Incident

Police investigate an incident in Los Angeles on Friday, January 6, 2012.

Gone in 60 Seconds (Give or Take)

A tow truck driver uses a lockout tool to unlock the door of a car while a security guard watches in Los Angeles, Wednesday, August 31, 2011. The car was towed for illegally parking.

A Face in the Crowd

I heard sirens, and went outside. I photographed this incident. I looked around at the crowd, and saw the expected mix of curiousity and shock that an accident had happened.

And then, there was the guy above.

Pink Shoes

Firefighters help a person involved in an automobile accident onto a stretcher in Los Angeles, Friday, June 10, 2011.

It's All Fun, Until Someone Throws a Guitar Out the Window

Our neighbors came home at 2 a.m., put on "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover" at a high volume, and started a party that would continue all night.

Then, by midday today, joy turned to tears as the blood-curdling screams and cussing began. (This is not the first time they've done this.)

A few minutes ago, she threw his guitar out of their 10th-floor window.

On Perspective

I'm just going to be honest. There's no other way to tell this story, and there's no reason to hide the facts behind making a point. It's just what happened.

On Monday, January 10th, my wife and I saw that a woman had collapsed on the sidewalk. Another woman was on a cell phone calling for an ambulance. She seemed to know the woman's name. We stayed until the paramedics and firefighters arrived.

Later, I looked out our window expecting to see the ambulance drive away, taking the woman to the hospital. But a very long time passed, and eventually the ambulance and firetruck moved away. I found myself hoping that I had somehow missed them wheel the woman on a gurney into the ambulance. I also thought it might be possible that they had moved her to another vehicle, just outside of where I could see.

Instead, as the post-sunset light on the street turned blue, the Medical Examiner's vehicle arrived.

I'm teaching two Intro to Photojournalism courses this term, so I couldn't convince myself to not photograph some of these events. I'm asking my students to photograph what happens, so I felt I should photograph what happens.

I don't see any way it helps anyone, but it's a photograph of what happened.

Spot News versus Documentary

Above: A man unexpectedly evacuated from a high-rise apartment building by a fire alarm awaits an all-clear notice from the San Francisco Fire Department, San Francisco, December 10, 2010.