Spouses for Life

 
Start at the beginning of the Spouses for Life series.
 

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"Documentary photography invites and needs participation by amateurs as well as by professionals.  Only through the interested work of amateurs who choose themes and follow them can documentation by the camera of our age and our complex society be intimate, pervasive, and adequate."  --Dorothea Lange

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So I wound up spenting three weeks at City Hall with my trusty Wunderplastik camera, Canon's Digital Rebel.  That certainly wasn't my original plan when I had run across Derek Powazek's photos--Justly Married--linked on MetaFilter one day.  As I was debating whether it was worthwhile to go poke my head around in San Francisco just for the day, suddenly I snapped out of my reverie to find myself already riding the train to the city with my camera in tote.  Well, duh.

That day was Friday, February 20th--the last day of the free-for-all before the city implemented their appointment system.  Things were wild.  I had caught the tail end of the festivities, and was so busy looking around that I wound up not taking any pictures at all.  I knew I had to come back when things had settled down a bit more so that I could actually get some shooting done--I really hated crowds.  After the weekend lull, I returned to City Hall the following week.

And the week after that.  And the week after that.  It turned into a habit: I wound up shooting and shooting, until I had compiled over 3,000 shots up through the day the California Supreme Court ordered the marriages halted--March 11th. From that pile, I've culled 29 for this web series, one for each day since the marriages began on February 12th.

Over the weeks at City Hall, I was asked again and again as to who I was shooting for, why I was shooting, and what I was going to do with all of these photos.  I didn't have a good answer for why I was photographing these same-sex marriages, and I still don't: I'm straight, chronically single, and apolitical to the point of not being registered to vote.  But the controversy provided a valuable window for me to peer through, to see ordinary people doing ordinary things under extraordinary circumstances--one pair at a time.  And I was an ordinary person there to do another ordinary thing: taking photographs.  This isn't really an answer, but at least I have my photos--and photos don't ask any questions.

In fact, I'm hoping they'll give me some answers.  And perhaps for you, too.

--Bob Hsiao

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UPDATE 03/23/04: I'm working on adding some personal commentary to this series.  Here is an in-progress extended version of the series, with some additional outtakes and other comments.  Currently on: page 22.

UPDATE 03/26/04: For San Francisco residents, two pieces from this series are on exhibit at the Exposure Gallery as part of their exhibition, "San Francisco's Same-Sex Marriage Law." The gallery's address is 801 Howard St. (Howard and 4th, next to the Moscone Center and the Metreon).  Hours: Thurs. and Fri., 4-6; Sat., 12-5.

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