William Reagh
William Reagh walked the streets of Los Angeles most of his life and aimed to document the evolution of the city and its people. He claimed that he never wanted to be a photographer and it was just something he "picked up" in the service, but after his death in 1992 he was famous for his visual documentaries. William often took pictures from the hip and captured images of people without them even knowing. Reagh would circle neighborhoods and places around town photographing brick by brick of buildings and old victorian houses that are no longer standing.
In an interview Reagh's son, Patrick, explains that "to say there was a goal, a plan, or even an organizing thesis to his images would be to overstate his process." The viewer can tell that a lot of the content of his photographs was the growth of Los Angeles during that time, but his son states that his father was a "wanderer who would lose himself within the intricate folds of the city."
When I look at these photographs it looks nothing like the Los Angeles that I have seen and that's why it caught my eye. It's different and it shows the growth and building aspects of an extremely popular city that no longer looks anything like it used to. Without these pictures I honestly would have never imagined LA to look like that and I am sure many people look at these the same way. In a weird way it looks like another world almost like the twilight zone (especially with the black and white sort of erie aspect).
No comments:
Post a Comment