Occupy Oakland General Strike

Yesterday I witnessed one of the most remarkable events. A group of thousands of Occupy Oakland protesters (estimates of the crowd ranged from 7,000-20,000) literally shut down a large part of a downtown Oakland and the Port of Oakland.The impetus of the strike was the brutal crackdown on the Occupy Oakland protesters camp in Frank Ogawa plaza in downtown Oakland last week. The protesters there had come out in support of the Occupy Wall Street protests that started a month and a half ago in New York City against social inequality in American society.
Over the past week the camp had returned and the protesters had called for a general strike for the city of Oakland to protest the police action.
During the day protesters walked through the streets of downtown Oakland. Large national bank branches were a particular target of protesters.......especially Bank of America. At least one of their branches was vandalized.
But for the most part the thousands of protesters were peacefully assembled in their plan to shut down the city and then march to the Port of Oakland to disrupt the shipping at the 5th largest port in the United States.
After a rally in Frank Ogawa plaza that included a performance from the SF Mime Troupe......protesters walked from Downtown Oakland to the port.
Residents watched the march...

And some held signs in support of the protesters.
When the protest arrived at the port it was a site to behold.The marchers had literally stopped all the commerce of the port.
People climbed on top of tractor-trailer trucks...
...waving flags.
They also climbed nearby train signal structures as well.

Most drivers took the scene in calmly.
There were some drivers that were upset that they couldn't finish their job and return home..
And as night fell the protesters called a meeting known as a General Assembly to try and continue the blockade of the port. Ultimately the stoppage only lasted until the morning and overnight a group of violent protesters broke off and had an altercation with the police in downtown Oakland. But it was interesting to see what thousands of people working together for a common cause could achieve.

Voices of Occupy Wall Street

For more than a month, Occupy Wall Street protesters have occupied Zuccotti Park near Wall Street in New York City’s financial district, demonstrating against social and economic inequality in America. The protest has sparked similar demonstrations across the country, including in San Francisco and Oakland.

I recently interviewed protesters in Zuccotti Park to interview and report on why they were taking part in the demonstration. My work also appeared on the SF Gate.

Sept. 11, 2001

With the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, I recently scanned in my negatives of the photographs I took ten years ago for a magazine request. It's amazing how much of what happened that day shaped my life.

In 2001 I worked days as a photo editor at Fortune.com and the evenings as a photo producer at NYTimes.com. The night of Sept. 10th, I stayed late at the NYT Digital offices, working till about 3 in the morning before biking home.

I was sound asleep when I started receiving repeated calls shortly after 9 am in the morning. I ignored the ringing phone for 20 minutes before I woke up and answered the call. It was my ex's father calling to see if we were o.k.

I asked him what he meant?

He said: "Turn on the TV."

I turned it on to see the image of the plane hitting the Twin Towers. I then looked out the window of my Upper East Side Apartment, and all I could see was smoke coming from downtown. After that, I texted my ex to see if she was OK. Even though I had not shot a news assignment in a few years, my photojournalist instincts kicked in. I jumped on my bicycle, bought ten rolls of film, and peddled south towards the World Trade Center.

I biked through Central Park past workers streaming home. I stopped by the Fortune offices, where I also worked in midtown. "Go home," my boss said.

Instead, I continued biking south to Union Square, where I shot this photograph.

By this point, both Twin Towers had collapsed, and the cops started to cordon off the south part of Manhattan, directing everyone to head north.

There was one road where evacuees were escaping from Lower Manhattan on the east side of the isle. When a cop turned his head, I biked past him and towards the World Trade Center.

I never could've imagined what I saw.

It was utter devastation in New York City.

I was shooting, but I was really in shock. My initial photographer instincts were overwhelmed by what I saw before me.

People climbing over debris and destruction...

A group of friends carrying their cat away from the disaster, only taking a moment to ask me how to get away.

I ended up on Greenwich Street, south of the Twin Towers. Even though I was just a block away, you could not see anything but black smoke. But at that moment, the smoke cleared, and you saw what remained of the World Trade Center.

It was the twisted outer shell of one wall of the south tower of the World Trade Center. I can't say I really knew what I thought. I just stared in disbelief. I started having problems breathing at that moment.  An incredible security guard nearby gave me some paper towels to wrap around my mouth and help with breathing.

I was exhausted by that point. My film was running out, and I figured I should head off to the New York Times building to see if the website could use some extra help.

After biking uptown via the West Side Highway, I made it to the New York Times Digital offices. My boss told me to drop off my film first at the NY Times photo department offices, which developed them for me (I still can't believe how orderly the photo department was on this day handling the disaster). I then went to work.

The island of Manhattan was shut down from the outside world, so I was the only photo producer for the website that was available to work. I ended up working a 24-hour shift from two in the afternoon on 9/11 till two in the afternoon the next day. Finally, one of the other producers from Brooklyn was able to make it into the offices and replace me.

The next few months in NYC seemed unreal. I still get a pit in my stomach thinking about it, and the tragedy and fear were as ever-present as the smell of the burning remains of the World Trade Center.
Personally, I realized that day I wanted to be someone who told the story through their photographs. I wasn't prepared that day to be a real photojournalist and cover such an important event and needed to work as a photographer and not an editor.

That realization made me leave the New York Times website several months later and start my career from scratch as a professional photographer. It's a decision I never have regretted.

Backstage with Performer Madeline Minx

I've always wondered what the life of a performer is like. Luckily a few weeks ago I was offered a glimpse with musician Madeline Minx as she performed at a show at Nine Lives in Gilroy.
Madeline Minx is a performer based out of San Francisco and her music is funny and raw. Here is a video of her performance of her song "Sushi".

Before the show Madeline Minx and her two backup dancers took a look at her play list for the show. Her performance was part of a larger show, and the headline performer was metal rock band Maxx 12. It would be an interesting contrast.
Before the show, Minx and her dancers did a dry rehearsal of their routine...
which even included Madeline's boyfriend giving some pointers on how to perform on stage.
Before the show, the performers got ready in the cramped room backstage.
Putting on their final touches as the Maxx 12 guitarist warmed up as well.
After striking a quick pose...
The Minx crew mixed it up with the other performers at the show.
Maxx 12 metal-rocked it out at the Gilroy club.
When Madeline Minx appeared on the stage it looked like it was going to be an entertaining performance.

However sound problems started messing with Minx first song...
She even got off the stage to talk with the sound guy to try and get the music right...
They were able to power through her first song "Sushi"...
But the crowd, which was mostly a metal-head crowd to see Maxx 12, wasn't really into the music and only one soul got up close with the performer to check out the show.

And perform they did with full costume changes....

With Madeline singing with everything she had..
And an entertaining performance.

Afterwards Madeline and her crew could only wonder what would've happened with her performance had there not been technical problems.

And after deciding to rock it backstage with the bouncers in attendence...

They packed everything up. Although not a perfect night it was a lot of fun and an interesting chance for me to see what its like to be backstage with a performer.

Here is another Madeline Minx video to part with: