Chicano Park

I think you have hit on an interesting project here. If approached properly you could have the makings of a book . But I think you might have to take more care how you record the images. These are record shots and as such a well defined method of recording is necessary. I would think a straight on front elevation is required watching your verticals as you work. Side elevation shots would then be next followed by rear elevation shots. Next would be close up details of the more interesting designs. I recently had an exhibition of a series of photographs that I had taken of the main street of my town all of 34 years ago. What people liked looking at what how much the town had changed in that period of time. These murals won't last or will be painted over and no record of their existence will remain except your photos.

Wonderful series of takes here. Some really neat wall art too.

This is an interesting series, sort of like ancient cave paintings. It depicts an underground culture that is unseen by the general public but is a flourishing culture non the less. I also like the sort of "primitive" style used in that you don't do the "professional" tarting up of burning and vignetting to eliminate the sometimes overexposed areas outside the underground world. I'm sort of more interested in the overall aspects of the artwork more than closeups of the actual message of the artwork. So I think you did a great job of illustrating that without trying to document and advertise the actual message the artwork portrays. It's sort of like photographing Picasso's studio, but not getting caught up in the individual pictures in the studio but instead illuminating the "feel" of the place instead.

Chicano Park is under the east end of the Coronado Bridge, where it fans out from 4 lanes to 6 to connect to north and south bound freeway and local streets. Barrio Logan had/has a mostly Mexican population and was for years the go to place for the city to put smelly factories and junkyards. In planning the bridge, the city had promised the neighborhood that, once complete, a park would be built in this spot. In 1970 (I believe) bulldozers started pushing dirt around and people found out that instead a headquarters for the California Highway Patrol was going in. The neighborhood erupted in protest, with women laying down in front of the bulldozers, in what became a 6-week occupation. Eventually the city was forced to buy the land back and build the park. There are 75 or so murals on the bridge supports, most of them with historical or political themes. The murals have been undergoing a restoration, a few at a time, for the last couple years, frequently by the original artist. The neighborhood is very possessive of this place and I didn't see any of the expected graffiti anywhere in the park. When I was shooting, an old guy rode by on a bicycle and said, "No making money on these murals!". I had looked forward to this shoot for several weeks and only had a couple of hours. The light was really hard, and getting detail from the underside of the bridge meant getting wildly blown out sky and I really wanted to avoid getting any people on camera. The highlights have been considerably lowered for posting, like pre-flashing paper. I'm happy with the results as a first try, but will need to go back several times and try different approaches to get it right. Maybe an overcast sky will help. I'm not sure about morning or evening magic hours because of the deep shade.

Vincent, yes, there is a book here, and probably a very good one. The 1970 protest is viewed as a people's awakening to demand equal treatment from city government which led to many other improvements in Chicano lives. They are immensely proud of it. However, I live 1,000 miles away and only get to SD once a year or so. There are several apug members in the area but they have shown no inclination to do that book. One of them who helped me with planning has used this site as a backdrop for other purposes. If you search Google images for "chicano park", you will find thousands of images of this place and google maps allows you to walk around it and view the murals. I could see a book with interviews of those involved in the original protests, the artists, etc., along with a documentation of the murals as you suggest. It was only 45 years ago so most of them will still be alive.