AurelioJoseBarrera
Legg Lake
July 11, 2010
A fisherman fishes shortly before sunset at Legg Lake in the Whittier Narrows Recreation Area in South El Monte, CA on Saturday July 10, 2010.
Summer is Finally Here
June 27, 2010
Mexico Beats France 2 to 0
June 17, 2010
People celebrated on Whittier Blvd in East LA on Thursday June 17th after Mexico's World Cup victory over France.
Memorial Day 2010
May 31, 2010
Rudy Stone (L) and Mike Castañon kept watch from 11p.m. to 11:30 p.m. during the 24-hour patriotic vigil at the Mexican All Wars Memorial at Cinco Puntos on Sunday March 30, 2010. The 63rd Annual Memorial Day observance was held at the intersection of Lorena St., Indiana St., and Avenida Cesar Chavez in Los Angeles.
Portraits of Reuben Muñoz
May 27, 2010
A few years back I shot some portraits of friend and coworker Reuben Muñoz by the Linda Lee movie theater on Main St. in downtown Los Angeles.
Reuben has a great blog called Rancho Reubidoux , his art can be seen on his other site.
Yo Soy El Army
May 20, 2010
This past weekend I went to Santa Monica and saw the Arlington West Memorial by the pier. On the Arlington West Memorial site I saw this video on Latinos being targeted by recruiters.
Lifestyle Car Club
May 08, 2010
Just before participating in a wedding at St. Alphonsus Catholic Church in East LA, members of the Lifestyle Car Club met at a gas station on the corner of 3rd and Atlantic Blvd.
Luis Navarro
April 21, 2010
For over 17 years Luis Navarro has been looking for the person that murdered his daughter and granddaughter in Highland Park.
The Eastsider LA has the story.
The Wall - Las Memorias Project
April 20, 2010
After visiting the traveling Vietnam Wall I wanted to go see a local memorial that I had wanted to see but never made the time to go. I tested my new G11 at The Wall - Las Memorias Project in Lincoln Heights. The wall is dedicated to promoting wellness and preventing illness among Latinos with HIV/AIDS.
Vietnam Traveling Memorial Wall
March 28, 2010
The Vietnam Traveling Memorial Wall was put up at Rose Hills Memorial Park in Whittier, CA on March 23, 2010 and will be there until March 30, 2010.
Day of Service
March 23, 2010
Volunteers prepare the ground for gardening (top) and for sod (bottom) at Crenshaw High in Los Angeles. Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (center) gets in a photo op with LA Fire Fighters fixing a roof at Crenshaw High. Hundreds of volunteers helped clean up several Los Angeles schools on March 20, 2010
.
Danza Azteca Xochipilli
March 19, 2010
Danza Azteca Xochipilli performs at the East Los Angeles Library on Wednesday evening on March 3, 2010
David Sanchez
March 04, 2010
I took this photo of David Sanchez, Prime Minister of Brown Berets 1970 recently at Salazar Park.
The National Brown Berets website has very cool historical photos.
Academy Awards Workers - 2010
March 01, 2010
I often think back when a PR person at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles gave me a CD of 900 historical images. The images were of menus, silverware, signs, and photos of workers and hotel construction. In all the photos I did not see one African American or Latino. Around the same time I saw a TV show where kids went to California mining companies and found few Chinese Americans in the photos.
I was once told by an owner of a stock photo ageny that " No one gives a shit about what some people in East LA are doing."
This morning when I saw the construction of bleachers on Hollywood Blvd for the Academy Awards I was not surprised to hear them all speaking Spanish and breaking their backs.
If we don't document our lives nobody will.
Salazar Park
February 28, 2010
Don Jones (above) holds 1990 print with the image of slain journalist Ruben Salazar at Salazar Park's Senior Center in Los Angeles on February 28, 2010.
Community activists held a panel discussion to recognize the 40th anniversary of a march through the rain in Los Angeles to protest the Vietnam War. Organizers say the ``March in the Rain'' was a turning point of the Chicano Movement.
Organizer Rosalio Muñoz (below) raises his fist to a cheering crowd of over 100 people.
Avenida Cesar Chavez
February 01, 2010
On Sunday January 31, 2010 I shot a Flag Retirement Ceremony held at the American Legion Post 804 on Avenida Cesar Chavez in East LA.. Five LA County Fire Department Explorers folded over 30 flags that were dropped off by local residents. During the ceremony members of the post, other veterans and family members dropped flags into a pit to be properly disposed.
