Brian Molyneaux Photography, Oakland, CA (2026)

05/23/2023

Atira - was walking up the avenue when we met. She had their headphones on and I had to get their attention by waving when saying excuse me didn’t work.

We chatted for only a few minutes and talked about music and all the different festivals and shows happening in The Bay Area.

Atira is from LA but came up to The Bay for college and then stayed. She works for Bandcamp as a Product Manager and told me about an upcoming show that they’re sponsoring at their headquarters in downtown Oakland.

Her style and fashion initially caught my attention and Atira told me how important how she dresses is to her self expression. I’m pretty sure she told me that she made the pants she was wearing with materials from a local fabric store.

05/10/2023

Valery - has such a cool New Wave and Punk style that I couldn’t pass her by. Actually, she passed me by and then I caught up to her. She was hoofing it pretty quickly and that’s saying something because I am often in New York street walking mode even here in Oakland. Meaning quickly moving not the other meaning.
I digress…

She is a singer and musician in a band called Pink Stiletto and I cannot wait to see them live next time they play. Valery also works at Golden Bull tending bar.

She is looking for an East Bay or San Francisco record label looking for a great new band to sign, promote and release an album with. Valery is an audio engineer for herself, her band and for different gigs in SF, LA and wherever the job will take her.

Originally from Russia, Valery also lived in LA and now here and she told me about how much she loves the vibes and styles she finds here in Oakland and Oakland in general. She definitely encompasses the young and creative energy that this city has.
 It was a pleasure meeting and chatting with her and I look forward to when we cross paths again.

05/08/2023

Scott - was enjoying an iced Americano at Market Hall when we met.

He is a graduate student at San Jose State University studying Urban Planning and has spent several years working in bicycle shops. We talked a bit about the 980 freeway in Oakland and how blatantly racist it seems/is because how the construction and application of it isolated and cut many people of color off from the economic opportunities of downtown and other parts of Oakland. We also talked about how unnecessary it is. I learned that Mandela Parkway used to be a freeway too and how it was torn down for similar disenfranchisement of many people.

Scott was gracious and good to talk with as my dog was rolling around on the sidewalk waiting for belly rubs from whomever would stop or whomever she blocked and sort of forced to stop. He was in a hurry that day because the had to get home for the Knicks game. Born and raised down the peninsula but a life long Knicks and NY teams fan. Dad is from New York and Scott carries on the tradition.

05/06/2023

Kelley - has a cool style and that’s why I initially approached her. She and her wife were looking pretty cool waiting for their to-go food and holding their hyper-allergenic cat Naruto who is named after the Japanese manga series.

They both were in New York recently and we realized that were both there at the same time. And… we share the same birthday! Aries rule.

Kelley is an audio visual engineer at Bay Area Video Coalition where she preserves, digitizes and archives old films. We realized that she did some work in the past for the same company that my girlfriend works at. Small world.

I dmed her and found out that Caity who I photographed the day before was their Dj for their wedding! Small world again.

05/05/2023

Caity - is a Dj and a very great one at that. I have known of her for years but have never met her until now.

She was on KALX as Dj Cherry Pie for quite a while and I think I may have won some tickets from her way back when. Shoutout to Matt, what up. He definitely bennied from some of those tix.

Caity recently got married and knows Rob, a fellow photographer and friend of mine. We talked briefly about him and then Rosanna showed up and she’s Rob’s agent. Small world stuff.

They didn’t had a lot of time to drink their natty wine while sitting outside because they were heading to a movie at The Grand Lake Theater. Plus I was interrupting, a little.

The last song Caity listened to was: Nobody Sees Me Like You Do by Yoko Ono. A little more on my story…

05/03/2023

Miron - was walking his dog when we met.
 He wore a button on his puffy jacket of Willis O'Brien who he adores. O’Brien a pioneer in stop-motion animation, who was best known for the original King Kong. Willis O'Brien was born and raised in Oakland, California.

Miron was not. He hails from the Upper West Side of Manhattan and told me of how he adored his mother. He was very blessed to have caring and nurturing parents and spoke fondly of them both. Miron is full of love and a treat to meet. Him and his dog are inseparable too.

When Miron learned that I am originally from Chicago he became even more excited than he was just speaking with me. His eyes lit up and grew wider, his speech quickened and he told me of a story when he was 8 years old when his mother took him to Chicago.

They didn’t have much money back then but mom let him buy a comic at a bookstore. Oh the joy on Miron’s face as he retold this story was just incredible. The bookstore was ginormous and right next to the elevated ‘L’ train and he spoke of this experience and memory as if it happened yesterday. Subsequently, I took it on as part of my mission to find out which old bookstore that was, enlisting the help of my good friend Scott in Chicago who happens to know most things Chicago, architecture, and music.

At one point I asked him his age and he refused to answer. Fair play because what does it matter anyway if we are all energy and all one. I’ve met 20 year olds that acted 60 and 60 year olds that acted 20. It depends on the day and on this day Miron was full of life and energy and I am grateful to have met him.

He even gave me a Willis O’Brien King Kong button that he has wrapped top ever so carefully in paper towel and baggie in his messenger bag. I wear it proudly.

I, well Scott really, narrowed down the bookstore to either A-1 Books in The Loop or Kroch's and Brentano’s. I send Miron an email telling him this but haven’t heard back from him yet.

Check out a little video of him on my story.

04/27/2023

Chad - and I met in the backyard of Stay Gold moments before he was going on stage to perform. Stay Gold makes pretty great food especially their brisket.

He plays bass in a hardcore punk band called Game Of Life.

When Chad was 1 year old he had an accident with a stick that damaged and blinded his right eye. He has a glass eye now but it doesn’t deter him from much at all. He can drive, works as a decorative painter and shreds on bass.

