Tuesday, September 30, 2008 at 1:01am
Photo Essay: Religion in the Hood
Column: Left Coast Lions' Den
Last week I wrote a piece about dusting off my old Pentax K-1000, loading it with black and white film, and rediscovering the joy of taking photos with film. Here are a few of the photos I took.
For a long time, I've been fascinated by the religious diversity in my neighborhood, so when I went out to shoot photos with my old camera, I decided to take pictures of interesting religious expressions near my home.
(Click on photos to see a larger image.)
Our Lady of Guadalupe Roman Catholic Church is almost directly across the street from my house. Folks in my community tend to spend extravagantly for Quinceñeras—the fifteenth birthday of a young woman. No limo is too over the top.
My neighborhood is home to dozens of small Spanish-speaking Pentecostal churches. Most are poor and meet in dilapidated buildings.
Currently, my community is facing a growing gang problem. CityTeam is a ministry that is attempting to reach gang members. I have no idea if their efforts are successful, but their faux graffiti is impressive.
Though I live in a predominantly Hispanic neighborhood, there are several small Black churches near my home, including this tiny church, where I met and spoke to a deacon who was preparing the sanctuary for worship. You can see his hand opening the side door in this photo.
My neighborhood is changing. In the five years I've lived here two Buddhist temples have set up shop nearby. This photo is of a shrine at the Cambodian Buddhist temple two blocks behind my place.
Here the ancient Mexican cultural ability to befriend death meets the more contemporary "religion" of low-riding (the joke is in the lowered hearse's license plate: "A STFRYD"—"A Stiff Ride").
For a long time, I've been fascinated by the religious diversity in my neighborhood, so when I went out to shoot photos with my old camera, I decided to take pictures of interesting religious expressions near my home.
(Click on photos to see a larger image.)
Our Lady of Guadalupe Roman Catholic Church is almost directly across the street from my house. Folks in my community tend to spend extravagantly for Quinceñeras—the fifteenth birthday of a young woman. No limo is too over the top.
My neighborhood is home to dozens of small Spanish-speaking Pentecostal churches. Most are poor and meet in dilapidated buildings.
Currently, my community is facing a growing gang problem. CityTeam is a ministry that is attempting to reach gang members. I have no idea if their efforts are successful, but their faux graffiti is impressive.
Though I live in a predominantly Hispanic neighborhood, there are several small Black churches near my home, including this tiny church, where I met and spoke to a deacon who was preparing the sanctuary for worship. You can see his hand opening the side door in this photo.
My neighborhood is changing. In the five years I've lived here two Buddhist temples have set up shop nearby. This photo is of a shrine at the Cambodian Buddhist temple two blocks behind my place.
Here the ancient Mexican cultural ability to befriend death meets the more contemporary "religion" of low-riding (the joke is in the lowered hearse's license plate: "A STFRYD"—"A Stiff Ride").
