CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 8/22/2015

Bruce Davidson: Nature of Los Angeles 2008–2013

"In 2008, I began to look at Los Angeles from the point of view of its exotic, even erotic, plant life created by an infusion of water into the arid terrain, Bruce Davidson writes in Nature of Los Angeles. "I began to realize that I had an emotional attachment to botanical species of all kinds, particularly the hundred-foot palm trees not indigenous to the habitat. I wanted to photograph the famous Hollywood sign from behind so the nine letters would read backwards and we could see the distant city, but a chain link fence impeded the view. Eventually we were given permission to go beyond the fence, with a guide and a rope we rappelled down the steep slippery slope. Los Angeles is a city of the homeless and the helpless, poverty, gangs, substance abuse, traffic congestion, and a 'you are what you drive' lifestyle. But it is more than that, for I also discovered pockets of beauty all over the city."