is an extension of how we see the world; no one person is similar to another person, and even the slightest minutiae can create a whole new photograph. Take a snapshot of something, and hand the camera to another person - even though they are likely photographing the same thing, it is impossible to recreate the same photograph again. That, in many ways, is the beauty of photography.

Portfolios are our own ways of categorizing and organizing our own works. As befitting our own diverse styles of photography, portfolios are unique in their own way as well. In my own experience, I will admit I haven’t really created a portfolio until now, an act of carelessness on my part, especially when considering that I have been doing photography for nearly 7 years now! Still, it’s of major importance for photographers and photojournalists to work on having a portfolio in the first place. Portfolios are key tools for us photographic artists to distinguish themselves from other people. They are the essence of our own artwork distilled into a simple package. It’s the greatest hits of our work - the selections that represent the epitome of who we are as artists. 

Continuing on my previous themes of barely doing anything with my photographic work, I will admit I have barely touched any major grants, contests, and workshops. My own photography has often existed in a space by itself; I would bring a camera to various events and photograph, but they would often go into the files of my computer right after and gather digital dust. The closest any of my photographs have gotten into the professional world was in high school, when I photographed multiple events for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. However, this was in 2017 and 2018 - nearly 4 years ago! However, I am working on actively changing these habits and actively working on creating an accessible portfolio for these works. Having greater access to digital works helps!

A new challenge I have given myself is to actively pursue the possibilities of working in the photographic field, and curating my work as such. I want to avoid being comfortable with doing the bare minimum in my photographic work. I want to explore and expand my horizons. I hope and I pray that this start of my portfolio marks a sea change in my own work.

The portfolio linked here is a massive work in progress, but I hope it is enjoyed by whoever sees it. The photos included in this blog post are some of my favorite photographs I’ve shot throughout this year. They cover a diverse range of styles and events, but they are each my own work.

https://mattalpuerto803.wixsite.com/mysite

What is privacy within photojournalism? For a profession so obsessed with documenting the truth, how can one truly cover the world while respecting the rights of others we document? There is some truth to the often used statement, that cameras really do steal the souls of others. Photography, in its own essence, robs the subject of their own agenda. They are captured as how the photographer wants to capture them. They are frozen into their own positions, caught in a scene they may very well have been an unwilling participant in. How can we balance this inequality with our own fundamental duties as a photojournalist? 

In some ways, there are existing protections for the subject within photography. As Kobre notes, it is illegal to use photographs of someone for commercial usage without their consent. Thus, in some ways we are protected of our visages being used for profit without our consent. And yet, as our own photographers, we also own the rights and copyrights to our images. How can we square these two differing ideas? So much of photojournalism is dedicated to documenting the world around us, often with a somewhat commercial bent (freelance or not, it is very likely as a photojournalist you are gonna get paid for our work). Thus, to what extent can we balance the profit motive with telling the truth while respecting the rights of those we photograph?

https://pin.it/1vxqvu6

This pin analyzes the dichotomy between public need to knowledge and police refusal to allow documentation of their brutality. The documentation of police brutality within America is an interesting demonstration of this conundrum. Thanks to the proliferation of social media and cell phones, more and more people are able to document the excessive brutalities of police within these states. And yet, despite what officers might say, it is perfectly legal to document these officers. Often the balance between privacy and public need for knowledge is what is discussed here. Who should get the benefit, the public in their need to know more, or the privacy of police officers? Within the law, the law lies with the public. It is almost a public need to document these grave offenses of the law. Without them, they would very much go forgotten. The recent Ahmaud Arbery trial is one poignant example. Initially, the defendants were going to go without a charge as the county DA thought it was unnecessary to bring them to trial. It was only through the release of said footage of Arbery’s murder, alongside public outcry, that the defendents were charged and found guilty. 

Yes, there lies a major conflict within photojournalism. To whom should we protect? Should we protect the subject, or should we protect the public? In the end, it lies within our own judgement. We need to make the choice that best helps all. Sometimes, it means protecting a person’s privacy. Other times, it means violating that privacy - if it helps to bring about the truth.

