Usry
@usry.bsky.social
I am an artist and photographer, originally from Guyana, South America, living and working in the East Bay in California.
Digital painting of an unhoused man on a street corner in Berkeley, CA.
March 10, 2025 at 12:44 AM
Digital painting of an unhoused man on a street corner in Berkeley, CA.
A quick Procreate painting of DeJoy with his hands over his ears.
December 12, 2024 at 6:28 PM
A quick Procreate painting of DeJoy with his hands over his ears.
I experience comfort each night when I slip under my blanket onto a soft mattress to go to sleep. It angers me to see people who do not have that privilege, a privilege that needs to be a right or at least the right thing to do.
May 21, 2024 at 11:49 PM
I experience comfort each night when I slip under my blanket onto a soft mattress to go to sleep. It angers me to see people who do not have that privilege, a privilege that needs to be a right or at least the right thing to do.
A cloud of steam rising from a hole in the road in front of a Taco Bell on San Pablo Ave. in El Cerrito, California.
May 20, 2024 at 8:42 PM
A cloud of steam rising from a hole in the road in front of a Taco Bell on San Pablo Ave. in El Cerrito, California.
Grandfather admires his crying new grandchild. Immediately after this picture was taken, her mother fed and comforted her.
May 17, 2024 at 5:19 PM
Grandfather admires his crying new grandchild. Immediately after this picture was taken, her mother fed and comforted her.
I took this portrait of a new mother and her baby a few days ago. I remember being a new parent of a new baby, and nine years later, I still feel like a novice and probably always will. As my child turns 10, I’m still happily engaged in this lifelong residency.
May 13, 2024 at 4:20 PM
I took this portrait of a new mother and her baby a few days ago. I remember being a new parent of a new baby, and nine years later, I still feel like a novice and probably always will. As my child turns 10, I’m still happily engaged in this lifelong residency.
Sunset can be seductively, graphic. Surfaces flatten, details diminish, dark surfaces blacken and lighter surfaces glow and even though I’ve seen this a million times before, I’m compelled to stop and stare.
May 10, 2024 at 3:45 PM
Sunset can be seductively, graphic. Surfaces flatten, details diminish, dark surfaces blacken and lighter surfaces glow and even though I’ve seen this a million times before, I’m compelled to stop and stare.
This was a cool morning in Berkeley so I’m sure the warmth of the rising sun was appreciated by this gentleman.
May 10, 2024 at 3:44 PM
This was a cool morning in Berkeley so I’m sure the warmth of the rising sun was appreciated by this gentleman.
I had the distinct honor of photographing a former colleague’s wedding recently. It was a wonderful event with a lot of public displays of love and affection. The world is a better place because of this.
May 5, 2024 at 5:54 PM
I had the distinct honor of photographing a former colleague’s wedding recently. It was a wonderful event with a lot of public displays of love and affection. The world is a better place because of this.
Someone told me that my fate would is the result of the bad decisions I’ve made in my life. This conclusion, probably thought of as being helpful, felt more like an expression of assumed moral superiority.
May 2, 2024 at 5:13 PM
Someone told me that my fate would is the result of the bad decisions I’ve made in my life. This conclusion, probably thought of as being helpful, felt more like an expression of assumed moral superiority.
The end appears at first to have a place and a time but I’m reminded every time the sun sets that this is an illusion. I’ve moved through countless initiations and cessations in my life but until I reflect, I don’t see them.
April 30, 2024 at 4:04 PM
The end appears at first to have a place and a time but I’m reminded every time the sun sets that this is an illusion. I’ve moved through countless initiations and cessations in my life but until I reflect, I don’t see them.
When I looked at this image in my Google photo gallery, it wanted to fix the lighting. I don’t want an algorithm to make decisions about what is right for me. What is statistically probable is not necessarily desirable.
April 26, 2024 at 4:58 PM
When I looked at this image in my Google photo gallery, it wanted to fix the lighting. I don’t want an algorithm to make decisions about what is right for me. What is statistically probable is not necessarily desirable.
It’s been a long time since I’ve had the privilege of a sunset photo session. I’m looking forward to some excursions the weather changes as summer approaches.
April 24, 2024 at 2:36 PM
It’s been a long time since I’ve had the privilege of a sunset photo session. I’m looking forward to some excursions the weather changes as summer approaches.
