Photographer inspires with portraits of '99 percent'

San Francisco photographer Robert Schultze has documenting the individuals who were taking part in the Occupy Movement.

"They're just like you and me," Schultze told KTVU. "It's everyone of every age, race, gender orientation. It's everybody."

Schultze said it was four months ago when he took a few portraits at Occupy San Francisco and posted them on his website.

"I didn't think anything of it, but then the next day my website had crashed from all the traffic," Schultze recalled. "I had emails from all over the country people telling me how inspiring and beautiful they were."

He was hooked. So Schultze took his camera and his studio to the protesters.

He's now been to camps in nine cities. Two were in his native Wisconsin where it was 20 below zero. The rest were in California. To date, he has shot more than 10,000 photos of 354 occupiers.

He says one man had cancer, would leave for chemotherapy, then return to Occupy. One of his favorite photos was of a mother and her daughter.

"The little girl, it was her idea to come out and protest," said Schultze.

One man told the photographer he hadn't had his picture taken in 25 years.

Some people told him their life stories, while some didn't talk at all. But Schultze said in their eyes he saw their soul.
 
Schultze said he has tried to stay neutral and doesn't go to demonstrations. How long he shoots portraits of the 99 percent depends on how long the Occupy movement lasts.

"I don't know when that'll be. It's done when it's done," said Schultze. He also said the hardest part was not knowing what happened to the people after he captures their image.