This is one of the two shots from my adrenalin-fueled shoot in a Compton alley two months ago. The other shot will be ready someday before the end of time. (Hopefully sooner, because its also a good shot)
This was the second of the two that night and was done with the help of Jorge, a Compton gang leader, along with a few of his gangsters, as he called them. The group shot was taken just after completing this image. I’m calling the piece “Gangsters”
The story is really quite unbelievable. And there’s a freaky thing I’ve noticed since then: a guy named Luis may have saved my life by resembling me. Jorge thought I was Luis at first and so we became friends. The name Luis is spray-painted on the wall behind me. Its visible in the group shot and in the Alley shot.
3 responses so far ↓
1 Tatjana // May 28, 2008 at 10:10 pm
Dear God that shot is amazing.
It’s like, an orgasm of colors.
I couldn’t think of any other way to explain it.
2 X // May 29, 2008 at 7:16 am
Turns out… thats a good way of putting it!
3 New Release: Alley no. 111 - High Wire (2008, Compton, CA, 11am) | Xavier Nuez Photography // Nov 19, 2008 at 1:44 pm
[…] This intersection of alleys was shot in Compton, in March of this year. It was the first of two images I would shoot following a frenzied encounter with a gang. I was setting up this shot when I decided I needed more lighting equipment and went back to my van, down the alley to the right. Heading back I see my two friends running towards me with all my gear, yelling and being chased by a mob of black hooded gangsters. The rest of the story is here… […]
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