Nude People and Pictures (blog8)

This spring break felt more like summer then spring, unlike the past couple of weeks when it was cold and wet from all the rain. I’m pleased to say before leaving the Castro I was able to wear a t-shirt, shorts, and a pair of light blue vans.

This time around at the Castro, I decided to use the nice weather as an opportunity to get an assignment done for my digital news gathering class. Our professor wanted us to pick an emotion and take 30 pictures of it, and then choose five or seven of the best ones. I choose seriousness as my subject because for some reason I find it fascinating when people have that serious look on their face, especially while they are working.

At first I felt a little skeptical about taking pictures of strangers because it would make me look like a stalker. As opposed to sneaking around taking pictures of random people, I ended up going to different shops in the neighborhood and asked the workers' permission to photograph them while they go about their business,

My first stop was at Cliff’s Variety so that I can confirm a couple details about my profile piece with one of the managers. While I was at Cliff’s I took pictures of some of the workers helping customers. I giggled when I noticed how serious they looked because I was so used to seeing them act silly and making jokes. I continued visiting other stores and restaurants including Sui Generis, The Bead Store, and Ixia, taking pictures of customers and clerks. I was in awe of some of the items The Bead Store had, especially with some of their Buddhist artifacts, I ended up taking pictures of they had to offer.

After leaving one of the stores I accidently walked into one of the nudists, instead of leaving I took the opportunity to talk to him. The nude man’s name was Bear, he was about 6’3, pot belly but not fat, wore a blue hat, and had white hair. We took around Church Street, where we met up with one of his nude friends, Lloyd, who was actually a lot thinner compared to Bear. Luckily I was able to avoid looking at their penises (yes that’s right I said it, ‘penis’) and have kept eye contact with them while talking to them. Both men had been nudists for 15 years and have been criticized for the ‘life style’. I may not be particularly fond of seeing old men walk around naked, but as a journalist I have to swallow my feelings and be objective. However, I have to give them credit for their boldness because not too many people I know have to guts to walk around naked in public.

The nude men were actually helpful and actually gave me their contact information, in case I decide to write a story about nude people in the Castro. Today made me realize that I’m not as shy or inhibited as I was in the beginning of this semester. In fact if you were to tell me back then that I would end up talking to nude men at the Castro, I probably would have just laughed it off.