It’s time for a throwback… Back to when my passion for photography was fresh and engulfing. Back when I shot on film and took my lunch hour outside with a camera.
This series of images, entitled The Faces of Hollywood Boulevard, was shot as part of a class project in 2006. It was all shot on 35mm b/w film, and I did the developing and printing myself in the darkroom. These are scanned copies of some select 8×10 prints that I had made.
Why the project?
In 2006 I lived in a Los Angeles suburb and was fascinated by the boulevard that I explored with every friend who came to visit me in California. There is SUCH a variety of people, from the ladies dressed like Marilyn Monroe for photos with tourists, to the singers desperate to be discovered, to the business owners and families who live nearby, to the bus drivers and street cleaners and the homeless who sought out warm weather, to the tour guides and lackeys handing out pamphlets, and of course the happy tourists with change in their pockets. Just so many stories under the bubbling surface, and I loved it. But then again, I’m a people-watcher by heart. The boulevard is lively and baffling and hopeful. It’s not a place for complacency.
These are candid environmental portraits, my attempt at showing who people are by capturing them in their natural element. I challenged myself to shoot three rolls of film in two afternoons, and this was the result. Almost makes me wish digital cameras still limited the number of photos I take- it really forces you to wait for the gems!