What is the purpose of photojournalism? What meanings does it belie underneath the glossy and informative surface? Photojournalism itself has had long history within these United States - the advent of photography combined with the widespread use of newspapers meant that a combination of the two were bound to happen sometime soon. Photography serves as the perfect vehicle of telling the truth - why rely on descriptors and words when images in full living color can tell the truth just as well?

Photojournalism itself is the perfect blend of art and information. Photojournalism is a skill, honed by practice and time. As Chapnick writes, great works rarely happen by accident - they happen through a build-up of years of work and toil. One’s skills in photography itself does not necessarily translate into photojournalism; as Chapnick notes, while photography can thrive in the mysterious and the mundane, photojournalism must be clear and concise. Clarity and detail are not optional - they are a need. What matters most is what we can say in a single photograph. Rarely will someone go through a bunch of photographs out of curiosity; you need to hook them in off the first touch. Everything you want to say in a story, you have to say it in the first breath on the first photograph.

As of now, my own philosophy of photojournalism is that its purpose is to tell the truth and nothing but the truth. Telling the truth of the world comes before art in photojournalism; when artistic values overtakes the facts, one has failed in their pursuit of photojournalism. Does this mean art cannot be combined with the practice? No, it does not. Rather, it means we must learn to blend our artistic talents with our penchant for telling the truth. We must catch the eye of the view while showing the reality of the world around us.

We must think of what we are shooting when we shoot. How does this help tell the truth? How does this help tell what reality is? What is this conveying about what is going on? What does this photograph tell about us? What does it say about humanity?

Within this blog post are various photographs I have taken over the course of this semester. I have decided to pick my favorites from my various projects and personal experiences. My own arts background shines through a lot of my work, and it is well evident within these photographs where I take my own personal work ethics from.

To quote Chapnick quoting Chris Morris, “....you rely on your instincts knowing how far and how hard to push.” This, in many ways, is the truism that surrounds photojournalism. With photojournalism, we rely on ourselves to know our own limits to know how far we can go. War photography, in particular, pushes us to our limits. In war, one must deal with violence, suffering, and death. Chapnick, in particular emphasizes our own mortality, noting that “There’s no award for death or shrapnel in one’s body”. In many ways, before entering the field of war photography having a list of what to do (and not do) is ideal - it can, in many ways, be the difference between life and death.

Lynsey Addario, a modern day photojournalist, has been on the receiving end of this truism on the struggle of surviving as a war photographer. As Chapnick wrote, knowing the basic language, gestures, and customs of the country you are in is of paramount importance. Being able to effectively communicate with local citizens is essential as a photojournalist, as being afloat without any ability to make any major connections with locals will effectively kill you. Addario, as a photographer staffed in Pakistan, understood the importance of this notion. As a foreign female photojournalist stationed in Pakistan, she had to make the choice to leave under the looming threat of the Taliban - who would have surely executed her if they could. Addario donned a burqa and rubber shoes, and taught herself how to properly walk in a burqa - all necessary to avoid near-certain death.

It is almost key that anyone who starts war photography should be versed on the country they are coming to, alongside its history. Being able to be mentally stable (or, at the very least, have access to mental resources) is key as well. Having the physical ability to keep up with army forces as well as physical implements (proper coverage and connections, flak jacket, life jackets, etc) is practically required.

What is vital, of most importance, is the ability to actually have a shred of humanity. War distorts the human condition into something flat out unrecognizable. Addario’s note on 9/11 is a particularly poignant aspect of this - America’s constant actions in the theater of war across the Middle East from the 1950s onwards have made them hugely unpopular to say the least. To many in the Middle East, 9/11 was a retaliation towards the decades of pain America inflicted on them; Addario had to come to terms with this fact, and understand why so many harbored intense hatred towards the United States.