The Eastsider LA also used the photos.
Freeway Building Materials
January 14, 2010
Alejandro Acevedo, owner of Freeway Building Materials in Boyle Heights, with one of the thousands of vintage doors he has in his store. Story and more photo at The Eastsider LA.
Posada
December 24, 2009
A couple of children dressed as a star (left) and Mary during a Posada in San Gabriel on December 23, 2009.
The Latin Guitar Collective
December 19, 2009
Left to right: Andy Abad, Luis Villegas and Dan Sistos aka The Latin Guitar Collective at Cafe Sevilla in Long Beach. More photos can be seen here.
Carlos' Boots
December 15, 2009
"Me las mandaron de Mexico" four year old Carlos told us as the kids waited to see one of the dullest Santa Clauses ever. "Mi tia Charo me las mando" He then raised his sweater to show off his matching belt.
Happy Birthday
November 23, 2009
Alberto Barrera 1923 -
2008
"Abre La Canasta Güey"
October 31, 2009
There is nothing like having your big brother take you somewhere and call you a güey in front of a crowd of kids. Most of the adults, however, nicely urged their kids to say "Trick or Treat" "Thank you" or "Gracias".
Mujeres de Paz
October 10, 2009
Gloria (left) and Rene Mendoza were two of the approximately 80 people who participated in the 12th annual Mujeres de Paz Candlelight March and Vigil in East Los Angeles on October 8, 2009. The Candlelight march began at the East Los Angeles Civic Center and proceeded to a mural of La Virgen De Guadalupe on the corner of Mednik and Avnida Cesar Chavez.
Dodger Fans
October 10, 2009
Dodger fans cheer during the first game of division series playoff vs the St. Louis Cardinals at Dodger Staduim on October 7, 2009.
Tommy at The Vex - 1982
September 27, 2009
I took this photo of a guy named Tommy at The Vex when it was at the Paramount Ballroom location on Brooklyn Ave in Boyle Heights. It was for a story that was published in ELAC’s Campus News.
I recently found what I think is the only print I had of this photo. The negs along with most of what I shot at The Vex are missing but I did find a sheet or two from a different night that I will scan soon.
ELAGuide.org and Hijadela.com have more info on The Vex.
Antique Style Car Club Show
September 09, 2009
Carlos Puma told me that I need to shoot more often to prepare for a freelance shooter life. I am trying to give myself at least one "assignment " a week. I shot a lowrider car show organized by Antique Style Car Club in Azusa, CA a few weeks back and realized how rusty I really am. It made me appreciate the excellent work of Jae Bueno and Big Mando even more.
Musicians in B&W
July 29, 2009
Several years ago I photographed a few local Los Angeles music and poety groups. One of my Flickr sets has Quetzal, Ozomatli, Cihuatl Tonali, Jarabe Citlali, Quinto Sol and In Lak Ech. Most of it was shot on BW film. I will keep adding to that set until I have an edit for a gallery on Calaverascallejeras.com.
1983 - 2009
July 08, 2009
I have had the pleasure of working with the most talented group of photojournalists in the US for over 25 years.
Now it is time for me to move forward.
4th of July in East LA
July 05, 2009
"Una bomba", my 78 year old mom told my daughter as the fieworks started before sunset.
A few hours later we all went outside to watch the neighborhood fireworks but not necessarily to celebrate "independance day."
Late Groom - Avenida Cesar Chavez
June 12, 2009
The groom was late, everyone looked stressed and I just had to get a picture of it.
"Who are you!?! We already have a photographer!", the bride snapped at me. I did not want to miss the picture so I ignored the first time she spoke to me. I was hoping she would ignore the stranger with the camera leaning into the car through an open door.
She asked me again and I tried to explain that I was shooting street scenes on Avenida Cesar Chavez. She did not care but luckily the offer of free photos got a relative on my side and she told the bride it was OK.
The groom arrived only 15 minutes late and all went well. He later emailed me got his photos.
Arte Calidad - May 2000
June 05, 2009
These photos are from a May 2000 shot of Tony Dominguez and other local artists making paper mache art and piñatas at Arte Calidad on Indiana St. in East Los Angeles.
Richard on Avenida Cesar Chavez
May 27, 2009
I first met Richard while shooting on Av Cesar Chavez. He was collecting cans and bottles to sell. We ran into each other a few days later in front of Nuestra Señora de Soledad Catholic Church.
