RINGLING BROTHERS BARNUM and bailey circus

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This is a short series of only 8 photographs.made when I was about 22.... One of the subjects regrettable did not spend  more time documenting, considering Ringling Brothers  being ostracized by the left in society years later...The one day I did go to see them at the Cow Palace in SSF, I was able to be a fly on the wall, and easily walk backstage to see the performers preparing for their next show..No one paid attention to me except the trapeze artist in the first photograph on the right.. It is a special photograph for me because it was the first time I confronted  an older adult knowing I had to get that picture. I mustard the courage  and photographed him while he stared directly at me...A milestone Moment for a shy kid from the suburbs of SF..One could never do that today, with special passes, etc..In fact, whether here or a concert in Golden Gate Park, or Winterland, I could just go wherever I wanted. Id walk on stage at a Jim Morrison concert, or Tower of Power, or go to some garage on Haight street and photograph a Janis Joplin rehearsal no questions asked..It was really free back then, quite unlike today...I was lucky I guess  to be there at that time...and these few. photographs from that day remain some of my favorites..