Feb 2009
Jonny Chingas
February 27, 2009
Twenty-four years ago this week I photographed Jonny Chingas at the Griffith Observatory. A few months ago I heard Jonny's "Se Me Paro" during a birthday party at a Temple City park and decided to hunt for the 2 5x7 BW prints that still exist. I have asked few people and no one seems to remember when Jonny died.
Here is an excerpt from a Don Snowden story that was published in the Los Angeles Times on 3/1/1985:
Nobody needs to tell Jonny Chingas about the difficulties of the do-it-yourself approach to pop music. The singer/saxophonist/keyboardist, who brings his eight-piece band to the Lingerie tonight, has been acting as a one-man record company during his seven-year campaign to break into the pop mainstream.
"I'm trying to follow the American dream," he said in his San Fernando Valley home. "I'm not going crooked. I'm not into drugs or cheating anybody. I'm struggling and I don't have enough capital to work with, but I'm still going forward.
"I'm just trying to make it and if nobody can help me, I have the determination to do it myself. I don't care if I have to press the records myself or sell them at the swap meets."
Carlos Puma
February 23, 2009
Born and raised in East Los Angeles, photographer Carlos Puma has been watching boxing matches for as long as he can remember. Carlos believes the difference between a good photographer and a great photographer is the time a photographer spends on a project. He has been shooting boxing in the Western United States since 1993. These boxing images where all shot in 2008. More boxing images can be seen on his website.
Los Angeles' 6th Street Bridge
February 19, 2009
These are photos on Los Angeles' 6th Street bridge were taken for Quetzal's 2002 CD Sing The Real.
The city of Los Angeles has proposed a new design for the aging bridge. More info on the LAEastside and Los Angeles Times sites.
Ruben 'Funkahuatl' Guevara
February 16, 2009
I went through a box of prints the other night. I no longer have the negatives to many of the photos I took in the 80s and early 90's. This is Ruben 'Funkahuatl' Guevara in the solo performance piece "Aztlán, Babylon, Rhythm & Blues" at SPARC in 1991 or 92.
Jesús Manuel Mena Garza
February 12, 2009
Riverside, CA photographer Jesús Manuel Mena Garza's website has a gallery of his photos taken in the 70's. Seems that Garza is working on a book with a working title of Chicano Photographer. His black and white images were taken while touring with theater groups include Cesar Chavez, Corky Gonzales, farm worker marches and performances by el Teatro Campesino.
Herron's La Doliente de Hidalgo
February 10, 2009
Here is one of my contributions to the documentation of LA's murals.
I ran across Willie Herron III in March of 2006 as he was touching up his mural La Doliente de Hidalgo on City Terrace Drive. Willie was nice enough to let me climb on the roof to see his signature that is not often seen.
One of the best photo archive of LA's murals is at SPARC
Walls of Passion: Murals of Los Angeles
February 09, 2009
Murals are one of the most documented parts of our culture. A current exhibit at Cal State LA called Walls of Passion: The Murals of Los Angeles runs from Jan 31 to Feb 28, 2009. The student produced project focuses on 32 murals.
Here is the online press release with some photos and here is a map with photos and locations of the murals.
Iguana in Venice
February 06, 2009
Lorena's photo of a man with an iguana on his shoulders reminds me of Graciela Iturbide's Nuestra Señora de las Iguanas . This photo was shot with a Diana in Venice.
Lorena's Los Angeles - Holga/Diana gallery includes this photo and others of several Los Angeles landmarks.
Avenida Cesar Chavez Series
February 05, 2009
Sometime in 2002 I started to shoot along Avenida Cesar Chavez. It was very close to where I lived and also represented the lives of many of us living in East Los Angeles. The 6 or 7 mile long street runs from downtown Los Angeles, past La Placita, through Boyle Heights and East Los Angeles and ends in Monterey Park.
Shooting along one street helps me focus and revisit the constantly changing landscape. My Avenida Cesar Chavez gallery has some of the photos I have shot in recent years including several photos published online for the Los Angeles Times Street Scenes neighborhood profiles.
Google Image Search
February 02, 2009
I recently decided to do a Google search for
"Chicano" and found the results underwhelming. The
first images to come up were a cartoon of a cholo,
then the Chicano documentary logo. Those were
followed by several images of hard looking people.
My next search was "Latino". I was floored when most of the images that came up were of nude or near nude women, most of them having sex. A few more tattooed, hard looking guys appeared as well. I quickly typed "Caucasian" and hit the search button. There were sterile drawings of caucasian bodies and faces, a few of a dog, a map and a few stock photos of a caucasian businessman. I really did not want to upset myself too much more so I skipped over "Latina" and searched Mexican. Lots of sombreros showed up in that group of pictures.
This was just another reminder that I need to get off my butt and do something myself. I reworked our website and will start to explore documentary photographic images that are created of U.S. Mestizos. No time to blame someone else for the unbalanced view of us. Many of us document our own cultures well and I want to try to bring these websites together in one place.
Please email me links to photographer's websites that may be of interest and any comments you may have.
A quote from Malcolm X comes to mind as I start this project:
"A race of people is like an individual man; until it uses its own talent, takes pride in its own history, expresses its own culture, affirms its own selfhood, it can never fulfill itself."
My next search was "Latino". I was floored when most of the images that came up were of nude or near nude women, most of them having sex. A few more tattooed, hard looking guys appeared as well. I quickly typed "Caucasian" and hit the search button. There were sterile drawings of caucasian bodies and faces, a few of a dog, a map and a few stock photos of a caucasian businessman. I really did not want to upset myself too much more so I skipped over "Latina" and searched Mexican. Lots of sombreros showed up in that group of pictures.
This was just another reminder that I need to get off my butt and do something myself. I reworked our website and will start to explore documentary photographic images that are created of U.S. Mestizos. No time to blame someone else for the unbalanced view of us. Many of us document our own cultures well and I want to try to bring these websites together in one place.
Please email me links to photographer's websites that may be of interest and any comments you may have.
A quote from Malcolm X comes to mind as I start this project:
"A race of people is like an individual man; until it uses its own talent, takes pride in its own history, expresses its own culture, affirms its own selfhood, it can never fulfill itself."