Project Description
My name is Miguel ‘Chromatic619’ Valencia and I shoot documentary/street images, my project ‘The other side of San Diego’ is about the communities inside the margins of South and South East San Diego, where these lifestyles of gangs, prostitution, drugs and the out of control homeless population in surrounding areas influence dread and consume the lives, and community here.
My vision is to bring awareness at its rawest form and instead of gentrification to inspire and tell the stories about some of these people really living those lifestyles, and for many of them to be heard because some of those persons in my photos are no longer alive or are incarcerated.
I explore the different and dangerous parts of these areas, where gang members are patrolling down the street or people are dropping drugs off and then where sometimes I have trespassed to shoot particular gang graffiti. There is a significance and story behind many of my captures because of whom I was introduced to, the area I have stepped or the things that happen in front of me.
These photographs are a unique perspective of reality at its finest and I believe that viewers, readers want to see this kind of photography because they get a glimpse into something up close and personal, especially here in San Diego, Ca where they say it’s about beaches and nice housing but they never tell you about the districts I’ve photographed that exist, the ‘real San Diego’ the other side where people are killing over nothing and fugitives on the run because of something.
