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Readers of LA Observed have seen Kevin McCollister's photographs of Los Angeles, first on his blog Jimson Weed Gazette, and more recently on its successor, East of West LA. His tagline is, "I'm photographing L.A., all of it." (My favorites are his streetscapes; this one is titled simply Cafe. First comment, from a reader named Virginia: "We have reservations for two at midnight.") McCollister's book of 60 photographs, also called "East of West LA," is coming in December from Ifpub. He's got a nice blurb from Lakers coach Phil Jackson: "You will find, as I did, this work an earthy, pithy, gritty look of present-day L.A. done with the eye of an artist." Poet Lewis MacAdams blurbs as well:
Long after the bars have emptied, the taco trucks have shut down, and the citizenry are safe in their beds, Kevin McCollister prowls the streets of L.A, brooding, silent, relentless, with his Canon 40 at his side, waiting for the cityscape to whisper, "Take my picture." These photos are maps of the hours before dawn when the visible becomes invisible, when sorrow rules our dreams and the night world waits underneath the Santa Monica pier, and along the concrete banks of the Los Angeles River for the return of its champion.
Ifpub, by the way, was started by Brooks Roddan, founder of the Palos Verdes Estates PR agency Roddan Paolucci.
Also by MacAdams: In Sunday's L.A. Times, he describes a walk through Downtown Los Angeles by first-time visitor Orhan Pamuk, the 2006 Nobel Laureate in literature.
Photo: Kevin McCollister, East of West LA