Who I'd like to meet:

.. About the Photos

The above images and those in the related albums, were shot between 1996 and 1997. The San Pedro-Wilmington photos represent my interpretation of this bleak landscape of petrochemical refineries, declining industries and rotting memories. The album represents the work of a day trip I took down to the Port of Los Angeles area with my son, Jared Miller about 10 years ago.

There is no way you could possibly replicate the desolation of these areas in a simple photograph. Packs of wild dogs wander around the empty, poisonous streets peacefully sniffing through decades of debris. They'll check you out with a curious intelligence and then return to their work once they realize you aren't going to chase them off, try to run them down or shoot them. These dogs all look like they were born to the same litter or simply through the process of breeding with each other over a few generations, have reverted back to some kind of generic doghood.

The Boyle Heights pictures were part of a research project conducted for a proposed film that was to be directed by Ray Leos. I had shot a short for Ray a few years earlier called "I'll Pick the Flowers You Love" which got a lot of attention for its visceral performances which Ray and I accentuated with an equally visceral and improvisational approach to the prize winning film's photography.

The Hollywood, Chicago, Downtown LA and Various Albums were all shot in 1997 in the immediate aftermath of my mother's death. The Ship's Restaurant sign however was shot earlier as part of a job I did for the owner of the Restaurant when this Los Angeles landmark finally closed its doors.

For the technically curious, all the effects and color treatments were executed in camera with the final framing decided upon in the darkroom.