City of Angels (2025) showcases Los Angeles as sprawling with the freeway cutting through the composition like a stream. Every part of the city, each car, each building and area has its dreams and stories. The city has not been simplified into just buildings and vehicles- the angle brings us level with the city- making it a much more personal feeling.
Within the image, we see Hollywood’s historical buildings seemingly crouching beneath the glass skyscrapers and towers built for the current age. The trees cover the lower streets which shows the human lives that are hidden beneath the towering city. The photograph refuses to stick Los Angeles as a cliché and rather it is presented as an ordinary and powerful place at the same time. Every part of the city holds a different story and shows the human nature of the city giving pause to the relentless bustle.
Flowers from a Stranger (2025) presents a small vase which has been perched on the shadowy region of a window which is hidden in plain sight against the weight of city living. The photograph is sharp and boxed in by the facades of the buildings which look aged and slightly damaged. Every window is different and gives a unique story and chapter of the lives of those who live there.
The image feels still and peaceful; though when you look much more closer- the paint is flaking and the blinds are slightly tilted along with the long shadows give movement in this still photograph. The presence of the flowers within the city is often a minor detail that one would overlook has become something of a change and showcase of softness and care against the harsh architecture.
The Further You Go, the Closer It Gets (2025) is a quiet scene in Los Angeles in the morning that pulls the viewer into a corridor of towers and crossroads that seemingly stretches into an endless horizon. All of the buildings are crowded into the composition- the old stone structure contrasts against the newer built glass corporate buildings. These structures and their surfaces compressed together make the image feel claustrophobic yet the calm from the road and the horizon gives us peace.
The traffic lights are in mid-pause while the cars are frozen and the city seems between two states- one of motion and one of quiet. The emptiness is rather seen as a necessary calmness that is required before the sudden movement of rush hour after the early morning. It’s a form of everyday kind of waiting- of the slowness of life within a city which rushes through life.
It’s Been a Long Time Since I Rock and Rolled (2025) shows a battered El Camino which is scarred and sagging under the erosion of the weather and wear against the Los Angeles city and landscape. The mechanical car which may at one point seemed unstoppable and symbolises freedom is now abandoned and is under clouds that seem to indicate a storm coming further wearing the car down.
Furthermore, the car is against the hills of homes- of people’s dreams and lives- yet the car seems to signal an erosion of the dream. Next to the car, there is graffiti ‘rich kids; which furthers the idea of the car being at once a symbol of power and dreams that are now disappearing.