Dispatch: Genesee Palms

For years I felt the projects I completed while living in Los Angeles were unresolved. I wasn't sure what was missing, and as time went by I started to feel content with the artist books I had laying around.

That changed once I began seriously working on the New York City books. The process of editing and sequencing that work refined how I viewed all of my photographs. Certain questions started to find resolutions, and when I went back to the LA projects I felt I was finally in a good place creatively to finish new versions of the books.

Genesee Palms is the first finished book from the LA quartet with a book of black and white photos up next. I'm still finalizing the final two books, which includes a companion to Carspace: New York City (2012-2020), and candid photos taken at night in Hollywood.

Here's the text from Genesee Palms:

I moved to an apartment on N. Genesee Ave. in West Hollywood in February 2006. It was my third year in Los Angeles. By then I was uncertain how long I would stay.

I remained fascinated by the cinematic experience of walking through the city and how the electric sunshine transformed its public spaces. That golden light was a constant presence, and I followed it across the landscape, curious what new colors and scenes it would illuminate.

The uncertainty sharpened everything. I knew my time in Los Angeles was going to be fleeting, and that knowledge clarified the purpose of the walking explorations. This was the first place I understood the nexus between photography, experience, and memory.

The country felt volatile, exhausted by the Bush years and the Iraq war, with the 2008 election looming over everything. I became certain I would be leaving after it, no matter the outcome. A week after Barack Obama was elected the 44th President of the United States, I packed my bags and drove back to Minnesota. The experience of traversing this complex city on foot had transformed the way I understood public space and the pedestrian experience in America.

Book page and more spreads here.

Alongside this Volume

Kwasi Boyd-Bouldin's Nonstndrd Creative Projects — multidisciplinary work rooted in Los Angeles public space, street culture, and self-publishing. I interviewed Kwasi a few years ago and their commitment to independent work with integrity on the pavement of LA has long been an inspiration. Interview can be read here.

John Humble has spent decades making color photographs of Los Angeles public spaces with a precision and patience that is hard to overstate. Collections on his site.

I’m a photographer based in Minneapolis working on long-duration projects centered on walking, cities, and public space. This newsletter shares periodic dispatches from that work, along with selected images and related references. Selected work also appears on Instagram.