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What do you do when an entire neighborhood is on the Endangered List? The photographic team of Ana Homonnay and Ashley Thompson saw their beloved Mission District in San Francisco slipping away through the erosion of gentrification. They decided to memorialize their adopted home and its people before it was too late.
“Ana and I set out to explore the Mission and the ever-changing landscape of the people that make up what has long been a vibrant and colorful neighborhood,” Ashley reports. “Gentrification has cast a dark shadow on a neighborhood that is losing its core identity, piece by piece.”
“With this project we really wanted to document a time that is quickly disappearing, and show the amazing, beautiful, hard-working people that still live and and make a life in the Mission,” adds Ana. “Whether that’s preserving the rich Latino culture or recording the artists that make the Mission so unique.”
Ana and Ashley believe shooting portraits is an intimate business and a connection needs to be made before the cameras come out. “We always connect with someone as much as we can before we ask to take their portrait,” shares Ashley. “We want to know, and in some small way, tell their story,” adds Ana.
Shopkeepers, street vendors, artists, and bohemians, the Mission is still a place where “street” and “life” go together. And this duo is uniquely suited to capture the vibrancy of it all. Ana comes from a documentary background while Ashley is trained in fine art. They compliment each other nicely through two different aesthetics with a shared vision and goal.
So if your next project needs photography with power, purpose and a dual perspective, visit the rest of Photographers Ashley Thompson and Ana Homonnay ’s work here. You won’t soon forget it.