VENICE BEACH CHARACTER SKETCHES

I suppose if one where to go looking for characters to photograph, Venice Beach California would certainly not disappoint for lack of variation, eccentricity and “interesting” personalities.  The only danger apart from pissing off the locals is to fall prey to the normal photographic cliché traps that such a location often yields so easily.  Then again, if the cliché is the target, then such a location is a photographers dream!  It was my self appointed assignment to explore the visual chaos for my upcoming photographic book “The Left Coast: California in Extremis” (working title) to be published by the University of California Press in 2010 (project link).  Cliché, myth, fictions, facts, history, landscape, politics and dreams, all collide in a spectacular way on this side of the continent.  My task is to weave a visual narrative out of the wreckage.  In regard to extremes, Venice Beach is both emblematic and potentially problematic in its iconic stature as the stereotypical California beach town.  Such contradictions are in many ways reflect this state as a whole and make it a challenging and enticing place to photograph.

Early each morning, coffee and camera in each hand I went wandering.  After a few days the rhythm of the place and people became more familiar.  A few of their pictures and stories are shown and described below.