Joseph Johnston
Joseph Johnston began taking photography classes at the age of sixty-six at City College of San Francisco. For thirty years he worked with Tz’utujil and Kaqchikel Mayan artists from Guatemala and has published ten calendars featuring their oil paintings.
— From February 2023
February 2023
Alberto and Jaime
April 18, 2019
I first met Alberto and Jaime when I was learning how to use a view camera, which can take thirty minutes to set up. When I came back to give them prints from the photo shoot, I heard others refer to them as los amantes — the lovers. A year later Alberto confided in me about his relationship with Jaime, and we both began to speak freely about being gay. Alberto said Jaime had come to the United States because the gangs in El Salvador had threatened to kill him for being gay. I told him that I’d gotten married the day after gay marriage had become legal in California. Alberto said that he and Jaime wanted to marry but couldn’t because Jaime did not have an ID. A month later I took this photo of Jaime with his head on Alberto’s shoulder.
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