Kids playing in a housing project — © Brian Rose

I’m photographing several projects across the Bay in Oakland. This one is low income housing–the kids came out to play while I was shooting the courtyard.

West Oakland — © Brian Rose

The area nearby is gritty, but interesting. Small gingerbready houses, heavy industry, entrepreneurs and artists, and blocks of abandoned and underused land.

Mandela Parkway — © Brian Rose

At one point while making pictures, two of the meanest looking pit pulls I’ve ever seen came wandering through the housing complex. They were wearing spiked collars, and seemed to have gotten loose, maybe from a nearby yard. They came directly toward me, and I froze in my tracks. They loped on by without incident, but for the next hour or so, they kept reappearing. One time I fled up some stairs. It was unnerving.