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San Francisco has a wonderful chess community. Hosting one of the oldest chess clubs in the US (the Mechanics Institute), San Francisco is the premier chess location on the west coast of the US. Many wonderful and known chess players play at the Mechanics Institute, which is a beautiful chess club. But despite its fame, all the fun chess was happening on Fifth and Market St.
Since 2007 Tyler has been photographing chess players in San Francisco and Los Angeles. These photographs are of the street chess tables on Market St. and Fifth St. in San Francisco and at Chess Park at the base of the Santa Monica Pier in Los Angeles.
So after living in the city for 5 years, Tyler began to take his camera down to the tables and photograph. Many of the photographs in Kings of California are taken across the chess board; Tylers photographs get the viewer close in to the chess player and their game. Although these pictures, shot in black and white, are predominantly tightly framed, several show the background and setting of the chess game (perhaps the edges of a building, or a bus going by or a group of police officers walking by). The chess tables are located in the heart of the city and theres a world of activity around the games. While catching the chess players surroundings, some photographs are so close you can make out how Tyler is doing in the game.
About half was through the project Tyler began to spend more time in Los Angeles, playing at Chess Park in Santa Monica. Growing up in southern California, he has a connection with the area and incorporated this location into the project. Although Los Angeles was brought into the project, the only locations that are in Kings of California are the tables on Market St and Chess Park, Los Angeles. Tyler said, This was truly difficult, because of the many places that have flourishing chess areas including Plummer Park, LA and La Boheme in the Mission District of San Francisco.
But for Tyler, Santa Monica was far too romantic to not record how the chess community thrives under the hot Los Angeles sun. Many chess players need to wear long sleeve shirts, hats and sun screen because of the wonderful beach atmosphere at Chess Park. The photographs in Kings of California show people riding bikes, palm trees and what most chess areas attract: some sketchy people.
The difference in location is huge. San Franciscos chess tables are located just next to the Tenderloin District, one of the most dangerous parts of the city. And Santa Monicas Chess Park is in a fairly affluent area, with tight security and policing.
All of these elements come together to form Kings of California, a work that took Tyler Fraser three years and hundreds of hours to complete. Contact Tyler for more information about showing the project or purchasing a print. 100% of the proceeds will back to the chess tables in California.
