Crossroads by Geoffrey Ellis in S.F. and L.V.

Both the Mission and Downtown Vegas are at a crossroads culturally and physically. The Mission is the neighborhood where it seems everyone wants to live, eat, shop, and party… Downtown Las Vegas is the area of town that wants to be all of those things. They are both constantly changing places that share a certain grit, but one—the Mission—is much further along in its evolution than the other. They are both headed in new directions and it’s incredible to watch each grow and struggle to become something new and different.

Name: Geoffrey Ellis

Place you live: Mission District San Francisco & Downtown Las Vegas

Place your photos were taken: Mission District San Francisco & Downtown Las Vegas

Can you sum up the place you live in a short paragraph?

The Mission is the heart of San Francisco where the sun seems to always be shining. The food is amazing and it’s the only hood in SF I’d want to live in with my wife and kid.

Downtown Las Vegas is the original heart of the city. It is currently going through big changes and attempted revitalization. It’s much different than the Strip where celebrity, glitz and glamour reign supreme.

Occupation: Photographer / Publisher

Preoccupation: U of Hartford MFA program, constant travel, and my wife Sarah and son Eli

What is a perfect day in San Francisco? Outdoor patio at Red’s Java House with the wife and kid on a sunny day

If someone was visiting, what must they do?

SF: Visit Pier 24 photo center

LV: Get a photo taken with the 2Pac impersonator on Fremont Street

Perfect meal in San Francisco? The Mission kills it with food. Bar Tartine and Tacolicious are current favorites

What is the best thing about your spot?

SF: weather and food

LV: downtown weirdness

What is the worst?

SF: Used condoms on the street

LV: The summer heat and wind

A little known fact about where you live?

SF: From 1946-1970, over 47,000 containers of radioactive waste were dumped in the ocean west of San Francisco at a site known as the Farallon Island Radioactive Waste Dump.

LV: From 1951-1963 the US exploded an above ground atomic bomb once every 3 weeks at a nuclear test site located 65 miles north of Las Vegas.

Where is your favorite place in the world? Anywhere I am with my wife and son, and maybe Jakarta, Indonesia

Who are your three favorite photographers? Garry Winogrand, William Eggleston, Lee Friedlander