Jose V.

This is another “retro-post” of a portrait I completed in late October this year. It is a portrait of “Jose.” The actual shoot was taken a few months ago, but only recently had I finished the life-sized (7x3 feet) composite piece. Of all the people I have photographed and interviewed, Jose was the one who had the most impact on me. This was for many reasons: One was that this man has high spiritual energy. He’s like a charismatic shaman lost in the mass of homelessness. Second was that this man has gone through hell and abuse from as early as three years old. That he turned out to be such a gentle spiritual man (instead of a angry psycho) never ceases to amaze me.

My interview with him lasted more than eight hours, spread over four separate days. I felt an honor that he would sit with me and tell me his most personal stories. The exchange was exactly what I quest for in what I do in art or anything else in my life. As Carlos Castaneda would say, the exchange was a “gesture” between him and me. And we sat in truth for a few moments in time.