War photography is a dirty, dangerous, and deathly affair. Many a great photographer has died an early death on the field, and many more have suffered life-long physical and mental injuries from the horrors of war. And yet, war photography has proven essential time and time again to communicating these great horrors of war. There is a reason why journalists and photojournalists are often targeted by despots and dictators - they are the ones responsible for shining light on the truth.

I have illustrated this post with photographs by Lyndsey Addario. I feel like they are the best accompaniment to this post. As she is the main character of this blog, it is only appropriate to feature her work.

1) OBJECTIVES What were you trying to accomplish? How did you approach the subject (contacts, field visits, research)

For this part of the project, I would up conducting interviews and focusing on two separate individuals, Coco and Danny, both members of the LGBTQ+ community. Thankfully, my work has been made a bit easier as I have been able to meet with them on a regular basis. I have been able to capture portraiture of them both, as well as interviews for this assignment. My main goal for these interviews and photos was to capture their own thoughts and feelings surrounding modern LGBTQ+ culture, especially from their differing backgrounds (Coco is an nonbinary Hispanic person, Danny is a neurodivergent former addict). I settled on a interview pattern that works best for me: taking photos and interviewing them, while adding in proper portraits at the end. It allows me to capture both rehearsed and staged portraits alongside more candid photographs of the subject.

2) OBSTACLES/CHALLENGES What factors helped or hindered your work to this point. This can include both technical issues as well as logistical matters

Frankly, the main issue at this point is scheduling and not having a car. Living in a city that is heavily built around personal auto-motives sucks when you don’t have one! Taking the bus to get to Point A from Point B slowly eats up your time - and you have to heavily plan things out so all buses are coordinated, something out of your control. Case in point - a week or so ago, I was planning to head to North Hollywood to cover a LGBTQ+ kink event. Normally, a bus from Northridge to North Hollywood takes around an hour or so (take the 240 south, then hop on the Orange Line to North Hollywood station). However, due to buses being late and one bus straight up driving past me without stopping, I was unable to make it to the event to meaningfully cover it - by the time I arrived, the event was near completion and so would have been somewhat useless for me to photograph it.

Thankfully, covering these two individuals has been somewhat easier. Coco is a fellow CSUN student and Danny lives in Van Nuys so there is not that much a distance - rather the issue is coordinating schedules and events, a problem familiar to many a photographer, journalist, and photojournalist. When we are three working adults, ensuring that everything coordinates on time is a bit of a problematic and painful task.

3) PERSONAL ANECDOTES Include any experiences that have affected the way you approach your work. This can include interactions with people in the field, and should have some affect on your growth as a photojournalist.

This whole project has slowly ingrained within me my love of photography. Being able to cover a subject near and dear to my heart has empowered me in my own work as a photojournalist. It has been a path that has been somewhat bumpy (as my previous kvetching has shown) but it still is a path onwards. Interacting with people from varying communities within one larger community has been ever so interesting,  as has influenced me as my own person. Being able to be able to explore the meanings of sexuality and gender identity has been endlessly fascinating, and as much as I feel somewhat chump-ish to say this, having the looming specter of a grade has pushed me to improve and work on myself.

I am admittedly very lazy, and I will admit there have been times where I have skimped out on work to take the easy way out. In many ways, this project has forced me to reconsider my own photographic tactics, and help mature my own photojournalist self. I can’t half-bake my own work, especially in senior-level work like this - I need to ensure I am doing my own best.

4) LOOKING AHEAD  Based on what you have accomplished so far, what are you planning to accomplish between now and the next critique?

Ideally, I will continue to hone in on the experiences of individuals with varying identities within the LGBTQ+ community. I will be interviewing some LGBTQ+ elders in the upcoming weeks, as well as focusing on more community LGBTQ+ events. As I have said before, I want to cover the full breadth of the LGBTQ+ community, from activism to sexuality to individuality to performance. The LGBTQ+ community is a wide morass of varying peoples and groups under a single umbrella. To categorize and label them all as the same would be an injustice to their own unique stories and lives.