Chad is a soft spoken cool guy and his band is loud and hardcore.

04/27/2023

Saman - was coming from a routine doctor’s check up visit when we met. Apparently the doctor is doing just fine. He and a friend were standing outside chatting when I approached.

He told me that they drew a bunch of blood and he had the cotton ball with medical tape on his inner elbow.

Saman and I only talked for a few minutes and I learned that he is a journalist that has spent a lot of time in war zones reporting on conflicts, battles and some of the atrocities of humankind. I was very curious how he was able to deal and cope with seeing so much over the years and he told me that he and others used to drink a lot. They would be out during the day documenting while trying to stay out of danger and in the evening they would self medicate. The next day they would do it all over again. I got the sense that this was a practice of the past and that he has found other ways of coping now.

I mentioned EMDR therapy as a very helpful and transformative modality to reintegrating memory and to help overcome PTSD and traumatic responses. Not knowing if he needs it or not I mentioned that it has helped many people, oftentimes soldiers and people that have experienced war firsthand.

Saman was born in Tehran, moved to France when he was 12 and the to the United States when he was 13. His wiki page reads: Saman is an Iranian-American journalist, video director, cartoonist, host, creator, and executive producer of Voice of America's satirical television shows Parazit and OnTen. His work has been called "civic satire", comedy with a political and media mission. I did a little research after the fact. He has been praised by Jon Stewart by saying, "I just want to tell you, you are like our show, but with real guts and I'm proud to be considered in the same fraternity of humor that you guys are in."

He was very cool to talk with and funny. It was pretty quick though as I was running back to Brooklyn before my plane was to take off that evening.

04/25/2023

Joanne - was hanging with friends a couple of blocks from Madison Square Park.

This was the 2nd person named Joanne I photographed that day and only a few hours apart and 10 blocks away from each other. I thought that was cool.

Joanne is originally from Jakarta Indonesia and is studying fashion design at Parsons School of Design in Manhattan. I asked her who is her current favorite designer and she said Maison Margiela.

She is specifically studying: Design Patterns and Pattern Making.

This was a quick meeting and interaction that day.

04/24/2023

Joánne - was standing on the subway platform in Brooklyn wearing a beautiful flowy, flowery red and black dress that made me think of Flamenco dancers in Spain.

Joánne is from Greece and is a VP solopreneur, and abstract artist and owns a handcrafted knitwear company selling clothing made in her native Greece. She works with the world’s first end-to-end Revenue AI Co-Pilot.

The train was coming so I took a couple of photos of her in Brooklyn and then we jumped on. We chatted briefly while on th train about the differences of Greece and New York, my project and if we were both getting off at Union Square. We were.

Joánne was heading UpTown on the 6 and I was walking from Union Square into Chelsea to meet a friend. I was able to take a couple more under Union Square and then we said goodbye.

04/21/2023

Ian - was walking down Avenue A in the East Village. What happened next is what I call an “only in New York experience”.

According to the April 2020 census the population of New York City is 8,804,190.

They passed by us and Stacy pointed them out to me. I immediately turned and started yelling IAN 3 or 4 times, quite loudly. I have a big mouth and even bigger voice. (it’s ok for me to say it.)

How did I know their name? In a city of nearly 9 million people how would I have known to scream IAN?

Well, earlier in the day Stacy and I were in Glossier in Williamsburg picking up a couple of gifts and Ian was there in their pink Glossier jumpsuit. They took care of us and explained the products really well. At the time I thought I should photograph this person but wait, they’re really busy and at work. Hmm. We walked away from the store with little bags of goodies for our girls and ourselves in our hands and I left the fleeting idea of photographing Ian go.

Ian came back to me, or me to them, I’m not quite sure how this ole universe works but it did and does.

Ian is a classically trained musical theatre actor and works part of the time at Glossier. They grew up only a few blocks from where we met the 2nd time in the East Village. Ian mentioned a Broadway or Off Broadway theatre production that they were in recently, which is super cool, and was kind to allow me to photograph them. Even after screaming their name down a busy sidewalk.

Two boroughs, two counties, two people, several hours apart in one day. Pretty cool.

04/21/2023

Justine - was relaxing in Bryant Park when I spotted her.
She looked a little familiar but I wasn’t sure from where.

I was coming from a great work meeting in Midtown and heading downtown to drinks and dinner in the East Village with the girlfriend and friends. I was running but always try and buffer a little time for walking and photographing someone new to me. I also was messing around with the light on 6th Ave under some scaffolding as people were passing on by. To me it felt a little bit like diCorcia minus the strobes.

I digress.

Justine is from The Bronx lived in Brooklyn for a while and now is back in The Bronx taking care of family. She had just returned from a trip out in the country, somewhere in Pennsylvania. She was at a blissed out mediation retreat called Gita Nagari Eco Farm with rescued cows and green pastures and peacefulness.

Justine is taking her state boards in the summer to get her license for massage therapy. She also was a model in the past.

So, I forgot a little bit of this information and I reached out to her via instagram dm to clarify a couple of points. While I was texting back and forth with her I realized that I have met her before. I checked my email and her model release came up. Well, actually two of them did. I had met Justine before, also in New York and as part of this project. We met on April 26, 2018 in Williamsburg Brooklyn and she had just come back from Paris where she was modeling for an extended period. This was almost 5 years ago.

I love my project and what I do. Justine said that life comes full circle and I agree. Also, she is getting back into modeling and is considers running into me again as a sign.

Brian Molyneaux Photography

05/23/2023

05/10/2023

05/08/2023

05/06/2023

05/05/2023

05/03/2023

04/27/2023

04/27/2023

04/25/2023

04/24/2023

04/21/2023

04/21/2023

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