Jonathan

Recently I blogged about a new project that I am starting called $2 portraits. The idea is that I will offer $2 to anyone who asks me for money from now on in exchange for their portrait.

Today I met Jonathan. Jonathan was a soft spoken but friendly guy. When I asked him if I could take his portrait for $2, he told me that I could take his portrait for free.

Jonathan told me that recently he'd been featured on the Channel 11 news and seemed proud of this fact. He said that they came by the other day and interviewed him about what it was like to be out on the streets.

Jonathan has been in San Francisco for about a year. He came from Chicago Illinois before San Francisco. He said he likes it here better because it's warmer. He also said that Illinois tended to have a lot more segregation. Not segregation in a legal sense he said but more just that white people and black people didn't live in the same places there like they do here.

Jonathan said that he did not have much family left. He said his older brother recently died of diabetes. He said that he had one son who was in college.

While we were talking, he pointed out a plain clothes police officer to me who walked by. He said that the police know him and don't mind him being there because he's polite and not aggressive.