I like this picture and the people in it. It’s not just because on any given summer night, I can go over to the spot in Hayward and they’re down to kick it. It isn’t simply because I spent the better half of high school recording raps in the closet studio there, or because with them I can thrive creatively on music videos and photoshoots galore. But because when they see me pull a camera out of my purse, they don’t get self conscious or pose for pictures. Instead, they suggest that we go under a light so that I have a better setting to photograph.

This photo represents what it feels like to be truly understood.