Hispanic community

Franklin County is the first county in the North West to have a majority of Hispanics. I went down there to what was supposed to be a two-hour assignment, to photograph workers on an orchard to illustrate the story. I felt that there was much more to a Hispanic community than just workers, so I stayed three more days to try to understand the place. The Hispanic people I met in and around Pasco were very kind and granted me great access into their culture, though my Spanish is rudimentary.

Here are a few of my favourite images.

Chris and Amber

Chris takes a break from his position as an EC (Executive Committee member). EC's are elected camp leaders.


He says he's sick and tired of people complaining with no real reason.


Chris and fellow camper Will Smith share a laugh and speak of stories they feed they ladies when they run away from home.

Amber & Chris

Another visit to Tent City. Chris tries to take a nap before his graveyard security shift, but just can't stop cracking jokes with Amber. Each person in the camp has to do security shifts at their improvised front desk. The shift they all hate is the "graveyard", which starts at 12 at night and ends at 6 in the morning.

Seafair

Swimmers get out of the water during a triathlon race in Seward Park in Seattle.

Tent City

Amber looks at a couple of people who were disrespectful of the camp rules, by having someone dropping them off outside Tent City. People in the camp are not allowed to have anyone drop them off or pick them up for work.

Ozzfan

Cristian Movila vs. 50mm, f 1.4

I tested my new 50mm, f 1.4 on this guy. He's a friend from Romania and apparently one of the youngest contract freelance photogs for the New York Times.

Amber and Chris

I wanted to do a story about homeless people, because this was the first thing that hit me about Seattle. Tent City is a community of homeless people that live in tents and have their own very strict rules. It is also one of the few - if not the only - shelters that allow couples to sleep together. I wanted to find a couple. After two weeks in which I went there without my camera, I got accepted by the community (by vote) and I've finally narrowed down my subjects. Amber and Chris agreed to let me do a story on them. They have both been homeless for a very long time. They've been together for more than five years. She is six-months pregnant.


Amber and Chris wait around for a truck during an exhausting camp move. Because of City rules, Tent City frequently changes locations throughout the year. Campers have to get all their stuff, pack it, load it in trucks, clean the whole place and build a new camp in a different location.

Seattle Pride Parade

A huge doll sits on a truck on 4th Avenue in Seattle during the Pride Parade, Sunday, June 24, 2007.

A drag queen marches in the parade.

Mister Gay Latino dances in the back of a truck.

People watch the parade go by.

A woman watches as two participants take a break from marching in the parade.

Tribal Cigarette Factory

A few weeks ago, I spent one day at a cigarette factory that is owned by the Squaxin Island Tribe.
Here's a link to the multimedia piece that I did there: Tribal Cigarettes.It's the first time I've had to do captions in a Soundslides show.

Solstice Parade

I've photographed the 19th Annual Fremont Solstice Parade here in Seattle. The parade is most famous for its tons of naked bikers. Which was a bit of a challenge, since you can't show any explicit nudity on AP. I was there from 10 till 12:30, right at the peak of the "Kodak" light.

Candice smiles at the cheering crowd of photographers and spectators.


Julianna Berry joggles in a tent during the 19th Annual Fremont Solstice Parade.


Sydni Warren, a.k.a. Nut, the Sky Goddess.


Garry Golightly fills the street with bubbles.

Streetball hits the court

Ball4Real is a 30-city tournament, where a team consisting of some of the best streetballers in the country challange local streetball teams, on a regular basketball court inside an arena. At the end of the tour, they'll select two players from all the teams they play to join their tour and sign a $100 000 contract each.

They kicked off their tour here in Seattle and I got to shoot both the tryouts and the game. It was amazing to witness. The stuff they did during the game (not set up or anything) was mind blowing. Here's a selection.

Congrats, Ikuru!

Ikuru Kuwajima just got his Banei horse race story published on Mediafax, a Romanian news agency. It is a 26 picture package, designed to give photo editors the possibility to choose. Here it is: Banei

While you're at it, click here to check out the other stories and essays as well. It's worth your time!

Last dance

Marlene Jones Wallace, a retired ballerina, watches one of the last rehearsals of Seattle dance legend Patricia Barker, Tuesday, June 5, 2007, at the Pacific Northwest Ballet center in Seattle. Barker will retire at the end of this season, after 26 years on stage.

Fencing 2

I went looking for that black background. They didn't use it, so I still didn't get what I came for.

Fortunately, I found a big ladder and climbed on it. Unfortunately, there were 5 minutes left in the competition by the time I got there, so I took 15 frames before the whole thing was over. Here's one of them.

Wang Yung (left) and Mark Lundberg duel for the gold medal in the men's individual sabre fencing final match during the Epee Practice-Open at Salle Auriol in Seattle, Sunday, June 3, 2007. Yung won. He is a member of the US national team for 50 years old and up.

Fencing

Tonight, I drove about 30 miles to get one picture that I had in mind. I didn't get it. I was hoping for a dark background.

However, I got the information about the background that I needed.

A French movie director once said that good writing is rewriting. Same with photojournalism. I'll try to be back on Sunday with a fencing follow-up.

Ana Brainard (front) and Cindy Glover practice in the Rain City Fencing Center in Bellevue, Washington.

Folklife reloaded

The festival went on. Today I spent a lot more time there.

You don't see a grown-up doing this every day.

Still angel.

Watching Greek dancing.

Folklife

The fountain outside the Seattle Center House was one of the most popular places to hang out for the people who came to take part in the Folklife Festival.

Step into the light

In between assigments, in a hotel lobby.

AP - the beginning

First assignment: WNBA. The Seattle Storms beat the Phoenix Mercury 100-87. From all the stuff I shoot for the AP, I am only allowed to post on the blog what goes out on the wire or in their archive.

Here are a few shots from tonight's game.