In my 57 years of life, I’ve lived in too many houses to count. To date, none of them have been tarp tents with concrete floors. We have to do better for our fellow humans. People in this incredibly wealthy could should not have to live like this. In no way is this morally justifiable.
April 19, 2024 at 7:12 PM
In my 57 years of life, I’ve lived in too many houses to count. To date, none of them have been tarp tents with concrete floors. We have to do better for our fellow humans. People in this incredibly wealthy could should not have to live like this. In no way is this morally justifiable.
The deviously transgressive iconography covering 20th century architecture is very appealing. Something should always be able to challenge the dominant aesthetics of capitalism seen in the blue and white skyscrapers.
April 18, 2024 at 9:23 PM
The deviously transgressive iconography covering 20th century architecture is very appealing. Something should always be able to challenge the dominant aesthetics of capitalism seen in the blue and white skyscrapers.
This liquor store always has Indian hip-hop and videos on loop. The two soft spoken, stylish, young men who attend to customers speak and move in unison in twin-like unison. Patrons, especially late at night, appear to come from every socioeconomic rung.
April 15, 2024 at 5:23 PM
This liquor store always has Indian hip-hop and videos on loop. The two soft spoken, stylish, young men who attend to customers speak and move in unison in twin-like unison. Patrons, especially late at night, appear to come from every socioeconomic rung.
If global financial theocracy continues their current level of domination, I feel these accommodations are manifest destiny for all but the rich. It makes me want to be rich but I fear that upon stepping over the golden threshold in to the domain of the endowed, I will lose all my empathy.
April 11, 2024 at 2:32 PM
If global financial theocracy continues their current level of domination, I feel these accommodations are manifest destiny for all but the rich. It makes me want to be rich but I fear that upon stepping over the golden threshold in to the domain of the endowed, I will lose all my empathy.
It’s easy to infer, from their clothing and makeup, the professions of women I deliver to in motels. It’s easy to understand the loss of dignity and dehumanization felt from the cheap sale of humanity bur it is hard to imagine the weight of the peril they carry.
April 10, 2024 at 4:14 PM
It’s easy to infer, from their clothing and makeup, the professions of women I deliver to in motels. It’s easy to understand the loss of dignity and dehumanization felt from the cheap sale of humanity bur it is hard to imagine the weight of the peril they carry.
Sometimes it seems as if life is run on two molecules; methanol to fuel or cars and ethanol to shut off brain cells. Both however, can have deleterious effects when used in excess. These days, I’m very careful when using either on to alter the state of my life.
April 8, 2024 at 6:34 PM
Sometimes it seems as if life is run on two molecules; methanol to fuel or cars and ethanol to shut off brain cells. Both however, can have deleterious effects when used in excess. These days, I’m very careful when using either on to alter the state of my life.
I took this image with the full awareness that I’d seen many like it before. Any internet search will produce thousands of similar images. However, I wanted the experience of making my own version. Anyone can make bread but most people do not, and the act of making my own is important to me.
April 7, 2024 at 7:40 PM
I took this image with the full awareness that I’d seen many like it before. Any internet search will produce thousands of similar images. However, I wanted the experience of making my own version. Anyone can make bread but most people do not, and the act of making my own is important to me.
For someone who doesn’t enjoy shopping, I derive a decent amount of pleasure from shopping for groceries for others. I tend to harbor very low expectations which can be easily satisfied when met.
April 4, 2024 at 3:43 PM
For someone who doesn’t enjoy shopping, I derive a decent amount of pleasure from shopping for groceries for others. I tend to harbor very low expectations which can be easily satisfied when met.
As a child growing up in Guyana, I spent a lot of time watching insects buzz around beneath streets at night. On a wet winter night in Oakland, when I stare up at the street lights, there are no insects only, other lights and cameras staring back at me as if I were the insect.
April 2, 2024 at 5:33 PM
As a child growing up in Guyana, I spent a lot of time watching insects buzz around beneath streets at night. On a wet winter night in Oakland, when I stare up at the street lights, there are no insects only, other lights and cameras staring back at me as if I were the insect.
I love rain at night because it always seems to slow down the passage of time as I sit and wait for it to stop while simultaneously not wanting cessation.
April 1, 2024 at 6:12 PM
I love rain at night because it always seems to slow down the passage of time as I sit and wait for it to stop while simultaneously not wanting cessation.