Frida

You can read more about my $2 Portrait Project here.

 

Earlier today while shooting Derek up in the Tenderloin District, I ran into Frida. Frida asked if she could sit for a portrait as well and I told her more about my $2 Portrait Project and she said ok.

 

Frida was born and raised in San Francisco. I asked Frida if she had any kids and she told me she did. She said she had 11 of them. The oldest one was 26 she said and the youngest was 6. She also said she had 10 grandkids.

 

Frida told me that one of her sons had just almost been killed last month but that God saved him. She said that he was shot in a case of mistaken identity by someone when he was coming out of his house. Thank God he saved him for us she said. I asked Frida if she saw her children a lot and she smiled back and said every day.

 

Frida told me that she had her 11 different children with 3 different men. Two were Puerto Rican, she added. Frida told me that all three of the men were dead now.

 

Frida and I talked a bit about her being out on the street. She told me that she had had an alcohol problem but that she was over it now and better. She told me that it was hard work being out on the street. She said that a lot of people will just rush right past her saying "get a job." She said what they didn't understand was that this *was* her job. That asking people for money is a lot of hard work. Especially for a woman she added. "All the time men are coming up to me and saying 'Hey Baby,'" she told me.

 

I told Frida that I had four kids and she smiled and asked if they were all with the same woman. I told her they were and she laughed and said, oh well, not me.

 

Frida was a friendly woman who smiled a lot. She seemed very happy with her life and very proud of her children.

Done