September 5, 2009

Compton CA - The Streets of Watts and 108th



































List of crazy things that happened to me in Compton in the 3 hours I was there.

1. I saw a young buff man try and steal a bike from an old elderly man. The older man was faster on the bike and got away.
2. Someone tried to steal my Holga, and I persuaded them not to since it was a toy and plastic.
3. I met a guy who told me he had the worst day of his life as he "lost his shoes, and the vampires had eaten his dog". He had no shoes on and caked blood around his lips.
4. A todler came out of an autoshop and picked up the gatorade bottle I had just placed on the ground, drank the remaining drink, looked at me, gave me stink eye, then threw the empty bottle in the street and proceeded to walk back in the auto shop.

A big thank you to Brion Hopkins (seen last) for the protection with his huge metal baton. And for being brave enough to come up to complete strangers in Compton and ask if we could photograph them. Yeah, readers, he's from the streets.

I'm leaving on a plane today for SoCal again and I think I am going back to explore this place some more.

Everything was shot on a Holga and cross processed slide film.

And ps, if the 2 ladies in this post are reading this, email me and I'll send you some prints like we promised :)

12 comments:

Leo Patrone said...

PD!

Unknown said...

LOVE. Flav served his mish in So. Cal...so ya know. Tee hee.

Alexandra said...

Loooove those shots! They have such an interesting feel to them. My favorite is the "we provide a safe, friendly and professional environment with quality customer service" because it's the complete opposite of your description of the place :P Great job.

Hi! My name is Janet. said...

That IS a CRAZY list of things. The old man and the toddler are my favorites :)

Whitney Hardie said...

Hard core, Jon.

The toddler with the attitude is too much - love it.

"It's a jungle sometimes, it makes me wonder..."

Tracee Breeze said...

All this.....and you are going back????????

Crazy.

Paul Gero said...

good thing you didn't bring the contax ;-)

Brion Hopkins said...

The worse thing is now we have a vampire dog loose on the streets. Next stop East LA.

Kjrsten said...

rad set Jon!

Maddie said...

I love this set! Possibly even more after reading a toddler busted out of an auto shop to steal your your Gatorade and than mad-dog you.

SarahW said...

Oh you luck luck person. I love this blog and the pictures. Anyway sounds like you had a good time.

You should connect with the bizymoms Compton community

Anonymous said...

i love these photos and la :)