Chapnick, the venerable authority of photojournalism, once wrote that “The photographer must practice the act of watchful waiting, of anticipation and instinct, which all develop through observing human behavior and refining one’s ability to see.” Photography, at its most basic form, is the practice of capturing images via a tool. And yet, photography is so much more than just this simple statement. Photography is a means of expressing your own world view; it is the observer’s way of seeing through your eye. Each photograph is a unique capture of the world, like a snowflake; with each little action, the content within our photographs change and morph. Photojournalism, by itself, is unique in its own way as it is the harbinger of truth and reality to many across the world. 

Like Chapnick wrote, the creativity inherent inside the visual arts like photography is something that is learnable. While many people are born with a seed of creativity within them, present from the very start, for many other people creativity is learned and taught, honed through years of practice and appreciation. People can be born with a predisposition for artistic expression and talent but it doesn’t mean that art is strictly limited to them. I am a firm believer that are all born with the seed of creativity within all of us - it just differs on if we choose to pursue that seed and nurture it into something greater. We need to have that hard work to help us cultivate the garden of creativity that we all share. Like what Chapnick said, “Any type of photography on the cheap is wasteful and extravagant.” We cannot skimp and go cheap on our own ideas. We need to work on them, and push them to our best potential. 

Due to the pandemic, my own photography skills have gone dormant. I barely shot photos during 2020, and when I was doing photography for my classes, I usually did the bare minimum required. However, a new year brought a new me, and I made it a personal goal of mine this year to shoot photographs, and to an extent I have succeeded. I have shot photos every year, and this year I shot my first ever studio portraits. I have carefully conserved and brought back my own seed of creativity, having resuscitated from dormant hibernation into a beautiful flower of life.

Tattooed Man at a Carnival, Md. 1970

My first main impression of this chapter was that Chapnick was extremely familiar with a plethora of photojournalists, to a rather impressive extent. I loved his own personal anecdotes of each photojournalist, highlighting his own closeness with them and his own passion for his work. A key aspect of success in any career is having a clear value and happiness for what you do, and it is rather clear with Chapnick that he lives and breathes photojournalism. His stories - my personal favorite being Eugene Smith getting frustrated with Chapnick for knocking down his various (expensive) photography equipment as I relate to Chapnick in this scenario - are key to showcasing the various lessons and maxims one can draw from the field of photojournalism.

A Puerto Rican Housewife, NYC

His own musings on how important the camera was as an instrument is just as relevant. Photojournalism has been used as a great vehicle of change so many times in the past - Gordon Parks’ captures of the struggles of African Americans fighting for a better life, Jacob Riis’ captures of the poverty and struggles of people poverty, etc - all are clear highlights of the power of the photographic image. Gordon Parks’ quote - “I’ve long since learned there’s no such thing as not being able to do something you really want to try” (p.135) captures very well the sentiment common amongst many a photojournalist. We are responsible for changing the world, and bringing about such great social change. It is in our hands, and we must have the drive and passion to bring about the truth to the people. We can’t half-ass it or try to avoid it - we must confront it. And when we have the drive, the want, we will succeed - like what Parks said.

A Jewish giant at home with his parents in the Bronx, N.Y.'

Diane Arbus, born in 1923 in New York City (and passed away due to suicide 48 years later in New York City) was a testament to the power of the camera. Arbus, herself admitted that her oft-tagged descriptor of being a photographer of freaks was true - she loved the unknown and the bizarre. She charged headfirst into the world of the underground, capturing who she called “the aristocrats” - those born different than the rest of the world.

Lady Bartender at Home with a Souvenir Dog, New Orleans L.A. 1964

Arbus’ work blurred the lines between documentary photojournalism and art. She wasn’t afraid of imperfections, of blurry subjects and lurid subject matter. She captured the world as she saw it - worn, tired, and with a lot of weirdness. Her record of the “flaws” (as she called them) in people force us to confront our own perceptions of the world.

Identical Twins, Roselle, New Jersey, 1967

Do we shun these “freaks” like how everyone else does? Or do we befriend them, embrace them, and love them, like what Arbus did?

