Whatever

I met up with Leonard at a bus stop here in Pasadena. He was headed east.

Thought interrupted: “Oh man, there goes the 31 bus.”

Great for me, bad for Leonard. I get to make a few pictures. He is a captive subject. So he tells me this story about his tattoos: Once I get to the tat store, the guy asks, “you know what you want?” and I say, “whatever.”

Neighbors

Cynthia (right) and Terry have been neighbors in Pasadena since Terry moved in next door in 1987. And it’s not unusual to find them chatting in their front yards.
Thought interrupted:
"My gardener had just lost his mother” that’s what I was telling Cynthia before you walked up.

Cynthia: My two kids are back home. I love to cook. It gives me pleasure.

Terry works as an entomologist.
Terry: “My favorite thing is mud. My license plate is ‘Baumud’”

Anna

I almost always shoot on location. But I still like the controlled environment of the studio every now and then. The backdrops, the big banks of lights....or just the beautiful light that comes in through the windows.

What's your story?

“My friends say I take myself seriously....I may look organized and calm” but “I’m really zany, I have a lot of energy” I take after my mom who “…is an eccentric, free-spirit dedicated to her art.”

Anna is a voice-over artist and starting her own voice-over business in Los Angeles.

“I love technology. I’m an inner-geek”

Paul and the Cello

What's your story?

"I was visiting my aunts in LA, trying to escape the East Coast and feel sunny again. Most things I left in Maryland, but I took with me music. While we rented a cello out in LA, there was continuity to continuing to play.
Right now, I study music and religion in school, but whether or not I'll be working with either one directly, not sure just yet. In the meantime, on hot afternoons in So Cal, it's nice to play the cello and watch people walk by.
Study at Gettysburg College in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania."

What's Your Story?

I had set up a photo studio in the dance studio of the Colburn Dance Institute which is located in Little Tokyo in downtown Los Angeles. I was waiting for the arrival of a couple of dancers when Atsuko sort of shuffled by. She was on her way home after a class where she was studying the Japanese Tea ceremony. She was wearing a beautiful kimono and she graciously agreed to be photographed. During the course of this little impromptu session she told me that when she was first learning to put on the kimono properly it took her over two hours just to tie the obi (sash). Now that she’s had practice, it only takes her 30 minutes. And in her own words:

“I am happy that I was able to share with people about a part of my culture through the Kimono….The kimono strikes body movement, and I have to watch my movement, but I believe it brings a beauty of the Kimono....

Anyway, I am happy that people can enjoy the Kimono, too.”

What's Your Story?

Pianist Michael Roberts was born in Sussex, England and started playing the piano when he was four. Later he became an accompanist for the Royal Ballet School in London. Today Michael’s home is Pasadena, California. He is the faculty and music coordinator for the Colburn Dance Institute in downtown Los Angeles as well as a faculty member of the American Ballet Theater summer intensives. There are several albums of his original compositions for dance and his music was featured in the documentary film, “Divertissements. Every Day Dancers”

What's Your Story?

As I was on another walk in my neighborhood I passed a gentleman who greeted me with a big smile and friendly "Buenas dias". Without thinking I responded with a Buenos dias back and we took steps in opposite directions. I stopped and shouted back "wait wait"...and here, between my bad spanish and Roberto's broken english, we pieced together Roberto's story: Roberto was trained as a welder but is currently unemployed and is working as a day laborer. As I worked, he seemed very interested in my old mamiya twin lens reflex and he seemed to understand my little project. As we chatted he finally confessed that he was an artist. That his passion was painting and that he loved to paint large canvases. Since he was out of work he wasn't able to buy supplies for his art but he hoped that soon he would be back at the canvas.

What's Your Story?

I was walking my neighborhood when I spotted James. He had just finished a 5 mile run in the evening. The temperature during the day was over 100 degrees and it was still hot out.

Thought Interrupted: “I was wondering if this woman I met online had left a message.”

-James Bergstrom, designer/drafter for an engineering and consulting firm.

“My story is I am a single guy trying to find my place in the world and figure out what my calling is…and trying to have some fun along the way.”

Betsy

When I photographed Betsy all of her things were packed away in moving boxes. She was headed to Britain, to a new job, to a new home, to make new friends. I haven't heard from her since.