Introduce yourself: tell us who you are in a few sentences and give us a little background on your career path thus far.
My name is Felix Uribe Jr. My mother emigrated here from Lima, Peru in her 20s and my father came to the states when he was 17 from Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. I was born and raised in the Bay Area and I currently live in the Tenderloin District in San Francisco. Photography has always been my passion.
What is your earliest memory with photography?
My mother had these great big leather photo albums that I would go through as a child with my sister and we would always ask who was in the pictures and my mom would tell us the story behind the photos. One image that always sticks out is my dad carrying me while he was mowing the lawn of the house and my sister pushing her toy mower next to my dad.
Describe your approach to visual storytelling?
In one word – Engaging. Ever since I was a child I was always making friends and for some reason my mom thought I was going to be a shy kid so she challenged me on my first day of school for every new friend I made she would give me a dollar. I went out and made friends with everyone that day and I never saw any money from my mom. So I am always looking for an opportunity to connect with someone. I like to say my passion is people and I express that passion with my lens.
What is one piece of advice you would give to those just starting out or looking to improve their visual storytelling skills?
One piece is hard. Really just make sure you’re doing things for the right reasons. It’s okay to have self-doubt and hold onto your Joy.
How did this particular project/body of work come about?
Before moving to San Francisco in 2013 all I heard about the Tenderloin was how you shouldn’t live there because of how dangerous and dirty it is. My first experience with the Tenderloin was visiting a friend where we went to drop off some groceries to a resident at the Pacific Bay Inn which is an SRO and it was such a different experience than what I was told and since then I try to share more of the beauty of the Tenderloin. This is a neighborhood of survivors and I wanted to give an opportunity to the residents to share their experience of the TL.
Reflecting back on this project — what were your main learnings? How did this work inform your practice as a photographer and identity?
I learned that despite 3,000 kids living in a .35 mile radius, the TL isn’t considered a residential neighborhood by the city of San Francisco. This helped inform my work on this project to continue to highlight the community as a residential neighborhood which I hope can help change things from a policy level so the Tenderloin can get the services other neighborhoods get.
What has been a specific surprise or challenge working on these images?
Being in the pandemic, the challenge really has been maintaining safe practices with the correct safety gear. Really just taking the extra steps to be able to pursue the story safely for myself and the community that I’m documenting.
Pick 2-3 photos from your series to deconstruct: What was happening when you took the shot? Set the scene, what was going through your head?
One image was of CoCo who was holding her black and brown babydolls and with her dolls she made BLM posters so her dolls could join in the protest. Prior to this photo CoCo was just coloring and I didnt know what she was drawing until she was done. This is just a perfect image that describes the community as engaging with the current issues that affect their community.
The kids playing on the bicycle. Often we don’t think of the Tenderloin as a residential community and the city doesn’t either but these images are important that the city knows that the community is more than the negative press that you read on Twitter or in newspapers.
What motivates you to keep making pictures? In one sentence describe why visual storytelling matters to you.
Visual storytelling matters because It’s an opportunity to show someone that they matter, it’s an opportunity to affirm and uplift someone but often I’m the one that gets uplifted from my experience shooting in the neighborhood.
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CHECK OUT MORE OF FELIX’S WORK ON HIS INSTAGRAM AND WEBSITE.