Child with Toy Hand Grenade in Central Park, N.Y.C. 1962

"Freaks was a thing I photographed a lot....There's a quality of legend about freaks. Like a person in a fairy tale who stops you and demands that you answer a riddle. Most people go through life dreading they'll have a traumatic experience. Freaks were born with their trauma. They've already passed their test in life. They're aristocrats.” - Diane Arbus

My video is on the past and present of the LGBTQ community in Los Angeles, and how the effects of the past ripple their way unto today. This video is a companion to my own photographs and writing on the subject. In this case, I have interviewed two citizens of Los Angeles who are members of the LGBTQ community. I have spliced these questions with footage and photographs of LGBTQ history in Los Angeles, as an interplay between the past and present of a marginalized and often-overlooked subculture. 

On Kobre’s seminal work on Photojournalism, he rather correctly noted that “sound brings pictures to life in a way that captions alone can’t accomplish.” Doing a video that was just exclusively old footage of the LGBTQ community in Los Angeles, while interesting, would not have worked as well as layering that footage with modern commentary by members of the LGBTQ community. With the sound, I had to interview these subjects via Zoom as my original interviewees were unable to participate due to health issues. However, I still got the videos and audio that I need for this project.

What is photo manipulation? It can best be described as the editing of a photo. Whether it be simply enhancing the contrast, or converting the image to black and white, or heavily changing the composition of the photograph, photo manipulation can encompass quite a lot of things simply. 

As photo manipulation can very easily distort the truth, it is thus rather unsurprising that practically every major photojournalistic publication is against the manipulation of photos (bar very light enhancements). In Chapnick’s writing, he is against the use of photo manipulation, as he emphasizes the importance of honesty when publishing photojournalistic works As he writes in Chapter 21 “Photojournalists should take pictures, not make pictures.” With the rise of smartphones and the increased democracy of photojournalism, there is less need for the recreations and fakery of yore. With the rise of “fake news” and deep fakes, the need for the truth in the visual word is more than necessary. Rampant photo manipulation - especially by news sites and organizations - heavily damages credibility and the truth. It is of utmost importance for photojournalists to stick to the truth, and nothing but the truth.

Kobre’s own writing gels well with Chapnick’s writing. His examples - namely the Mike Meadows and Yeah Eckerd - illustrate just how vital telling the unvarnished truth is in our work. Even seemingly casual situations can turn sour with any potential tampering with reality. In Mike Meadows’ case, a simple suggestion to a worn out firefighter to cool himself off with a nearby hose and pool led to a photograph being taken - and lead to Meadows being suspended for a week without pay because he more or less set the image up.

Same thing happened with Norman Zeisloft and the “Yeah Eckerd” photo. Zeisloft’s suggestion that one of the fans write the titular phrase on his feet led to an amusing photo, and a firing from the Evening Independent. While these examples may seem a bit harsh, they reveal the ever important truth of photojournalism - don’t embellish. Setting up a photo may be cute, but in the end you are creating a deliberate scene - which is far from reality and what naturally happens.

The Errol Morris article brought out a rather interesting point in photojournalism. We often see photos of discarded dolls and toys, strewn about to create a heart wrenching scene. And yet, how often do we see these photos? How often do we see these scenes? They make for good pictures, yes, but the fact these scenes appear so often casts doubts on their veracity. And in this article’s case, how likely was it we were to find a doll abandoned perfectly in the middle of the street, nary a scratch?

The interview, on the other hand, was somewhat bizarre. He seemed a bit aggrandizing, what with his laser focus on captions. His note that it’s hard to tell when a photograph was taken and thus questions about authenticity should be constant was interesting. He did feel extremely defensive throughout the article as well. Overall, a great article, but an odd subject.

I have had some mixed luck working on my personal story thus far. Due to conflicting time issues and schedules, I have unfortunately been unable to accomplish as much of my assignment as I have wanted to. Whether it be due to conflicting work schedules or transportation issues, I have been unable to photograph as much as I have wanted to sadly. In all honesty, I am somewhat miffed that this project has not been “rolling” as much as I wanted it to be. Frankly, I’m a bit embarrassed that I don’t have as much to show compared to other photographers here for this class, but alas, we will have to make do.

