Larry Sultan, who died Sunday of cancer at his home up in Greenbrae, grew up in the San Fernando Valley and in 2004 came out with a large-format book called "The Valley" that explored the conversion of suburban homes into porn sets. The photos also formed a show at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Today's New York Times obituary calls Sultan "a highly influential California photographer whose 1977 collaboration, 'Evidence' — a book made up solely of pictures culled from vast industrial and government archives — became a watershed in the history of art photography." His editorial work included photos from Los Angeles for W, including the photo above from a story the mag called the Persian conquest of Beverly Hills.