Saint Monica

Out at Palisades Park this morning to visit Saint Monica's statue - turns out that's where Santa Monica get's its name. I'm shooting this location for my Multiple Viewings series - I grew up in Westwood and my mother, who was studying art at UCLA, spent a lot of time painting on the pier. The best part of being a kid was the freedom I had to explore and my travels would range from under the pier to the pathways leading back up to the park.

It was cold this morning, had to go get coffee and warm my fingers up before I could shoot (with the real camera...).

This weekend we drove from the foothills to the ocean - Pasadena to Long Beach - by surface streets. Occasionally, when I can't take the traffic anymore, I bail on my work commute and end up on the streets of Downey, South Gate, Huntington Park, Compton and Highland Park to name just a few of the communities along the 710 and 5 fwys. The problem on those days is that I'm beat to the core and just want to get home, but I do pay attention and mark locations I want to return to, sometimes to sample the food, sometimes because of the signage...

My own "revisiting" project

Over the winter break I headed home (strange how where we spent our teen years is always home) and spent time shooting. Each visit I make a pilgrimage to a series of locations - part of which is seeing how they've changed since the last time, but these are also locations that give me peace. A few years ago I decided to keep a record of these shrines - and to re-experience them on their own terms each time - rather than try and hold each new view to previous values.

New Color Series: Ordinary Spaces

Just finished printing my first color series in almost a decade and will be taking it to Fotofest this week. These images, many of which were on the blog last year, explore how we are using the land and the beauty that ordinary spaces somehow manage to retain.

Lake Los Angeles

California has a long history of real estate boom-bust cycles. In the mid 60's developers bought desert property, built a lake and Lake Los Angeles was born. My childhood memories of it are connected to the Los Angeles Underground newspaper - a short-lived project of my father's - and the investigative reporting that got his car shot up one night. Now it's a struggling collection of homes, small businesses and movie sets.

What's interesting to me is how we subdivide space in the desert...creating ownership next to abandonment.

112. Lockeford, CA

108. Gridley, CA

106. Chico, CA

102. Chico, CA

064. Pasadena, CA

052. Hamilton City, CA

029. Sacramento Delta, CA