Richard told me that he had been homeless for a week. He said that he had a argument with his wife and decided to live on the streets instead of staying. He shaves regularly in the church's restroom because it is the only public restroom in the area. The small mirror he carried had broken the morning before so he used the chrome plumbing on the toilet as a mirror.
I have driven down the street many times since sometimes wondering where he is and if he ever got off the street.
Johnny Martinez' Bike - Avenida Cesar Chavez
May 22, 2009
I was at the City of Angels Tattoo shop a few years ago taking some photos when Johnny Martinez asked if I wanted to see the bike he built and customized.
We walked over to Norma's Beauty Salon on Avenida Cesar Chavez where his mom worked and shot it in the salon.
Lowrider Bike from Dennison's
May 21, 2009
Years ago I shot this photo of a guy on his lowrider style bike leaving Dennison's Schwinn in East LA. The shop, having opened in 1941, is said to be the oldest family owned bike shop in LA.
Below are some pics of the inside from a website I ran into but will be down shortly. Miguel who ran the website let me use them. You can contact him at miguel@schwinndreams.com.
62nd Annual Memorial Day Ceremony & 24 Hour Vigil
May 19, 2009
Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 4696 and American Legion Post 804 of East Los Angeles is having it's 62nd Annual Memorial Day Ceremony & 24 Hour Vigil. The vigil starts at 10 am on Sunday May 24th, 2009 and the Memorial Day ceremony starts at 10am on May 25, 2009 at the Mexican American All Wars Memorial at Cinco Puntos (Lorena St. and Avenida Cesar Chavez).
Photo taken several years ago at a Memorial Day Ceremony at the Mexican American All Wars Memorial at Cinco Puntos.
Calvary Cemetery in East Los Angeles
May 11, 2009
In 1998 I was teaching a photo class at Self-Help Graphics and took the students on a field trip to the Calvary Cemetery in East LA. Before meeting the group I took a walk through the ornate All Souls Chapel built in 1902. There I followed a family that was shooting a young family member's First Holy Communion photos. The photo appeared in Americanos: Latino Life in the United States published in 1999.
Sacred Memories: Cross-Cultural Celebrations of Day of the Dead
May 06, 2009
Call for Submissions -
Sacred Memories: Cross-Cultural Celebrations of Day of the Dead
From October 19 to November 27, 2009, El Pueblo Historical Monument will present Sacred Memories: Cross-Cultural Celebrations of Day of the Dead. Sacred Memories follows El Pueblo’s acclaimed 2007 exhibition which explored celebrations that venerate the departed including Dia de los Muertos, first observed by the indigenous people of Latin America, China’s Qingming, and other rituals practiced in United States, Europe, Africa and the Caribbean. Artists are asked to submit for consideration two and three-dimensional work (including ofrendas/altars) that examines rituals honoring the deceased and/or pays tribute to departed ancestors.
For more information, please call Mariann Gatto (213)
485-8432 or email
mariann.gatto@lacity.org.
Los Angeles Times Street Scenes
May 04, 2009
At 4:30 am the bakers at El Gallo Bakery in East Los Angeles start baking fresh bread. It has been nearly a year since the Los Angeles Times Street Scenes were shot. Five Latino shooters, 4 photographers and one editor, shot 5 of the 14 neighborhoods.
I shot Avenida Cesar Chavez in East Los Angeles
Carlos Chavez shot Lankershim Blvd in North Hollywood
Genaro Molina shot the Boardwalk in Venice
Michael Robinson-Chavez shot Broadway in Downtown Los Angeles
Karen Tapia shot the Orange Plaza in Orange
May Day 2006 & 2007
May 01, 2009
Los Angeles May Day marches in 2006 and 2007 brought large peaceful crowds to demand better treatment of undocumented immigrant workers and an end to raids and deportations.
Police estimated a midday downtown LA march to City Hall on May 1, 2006 at 250,000. More than 400,000 marched four miles down Wilshire Boulevard later in the day. Organizers estimated that the crowds were nearly one million. On May 1, 2007 100,000 demonstrators marched up Broadway to a mass rally at Los Angeles City Hall.
Graffiti in Los Angeles 1983
April 17, 2009
Here is another scan of an old print I pulled out of my print box.
