Bumdog Torres
"Condemned to drift or else prevented from drifting"
1.2: Eliyah. After I took the photos of Elijah I was about to move on when in front of me there was a large storage box with a tarp on it and old branches on top to hold it down. Then this brother emerged out of his tent from behind it. It reminded me of a prophet emerging from forest after 40 days. It was no coincidence, it turns out he identified with the Black Israelite movement. His toned physique came from the fact he was ISO Fitness trainer, also practiced breathing and meditation.
8.2- Cee Cee Cece. It’s was getting easier to take photos in Hollywood, because I was becoming known as the bum pushing the shopping cart who takes pictures. Cece rode up on a group I was talking to. When I asked him if I could take his photo for $5, he looked at me strange and then looked at everyone else. Someone said “Yeah he is alright, he takes photos of all of us.”
9.8: Krazy, hustling up some funds on Hollywood Blvd..
20.3 Artist Mike. Spent most of his life in and out of California prisons, finally stopped drinking and drugs, and concentrated on creating artworks. Last time I heard he got off the street and moved into a apartment in Koreatown.
23: Laura : Fresh out of the coal mines of West Hollywood.
27. Henry- When I take a photo of a fellow homeless person I always give them something. Here I gave Henry all the change in my pocket.
32. Craig I took this photo of him while he was lying in a doorway next to 7/11. When I rolled up he asked me if I had a pooky (needle) or some meth. I told him I didn’t. Then, even tho I was pushing a shopping cart he asked me for some change. I said yeah sure, and could I take a photo of him. He said yeah. I asked him what he wanted out of 7/11? He only want a Coca Cola and pack of Reese’s Pieces. I went in and bought him that, came out gave it to him along with $5, and took the pictures. He was completely in the dark, it took allot of work to pull his face out of the night. And when I did it no longer looked like a photograph. It looked like a Rembrandt chiaroscuro painting.
41. Karla: Carla. I was sitting across the street from the park when I see this Hispanic girl by herself talking out loud as if she was having a conversation with someone. Tweaking hard. She crosses the street at the light heading straight for me, still talking into some unseen ear. As she gets closer I got the feeling her conversation is addressing me. She is small, thin and flat chested, but her shirt is cut above her stomach, a stomach despite her thinness denotes the birth of more then one child. She sits right next to me. In the middle of her stream of words she quickly interjects “Hey, can I hang out with you?” I say sure, and she moves onto some other subject as of we had already establish camaraderie . Her face is attractive with very small sharp distinct features, but her by hair is matted, and hands nearly black with dirt. She hasn’t bathed in at least a couple of weeks. She also doesn’t stop talking, I can’t tell if she is high, or the drug (meth obviously) had scrambled her brains to the point that she was like this even without it. But even within the babbling you could tell she was very intelligent and sharp, however the not bathing in AT LEAST two weeks was killing it for me. I walked her across the street to the shelter that had been set up there for the virus. I tried to palm her off on some old school South Sider, but he wasn’t taking her. We sat on the grass and I took several photos of her, gave her five bucks and left. I asked her name several times, every time she gave me another answer. Carla is the one I remember most.
1. Noa and Asa: Practicing with the fisheye glass with Noa and her little brother Asa