June 21/Los Angeles/Modern Originals booksignings and slideshow

Hey there friends! Just wanted to let you all know about a couple of events coming up in the Los Angeles area this coming Saturday, June 21.
At 2pm I will be signing books the Dwell bookstore by Skylight Books at the Dwell on Design Conference in Downtown LA.
At 7pm I will be over on the west side for a lovely evening book signing and slideshow at General Store in Venice (1801 Lincoln Blvd x Superba). I expect the slideshow will be around 7:45ish. Hope to see you at one of these events!

roaming/

I forgot how much I love these mosaic walls at LAX. I was roaming my image files last night looking for an image (which I have yet to find) and ran across these. I have a special fondness for the yellow/grey combo. Can you say perfect?

500/really?

Apparently I have done over 500 blog posts. Today will be the 507th to be exact but I have been sitting on this news because I have been in blog crisis for awhile. I've been moving all the images to another server. That means looking at each and every image I have ever posted and slowly redoing each post. I am at a point where at least all the images are redone (not all sized, but soon!)
It has been illuminating looking at each blog post, to say the least. Happily,  I am at the point where I can squeal a proper WHOOHOO!!! I never thought much about what posting a picture each weekday would mean when I started back in April 2010. Some of the time I wonder what the heck I was thinking, but at other times, I realize what a wonderful practice it has been for me. So thanks for being along for the ride. I am leaving in a couple of weeks for round two in Europe. Looking forward to sharing more of the journey of my European book with you all.
Today an image from one of my shoots in LA. I loved seeing an old Mac floppy on the wall...how far we have come...

quotes/

I've been in LA this past weekend doing all sorts of fun, work related things. Yesterday found me shooting an artists studio. I caught myself reading his walls quite a bit because they were filled with wonderful quotes.
This one has stuck with me. I hope this is true...

Dion Neutra House/Monocle Magazine

You all remember when I was talking about all the Neutra's I was seeing in LA last month? Well the story is finally out in the April issue of Monocle Magazine. I shot Richard Neutra's son, Dion's, house. Check it out to see more...the story looks so good!

remembrance of things past/

Places that used be the height of luxury but have descended into some kind of sad, dilapidated state make me wistful. I shot this years ago in and old hotel in downtown LA. Back in the day (and by that I mean at the beginning of moviemaking and into the 1930's), it used to be where all the stars stayed for movie premiers. By the time I shot there it was a pretty seedy residential hotel. The kind where you go up and talk to a guy through glass and can get a room for an hour. They had kept a few of the rooms as they once were and film crews would shoot here often - I think lots of music videos were shot here in the 90's. But I got a room and stayed the night. I was (and still am) fascinated with early Hollywood so I guess that is why - I can't remember my thinking at the time.

The geographic carpet mixed with odd modernizations made the room even more melancholy. A feeble attempt to step into the modern era when it clearly didn't want to and shouldn't. The night I stayed there was slightly harrowing (big understatement) but in the morning, when the light shone in, I saw a glimpse of her past beauty. Certainly an amazing place in it's glory days.

Have a lovely weekend friends.

los angeles/neutra

Spending this week in LA shooting and visiting a few Neutra's has had an odd effect on me. I used to live in LA for about 10 years and I have inadvertently visited all my old neighborhoods and haunts this week. This Neutra is one of the Strathmore apartments in Westwood. Apparently I lived about 5 blocks away from this when I was 19 and had no idea. Of course, my interest in architecture was not what it is now. In fact I was not even a photographer at that time. I was studying French. But through this experience in Westwood as well as speaking to the graduating class at my alma mater Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, I have not only visited places where I used to live, I have visited the girl I used to be at those times. I am happy to say it has not made me at all nostalgic (a shocker) it has only made me appreciate where I am. I loved my years in LA and wouldn't trade them for the world. They have gotten me to where I am now. A deeply happy place.

Have a beautiful weekend friends.

neutra/last shot

I have been in LA shooting a beautiful Neutra for the past couple of days. This was my last shot yesterday. The house felt more like a treehouse. Pretty nice.

the standard LA/ladies loo

love the wallpaper in the Standard downtown LA ladies loo - very Marcia Brady. Frankly, the magnifying mirrors were rather a shock.