Street Performers: An ongoing project that I began in 2018

The images are portraits of musicians, singers, rappers, dancers, magicians, “human statues”, shoe shiners, clowns, professional protestors, and anyone who makes money performing on the streets for donations or fees in San Francisco and other west coast cities.

There are full time performers with refined and polished acts and one-time performers who work to earn enough to get their car out of the city impound. Some are tremendous talents, others are poseurs don’t know how to play the instrument they are holding. A few cover themselves with paint and pose before the tourists.

The challenge of capturing and creating these images is working with the random time and place of the encounter. I have to work whatever light, shadow, and background the performer is standing in. I may shoot some performer several times spread out over several months. I’ve photographed over 100 different street performers since I began the project in late 2018.

“Famous Wayne” is the only fulltime shoe shine in San Francisco. His stand is at Drumm and Market Streets near the California Street cable car. He charges $15 for a shine. I gave him $15 for the photo session.