Zippy the Fish: Photo Gallery: Anonymous

16 July 2006

Photo Gallery: Anonymous - Los Angeles

I was driving around the city today imagining myself taking important pictures of things. It was a nice daydream and at some point I'd like to do something about it. But I was having trouble finding important things anywhere along San Fernando Road. It's a good place to go to drop off your Fed Ex packages or to buy large quantities of metal shavings, but otherwise I don't recommend it.

I noticed some buildings, blank, only the street address on the front. Of course, I've watched enough Michael Mann movies to assume that this meant that there was probably something irregular going on inside. Why else would you start a business, but not tell anyone the name? I hope my assumption is incorrect, because there are a lot of these blank buildings in the vicinity of San Fernando Road and I'd like to believe that the world is a better place than that.

But, anyway, I started taking pictures of them, partly because they worried me and partly because I was curious (which, by the way, are the two reasons I take most of my pictures). Also, I think Los Angeles is like this: disconnected, broken down, anonymous. 10 million people with 10 million cars. And if I get a horsehead in my bed, you'll know I photographed the wrong store front. Otherwise, I hope you enjoy the results of my afternoon drive...

Labels: california, gallery

3 Comments:

Andrew said...: Very nice Peter. but i think u made a mistake. 9.5 millions of those cars are gas guzzling suv's with people who claim they are against war, but want cheap gas. and there are at least 2 million other cars, some of which remind me of the taxi's in Cairo, but most of which are 2nd and third cars. oh yea, and of those 9.5 million suv's most of them have never actually used their 4 wheel drive and the only time they off road is when they are in their driveway, or at their kid's soccer game and they could not find a place to park close enough so they parked on the dirt side of the road or on the grass. okay, enough of a rant. so, how did you get the cool selective focus and did you drop that into a flash template, or was that a pes home grown solution? - a; 8/02/2006 9:47 PM
andy said...: Very nice -- I love 1440 among others. Just found your photo blog for the first time. This is Andy over in Japan BTW. :); 12/03/2006 6:05 AM
Peter Schrock said...: Hi Andy

Thanks for stopping by. For anyone reading, Andy has a cool photo blog at http://www.japanwindow.com/; 12/03/2006 7:43 AM

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Travel Galleries

SOSHANGUVE TOWNSHIP, PRETORIA, SOUTH AFRICA
| View exhibit | These are from my May 2007 trip to Soshanguve, a township outside of Pretoria, South Africa. It's an interesting place, nearly 100% black South African and growing like crazy. There is beauty there, as I've tried to show, but it is also complicated, with its share of problems: AIDS, social stratification, depression and suicide, violent crime. I came away with a deep sense of the complexity involved in bringing hope to Africa.

ST. PETERSBURG, RUSSIA
| View exhibit | In the fall of 2005, I spent a week in St. Petersburg, Russia. There's no way in a week you can absorb the power of that city's presence. These photographs do very little to communicate the grandeur and the fearsome impact of the place. As in any place I've ever been in Russia, there is an imposing sense of history added to the feeling of being very small and unimportant in the face of it all.

NORTH FROM ADELANTO
| View exhibit | I took a drive early in the year to visit family in the Pacific Northwest. I got up before dawn and pulled onto the freeway. By the time the sun came up, I was passing through Adelanto, a has been/will be town in the Mojave Desert. From there it was straight north across Death Valley and into Nevada. Early the next morning, I crossed into the southeastern corner of Oregon before spinning westward toward home. I took some pictures along the way.

CHINA
| View exhibit | In the spring of 2006 I spent a week in China. I'm not sure what I was expecting beyond some crazy traffic and a bunch of neon. In any case, what I found was a surprise in some ways. I thought that on the street I might be treated either with suspicion or completely ignored, but instead I found people friendly and curious. Oh, and they can make a mean bowl of noodles.

POLAND
| View exhibit | In the fall of 2005, I spent a couple days in Poland, mostly in Gdansk. I'm not sure what I expected, a rundown gray country maybe, but it wasn't. In fact, it was beautiful. Also, it was quiet and gracious and very Catholic. I would love to see it in the summertime.

SINGAPORE
| View exhibit | I'm not a huge lover of Singapore. A little too orderly for my taste. But there much that is beautiful about that strange, self-absorbed island city.

INDONESIA & CAMBODIA
| View exhibit | In May/June of 2005, I spent a month in Southeast Asia. I love this part of the world and am always changed when I travel there. This trip was no exception. Here are a few galleries of some of the things that changed me this time.

BARRIO SAN PABLITO, CARACAS, VENEZUELA
| View exhibit | I spent an afternoon in one of the most notorious barrios in Caracas, known mostly for its violence and drugs. But in the middle of the ugliness, something very precious is going on.

Other Galleries

DOWN
| View exhibit | Sometimes we move so fast we forget to look at where we are. Sometimes it's good to look down.

ANONYMOUS - LOS ANGELES
| View exhibit | Blank storefronts in a disconnected city. Images from a drive around town.

CALIFORNIA DESERT
| View exhibit |
These are from one Sunday afternoon in the desert, which is one of the best reasons to live in Southern California.

Zippy the Fish

16 July 2006

Photo Gallery: Anonymous - Los Angeles

3 Comments:

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