This Tuesday, I aimed to sojourn to a local art event. The San Fernando Queer Art Night has been an ongoing event since September; on that night, they had a local band (Unbothered) alongside some instrumentalists playing. Hosted by a local gay bar entitled C.Frenz, I honestly had no idea what to expect heading to the bar that night.

As is to be expected on a Tuesday night, the bar was rather sparse - a couple of locals were here and there. As I made my way through the entrance, passing the wafting scents of alcohol and cigarettes, the plaintive sounds of a lone violin drew me to the outside patio. Navigating across the empty wooden dance floor, I found the patio. The concrete display was small - about as big as an average classroom.

Fitting for such a small environment, the patio was just as cozy and comfortable as I wished it could be. In a corner, a small crowd huddled on old plastic chairs and worn wooden tables, looking on as a lanky and waifish young man played an original composition on a small violin. Accompanying him was an older man, grey and grizzled, gently plinking down musical accompaniment on a familiar keyboard. After having performed just two songs by the time I got there, the attention shifted to the other side of the patio, where a band of twentysomethings were getting ready to perform.

Unbothered were a great band - three guys on the guitars (lead, rhythm, and bass) and drums. They performed your usual DIY indie rock, but to great aplomb with the small but animated crowd. After slightly going over the set time, the band packed up and shipped out, to plenty of tips and applause.

Overall, I will admit this photo shoot was rather fun. The atmosphere, music, and overall experience was rather enjoyable. I do hope that this good feeling continues for my future photoshoots - I was lucky enough that C.Frenz is just down Reseda, and that they hold these events on a semi regular basis. Next time I’m going to have to actively work to ensure I can do a proper photo shoot.

Doing a photo series on the LGBTQ community has been slightly difficult, but thankfully I do have resources. Being able to see LGBTQ+ affiliated perform and being able to photograph them was a treat. I pray that this luck can and will continue for future shoots.

Photo essays, like photojournalism, have gone through its own unique history in development. LIFE and Look helped spur the creation of the modern photo essay - a series of photographs that tell some form of a story or narrative, or aim to document a certain topic or idea. As Chapnick emphasizes, it was the early masters - Margaret Bourke-White, W. Eugene Smith,  Leonard McCombe, etc., were the originators for the art of the photo essay.

In particular, W. Eugene Smith’s work exemplifies the the sheer power and artistic value the photo story could have. County Doctor, and Spanish Village, in particular, were the epitomes of these tropes. The former mixed artistic values with storytelling, portraying the story of the titular country doctor who worked in a remote Colorado country town. Spanish Village, meanwhile, is the ultimate example of the artistic power of photojournalism. Via the simple power of exposure and composition, Smith portrays the power of the photographic image. 

One interesting thread that both Kobre and Chapnick pick up on is the proper and best way of creating a successful photo story. Kobre notably focuses on the importance of selecting and approaching the right topic (e.g, how do you broach this topic with care?). He notes that photojournalists can best think of a photo story in three categories - the photo essay, documentary report, or narrative story. Each brand has their own unique strengths and weaknesses as a means of conveying information in captions and photographs. There is no “best format” - there is only the format that works best for what you are trying to say.

Going to what Kobre and Chapnick said, Smith’s seminal work, Country Doctor, is a great example of the balance between photojournalistic content and artistic content. W. Eugene Smith’s own style of photographic art and his commitment to his work is frankly admirable; the fact that he has been behind multiple famous photo stories (the aforementioned Country Doctor, Spanish Village, Minamata, etc) is a testament to his work.

