This evening I decided to head down to the Arts Colony section of Pomona, CA to shoot a few photos and hope to get one for this project. While shooting an interesting old building that now houses The Vault nightclub, a heard a voice from behind me say, "Take my picture. Take my picture." I turned around to find this gentleman standing behind me, which in Pomona is not always the safest place to find yourself, and I asked him back, "You want me to take your picture? What would I do with your picture?" I did not want any trouble, nor did I know if he was looking for money to shoot him or the like. He said "You can do anything you want with my picture. You can put it anywhere." I asked him if he wanted me to shoot only his face or his whole body and he wanted a full portrait, so he posed and this is the shot I got. We talked, and exchanged names and he told me about his family coming over from Germany to Mexico, that is why he "has high cheek bones" he said. He seemed harmless enough so I listened to him explain how the Germans, during WWII tried to get Mexico to fight the US and so on and so forth. I told him I had never heard this before and he said, "that is history you won't learn in college; real history they don't teach you in college!" Soon we parted and he reminded me his name was "Guadalupe Jesus Cruz and my (his) last name means cross!"
Very interesting turn of the evening. I am sure I won't forget Guadalupe for sometime and who knows, maybe next time I'm in Pomona I'll see him around again.