This photo reminds me that not enough has changed for immigrants in my lifetime. The next few posts will be photos of the marches and walkouts of the last few years..
Taco Bell Sign
April 09, 2009
Taco Bell used the symbol of a sleeping Mexican wearing a sombrero until it was sold in 1978. Pepsi then changed the logo to a Mission Bell. Over 30 years later the racist logo is still proudly displayed at a Los Angeles Taco Bell on Washington Blvd. in Los Angeles.
Barreras Chicharrones
April 03, 2009
I exit the northbound 710 freeway at Avenida Cesar Chavez several times a week. For years as I waited to turn left or right I would look right at the painting of a pig cooking in a pot on Barreras Chicharrones. I kept telling myself that I need to shoot a photo of the sign. Time went by and one day, as I headed south on Ford Blvd., I stopped my car in the intersection and snapped a picture of the sign.
I thought nothing of it until several months later I looked at the building and it had been painted dark brown. The pig was gone. I went home and searched for the photo and did not feel at ease until I saw the smiling pig boiling in the pot.
House on Gerhart Ave.
March 24, 2009
I got up early on Saturday morning to buy my mom tamales and see if I could find some hand painted store signs to shoot.
I was not expecting to find this sign only a block from my house.
Everyday it seems to get worse.
The Annenberg Space For Photography Inaugural Exhibit
March 16, 2009
I got my invitation for the inaugural exhibit of The Annenberg Space for Photography. I rarely go to openings, because I don't like the crowds and you never really get a chance to see the work, so I did not open it right away.
I wish I never opened it. It just pissed me off.
The main invite has images by 8 shooters with some connection to LA. At lease one of them does not live in LA anymore. Hmmm. No Latino shooters in the 8. Should that surprise me? But wait; there we are represented in a quinceañera pic. I guess we should be happy that they acknowledged us some how.
I move on to the card that asks us to kindly RSVP and they thought of us again with a vato with some tats and graffiti and a mural of Anthony Quinn.
As soon as I see the exhibit I will comment on the content but right now I will focus on the shooters. All are fine photographers, but should they represent Los Angeles? I don't think any are Black, Asian or Latino. There is not shortage of non-white talent. Willie Middlebrook and Howard Bingham come to mind immediately. What about Laura Aguilar, Harry Gamboa Jr or George Rodriguez? Or José Galvez, who no longer lives in LA, but documented Latino life in the early 1980's while at the Los Angeles Times and was one of the shooters, reporters and editors to win a Pulitzer in 1984 for covering the Latino community in Southern California.
Because the list of featured shooters fail to represent the ethnic make up of Los Angeles the addition of three Los Angeles Times photographers seem suspect. One Black, one Asian and one Latino, none of which are women.
If they were not a cover-our-ass afterthought, why were they not just added to the first group?
Ernesto de la Loza's “Resurrection of the Green Planet”
March 16, 2009
Last week I went to shoot a photo of Ernesto de la Loza's “Resurrection of the Green Planet”. It is probably one of my favorites because it is based after a photo by Graciela Iturbide. I looked for the photo all last week and could not find it to post it.
As I was looking for it I asked a photographer who collects photo books if he had it. I hit a sore spot. He rattled off several murals and paintings based after photos where the photographer was never given any credit. I understand. It has happened to me here in LA a couple of times and that is why I was going to post it.
But to be fair I have gotten calls from muralists who complain that a mural is in the photo but the artist was not given credit. Fair enough.
Here are recent stories from the LA Times and LAEastside regarding the mural.
Former Neighbor
March 12, 2009
Carlos lived next door to me when I lived in City Terrace. He often came over after arguing with his wife to get some peace and quiet.
They day I took this photo he fell asleep on a chair with a cigarette between his fingers. I woke him up and asked him if I could shoot his portrait. After arguing a bit he agreed only if he could take off his shirt and show is neighborhood tattoo.
Some time later I showed him this photo and he said "Damn. If I saw that m***** f***** walking through my back yard I would shoot him."
Lucky for Carlos I shoot with a camera.
Elysian Park
March 04, 2009
Here are another couple of prints I found in the old print box in my closet.
In 1985 cruising was big in Elysian Park in Los Angeles. LAPD started to ticket and tow cars to stop the cruising. While there I ran into Mike and Danny, a couple of high school friends who were in the Amigos Car Club (below). One of my favorite photos from that day is the group of young women with the cool hairdos.
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."
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.
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
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.