Laura Morton

On Assignment: Life

“Cloud Gate,” an enormous polished steel sculpture, reflects back on Millennium Park, the Chicago skyline and Mexican tourist Daniela Navarro as she pauses a moment to admire the structure. Millennium Park is one of the many recent projects completed by the city of Chicago that incorporates art into public spaces.
  
Tera Ragan receives a hug from Phillip Taylor-Parker while watching the news that Democrat Barack Obama had been elected president. They'd gathered with other supporters, including Nienke Venema, right, at an emotionally charged victory party at the Mezzanine, a club in San Francisco.
   
Participants in the International Bear Rendezvous dance to country music during the group's "Hanky Dance" night. Bears are a subculture within the gay male community who reject the feminine stereotype of gay men and instead embrace traditional concepts of masculinity and the American blue-collar aesthetic. The annual gathering of bears and bear-lovers takes place in San Francisco every year.
     
  
Teenagers attend a vigil outside San Francisco City Hall to show solidarity with gay teens after a rash of suicides across the country by gay teens who had been bullied at school for their sexuality.
  
San Francisco Giants fan Brooke Treseder keeps a close eye on the television in a crowded bar as the Giants played the final minutes of game six of the National League Division Series against the Philadelphia Phillies. The Giants won the game 3-2 and advanced to the World Series where they beat the Texas Rangers.
   
Friends and family of Luis Armando Prieto, including Rebeca Prieto (left) and Zasharah Araujo (center) mourn the death of Prieto who was struck and killed as he was walking home from a night out with his friends by a car fleeing a shooting outside a strip club in San Francisco, California.
     
  
Army Spc. 4 Christopher D. Rose's mother, Margaret, wipes away tears as she is joined in mourning by her husband, Rudy (right), and daughter, Marianne Hoffman, during Rose's burial service at the Golden Gate National Cemetery in San Bruno, CA. The 21-year-old soldier became San Francisco's first war casualty in Iraq when he stepped on an improvised explosive device in Baghdad.
  
Dancers run backstage during the snow scene of the Triangle Children's Ballet production of The Nutcraker.
  
Participants in the 8th Annual Bring Your Own Big Wheel Race fly down Vermont St. on Easter Sunday in San Francisco, Calif. Every Easter hundreds of participants show up with the classic children's plastic bikes to race down one of San Francisco's famously steep hills.
     
  
Jennifer Kozumplik (center) and her partner of 17 years Nicole Webber (right) get ready for their wedding with the support of Alyssa Argueta, the daughter of a friend, in the women's restroom at San Francisco City Hall in San Francisco, Calif., on Tuesday, June 17, 2008. Tuesday was the day all state counties begin marrying same-sex couples.
   
Paul Hill and Brad Akin (right) are married with their friends, family and daughter Alexandra Akin by their side along with a huge crowd of media that descended upon San Francisco City Hall on Tuesday, June 17, 2008, to cover the day all California counties began marrying same-sex couples after the California Supreme Court overturned the state’s ban on same-sex marriage.
  
A woman steps away in shock after looking at the scene of a double homicide at Kirkwood Ave. and Third Street in San Francisco, Calif. The neighborhood, known as the Bayview District, is plagued with violence. Often the shootings are gang related.
     
  
Fifteen-year-old Walla Alali (left) and 17-year-old Ragad Alkhafaji look through Arabic fashion magazines in Ragad’s room in her Sunnyvale, Calif. Home. The girls, who are both Iraqi, say one of the common misconceptions their peers have about their Muslim faith is that they don’t care about things normally associated with teenage girls, such as fashion.
  
Sierra Brooks, a 17-year-old student at Benicia High School, tries on a prom dress at The Princess Project in San Francisco, Calif., on Sunday, March 13, 2011. The Princess Project provides free prom dresses and accessories to high school girls who might otherwise not be able to afford them. Each girl was allowed to take home one prom dress and one accessory for free.
  
University of North Carolina junior Sean May celebrates after his team defeated Illinois to win the 2005 NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship in Saint Louis, MO. May was named Most Outstanding Player after leading his team with 26 points and 10 rebounds. Carolina defeated Illinois 75-70 for the championship.
     
  
Elizabeth Castaneda (front center) goes wild on the dance floor as students from the San Francisco Ballet School and company members cheer her on during the post party for the San Francisco Ballet 2011 Opening Night Gala at City Hall in San Francisco, California.
  
Ryan O'Connor, Jency Butler and Lisa Toney (left to right) dance to the live music playing in the Golden Gate Polo Field during the Bay to Breakers in San Francisco, Calif. The annual foot race is known for being as much an excuse for alcohol consumption and costumes as it is an athletic event.
  
A fan of the San Francisco Giants shows his excitement after the team won the World Series by running through a bonfire in the street outside the ballpark. The win was the first World Series title for the team since moving to San Francisco from New York in 1958 and fans reacted by partying in the streets of the city all night.
     
  
Two young musicians share gossip behind their music while waiting to go on stage to perform in the San Francisco All-City Orchestra. The event pulled together the best middle and high school musicians from schools around the city for a concert.
  
North Carolina's Marvin Williams (24) rides a wave of jubilant, powder blue-clad fans after UNC's 75-73 win over rival Duke. Williams' put-back and free throw gave the Tar Heels the winning margin with 17 seconds left. The win secured the regular season ACC title for the Tar Heels.
  
Amani Abbas, on vacation from Windsor, Canada, soaks up the sun at Ocean Beach in San Francisco, Calif. after being buried in the sand by her friend. A nationwide heat wave burned the fog off the coastline and brought unusually warm temperatures to the area that day.
     
  
Kanisha Ford (right) works to watch her nieces and nephews play while also taking care of her 1-year-old son Melvin Bryant and 1-year-old niece Destiny Nichols outside their home in Pittsburg, CA. Ford, age 21, is raising her six nieces and nephews in addition to her own two children after her sister died suddenly from heart complications.
  
Daniel James enjoys a bit of solitude in a temporary park erected in a metered parking spot on a downtown San Francisco street. The park was part of an event designed to draw attention to the use of public space in the city.
  
SF Zombie Mob participants David Van Virden and Margaret Aarreberg take a smoke break after making their way through the streets of San Francisco with others dressed as zombies to Union Square.