Photographers on the Hunt

100 people armed with cameras descended on Jessie Square Plaza in front of the Contemporary Jewish Museum, ready to hunt.

They were searching for images inspired by the street photography exhibition The Radical Camera: New York's Photo League, 1919-1939. Vince Donovan, proprietor of the shop/polaroid and tintype studio Photobooth and one of the judges of what we called #SFphotohunt, talked to a few of the pursuers about why they showed up on a crisp January morning to take photographs:

Bill: "I'm just a point and shoot guy. I've always looked at life that way, I'm just into freezing time and capturing moments."

Ezra Jack Keats Bookmaking Competition

On February 21, 2013 the Contemporary Jewish Museum hosted the awards ceremony for the Ezra Jack Keats bookmaking competition. An annual New York City school tradition for over 25 years, this was the first time the event was ever held on the West Coast, owing to our hosting of the exhibition The Snowy Day and the Art of Ezra Jack Keats.

The schools of snow-free Northern California are no strangers to The Snowy Day, published in 1962 and the first modern full-color picture book to feature an African American protagonist. Students from San Francisco Public Schools and Bay Area Jewish Day Schools were invited to participate, and over 50 entries from 19 schools were entered into the competition.

So how was the New York spirit and playful sensitivity Keats was known for interpreted by Bay Area students? Here are some of the winners:

#SFphotohunt Portraits: Kseniya Tuchinskaya

 #SFphotohunt portraits are interviews with San Francisco photographers, inspired by the exhibition The Radical Camera: New York's Photo League, 1936–1951 and the #SFphotohunt Instagram contest. This interview is with Kseniya Tuchinskaya, who won the #CityRitual challenge.
 

Kseniya Tuchinskaya's winning submission to the #CityRitual challenge of #SFphotohunt.

Do you have a favorite place to photograph? Where is it and why?

I don’t have one favorite place to take photos, or rather, I most love taking photos when I travel—it’s part of the way I experience the new place I’m in. Locally, I love to go to Briones Regional Park in the morning before the fog burns off—the landscape looks surreal and beautiful. I also love any old buildings, the rustier and peely-painted the better.

#SFphotohunt Portraits: Troy Holden

#SFphotohunt portraits are interviews with San Francisco photographers, inspired by the exhibition The Radical Camera: New York's Photo League, 1936–1951 and the #SFphotohunt Instagram contest. This interview is with street photographer Troy Holden.

An image from Troy's Instagram account.

Do you have a favorite place to photograph? Where is it and why? 

The city of San Francisco will always be my favorite place to photograph. I'm most interested in the downtown area because it has the highest concentration of foot traffic and architecturally dense backdrops.

I frequently take walks along Mid-Market Street between 10th and 3rd street, alternating sides of the street depending on the time of day.

#SFphotohunt Portraits: Rita Harowitz

#SFphotohunt portraits are interviews with San Francisco photographers, inspired by the exhibition The Radical Camera: New York's Photo League, 1936–1951 and the #SFphotohunt Instagram contest. This interview is with #SFphotohunt contest winner Rita Harowitz.

Winner photograph of the "Kisser" challenge of #SFphotohunt. 

Do you have a favorite place to photograph? Where is it and why?

My favorite place to photograph is in my Mission neighborhood in San Francisco. The people are amazingly diverse, always interesting, and the streets are lined with murals which make for colorful backdrops. I've never felt as much of a connection to a place as I do in my present neighborhood. I photograph what I feel connected to and I feel a strong bond with the people and places of the Mission.