Country Doctor stands out to me so much as it is the balance between artistic and telling a story. The work of rural healthcare is often ignored, and having a story that highlights them and their own stories is magnificent. Smith allows us to get invested in the story, weaving us into a tale of the doctor who works in the last remaining remnants of the Wild West. It is his depiction of the hardworking man - Dr. Ernest Ceriani - that earns my attention. We get to know Dr. Ceriani as if he we knew him himself; Smith’s relentlessly intimate portraits feel almost disarming at times, as we are thrust into this life that he depicts. Even though this story was published 70+ years ago, this seminal work still remains just as enchanting and effective. I myself am a big fan of this story (and Smith’s work at large) and I imagine there are many others who feel the same way.

Ian is a sophomore college student here at CSUN. His major is in film, but he also specializes in dance and in theater. “I like to consider myself multi-talented. I can do tap dancing, hip-hop, act, and film.”, he said. 

After scouting around to find a subject for these portraits, Ian was gracious enough to volunteer for the project. Witty and effervescent, Ian was more than charming to collaborate with. Despite the inherent awkwardness of being photographed up-close and personally, he managed to bridge that gap and showcase quite a few of his moves for the camera.

Ian’s dancing and acting showcased two aspects of his personality. On one end was his dancing - effortless and graceful, he was able to showcase tricks like spins and handsprings, alongside coordinated performances like vouging. One the other end was his acting - funny and amicable, he was able to showcase various scenes from various theatrical shows for the camera (Hamlet and A Chorus Line being the most notable ones).

All of these photos were taken in student housing, where Ian lived. As this was his first time on campus, there was a great contrast between the cold concrete environments of student housing, and the warm vibrancy that emanated from Ian. For Ian, this was his home away from home - where he would spend not only this year, but the next two years of his life working on attaining a degree and finding a future career path. To utilize this new environment in portraiture showcasing who he is as a person was a simple decision.

Relentlessly talented and easy to work with, it is simple to say with confidence that Ian has a bright future ahead of him. Multifaceted in all aspects of the word, it is easy to say that he has a bright future ahead for him.

Environmental portrait: A portrait taken in the subject’s environment that illustrates their life and surroundings. As Chapnick said, portraits tie us to our predecessors - it is a way for us to visualize our past selves, our ancestors, all of those who came before us. There is a good reason for the myth that cameras take away our souls - the photograph freezes you into the moment, a moment that is so fleeting and ephemeral. You may not be the same person in that photo a day later, a hour later, even a minute later. Our whole worlds and lives can easily change in the blink of an eye - and the portrait is a capture of our life, our soul, our very being, into a single flat image.

As Chapnick wrote, portraits have to go above and beyond being simple photos. A portrait that is simply a photo of the subject is just that - a simple photo. Where is the subject’s personality? Where is their life story? Rather, the best portraits capture the subject as they are, who they are, and where they are.

Including the smallest details in portraits can transform them from being a simple picture to being a moving work of art. The tiny things - positions of hands, body language, even the background behind them - can reveal so much about the subject. Focusing on the face helps as much too - like what Kobre, the de facto expert on photojournalism wrote, “the face still carries a disproportionate amount of psychological weight”. Simply put, faces are how we recognize others. Humans are innately conditioned to look for faces everywhere (thus pareidolia being a thing). It is our natural human instinct to look at faces. It is how we tell enemy from friend, how we recognize who we can and who we can avoid.

For my own portraiture, I wanted to focus on movement and faces. When photographing those who perform - musicians, dancers, actors - capturing and translating movement into a photograph is essential. I’ve always had a slight preference for movement in photography; there is something beautiful about freezing a frenzy of action into a single photo, something so ephemeral captured for eternity. As I’ve worked quite a bit in theater and dance, learning to capture motion is not only ideal, it’s essential - you can’t really call yourself a theater photographer if you can’t even manage to capture an actor moving across the stage.

In my environmental portraits, I labored as so to capture the idea of movement and flow. Dance, in so many ways, is moving from step to the next. For these photos, I planned with my subject, Ian, on what dances and outfits to wear. I decided to contrast the world of acting with the world of dance - dance outfits, for the most part, are focused on allowing the wearer to move. Thus, sweats, tank tops, and shorts rule that world. Acting is a full body performance, and as such costume matters just as much as your own skills. For his dancing, Ian wore a long sleeve shirt and sweats; for his acting, he wore a tuxedo vest, slacks, and a white button shirt (sadly, the prerequisite hat was missing).

