Photographers on the Hunt

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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."



Jinky: "Taking a picture is like having a really good steak. You can taste it. I can't always remember what I've taken, but one will stick out and keep me going through the day."




Judy: "I like Instagram and photo culture. I started when smart phones came out. All my friends were doing it and I kind of went crazy."



Dallis: "Photography is a way to remember everything I've done. I can scratch the creative itch, while still getting everything down."




Joanne: "I'm playing with double exposures. I'm not comfortable with going up to people on the street to take their picture. The most fun for me are reflections and distortions, where you look at the picture and say 'What is that?'"



Lisbeth: "It's interesting to see what happens when you put someone in front of a camera. I photographed a friend I hadn't seen in a long time. He held still for a second, then put his hands in front of his face. Luckily, I got the shot. I put it on Instagram."



Petyr: "Since I was a kid, I always wanted to be worldly photojournalist, but I wasn't disciplined enough. Now I can do it in a phone. it's like having a darkroom in my back pocket."

All images by Vince Donovan, shot with a Leica IIIf using a Canon 50/1.8 lens and Lomography Red Scale film.

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