Chapnick very succinctly captured the meaning and value of portraiture with his statement on how the best portraits “capture the human spirit by responding to the subtleties of facial expressions, the sardonic or sympathetic lines of the mouth, the brittle hardness or soft compassion of the eyes, and the inevitable lines and folds that define the facial landscape.” We can learn someone’s whole story just from a single picture - funny how that works. From a combination of pixels or chemicals on paper, one can learn just a little more about the world.

In my own portraiture, I caught Ian’s own effervescent and relentlessly charming personality. My original plan was to shoot just two sets of photos - one of him dancing, and one of him acting. The photo sessions turned out well enough that I wound up capturing him doing multiple dances and acting poses. All of them illustrate his talent in the performing arts, and his own unique way of viewing the world.

Just like what Chapnick said, paraphrasing Arnold Newman’s perspective of the work of art that is portraiture, the portraits we take fail to capture the multifaceted aspects that is humanity. Overall, this environmental portrait project was an ideal way to broach this idea across to multiple people. Ian’s work and talent is captured in these photos. But do they capture all of him? No, they do not. And so, I encourage you, the reader, to move past the digital gap and learn more. Talk to your neighbors, your classmates, your professors, to anyone you meet. One cannot learn more about the world without learning about those who are near them. Failure to do so would be dooming yourself into ignorance.

Ian is a sophomore college student here at CSUN. His major is in film, but he also specializes in dance and in theater. “I like to consider myself multi-talented. I can do tap dancing, hip-hop, act, and film.”, he said. After scouting around to find a subject for these portraits, Ian was gracious enough to volunteer for the project. Witty and effervescent, Ian was more than charming to collaborate with. Despite the inherent awkwardness of being photographed up-close and personally, he managed to bridge that gap and showcase quite a few of his moves for the camera.

Ian’s dancing and acting showcased two aspects of his personality. On one end was his dancing - effortless and graceful, he was able to showcase tricks like spins and handsprings, alongside coordinated performances like vouging. One the other end was his acting - funny and amicable, he was able to showcase various scenes from various theatrical shows for the camera (Hamlet and A Chorus Line being the most notable ones).

All of these photos were taken in student housing, where Ian lived. As this was his first time on campus, there was a great contrast between the cold concrete environments of student housing, and the warm vibrancy that emanated from Ian. For Ian, this was his home away from home - where he would spend not only this year, but the next two years of his life working on attaining a degree and finding a future career path. To utilize this new environment in portraiture showcasing who he is as a person was a simple decision.

When one is a photojournalist, they need to have ideas. Capturing images without thought or plan is being a photographic automaton. Like what Chapnick said, we can find ideas for our imagery everywhere - even in the mundane, one can find countless ideas for photography. You aren’t limited to the grandiose, as the smallest things can build up into great ideas.

Even the smallest of events can lend themselves to great photo ideas. Imagine if your cousin is doing a musical recital at home. Capturing their whole journey, from inception to the final performance, can be a journey on it’s own. Chapnick’s notation of Cal Bernstein’s coverage of a college couple strikes especially hard. Yes, the idea of covering a college aged couple is mundane, but who dares to cover the mundane? Absolutely no one. Furthermore, getting interested in the project helps both the subject and the photographer. Far too often photojournalists remain dispassionate from their subjects - they show up, do the photos and writing, and leave. What are we if we abandon the people we are covering? How can one, in all seriousness, cover a topic such as racism or death and simply depart the subjects as if they were chopped liver? It reflects badly on you and your own morals.

As shown in Chapter 15, investing in the subject can help the photographer and photographee. Personal projects, no matter how hard they may be, are often fruitful in rewarding. Case in point, Lynn Johnson’s coverage of a young boy named Kenny pushed forward the idea that disability is not all-defining - just because one has a disability, does not mean they are permanently unable for life.