L DIA

With a little creative cropping I made this sign come pretty close to my name. I framed it to just take the "L" from the preceding word "Del" and included the "Dia" that followed. I few friends call me "Dia" - short for Lydia - so when I noticed the L lingering so close to the Dia I knew I had something!

Photo credit © Lydia Marcus 2010 / www.lydiamarcus.com
Photographed February 20, 2010 in Downtown Los Angeles at Olvera Street.

BLEND OUT

When I created this blog I wrote that fotonomous is the "Web identity of Lydia Marcus, an individualist, Piscean & native Los Angeleno (Encino/WEHO) raised in diametrically opposed communities shaped by culture, status, sexuality, and spirituality. This multifaceted upbringing informed her ability & desire to always seek to blend out instead of blend in."

This past Saturday when I saw this ad covering a downtown Los Angeles building (it's part of an advertisement for the new Hyundai Sonata) I was pretty excited. I've never seen the words "Blend Out" written anywhere before. Maybe Hyundai has been to my blog! ;-)

Photo credit © Lydia Marcus 2010 / www.lydiamarcus.com
Photographed February 20, 2010 in Downtown Los Angeles.

L8S ANG3LES

Banners announcing L8S ANG3LES - the inaugural exhibit at the Annenberg Space For Photography - have just started popping up all around Los Angeles. I'm very excited and can't wait to see the new Space (located on the former site of the Shubert Theater) and show featuring eleven celebrated LA photographers: John Baldessari; Catherine Opie; Greg Gorman; Douglas Kirkland; Tim Street-Porter; Julius Shulman; Lauren Greenfield; Carolyn Cole; plus three Los Angeles Times staff photographers Lawrence Ho, Genaro Molina, and Kirk McKoy.
- Lydia Marcus

L8S ANG3LES
March 27 - June 28, 2009.
2000 Avenue of the Stars #10, Century City, Los Angeles 90067
http://annenbergspaceforphotography.org





Photos by © Lydia Marcus
L8S ANG3LES banners photographed in Encino, CA on March 23, 2009

AMERICAN GIRLS

Hot Dog On A Stick Girls At The L.A. County Fair photo by Lydia Marcus

Photographed September 25, 2008 in Pomona, CA

ENCINO COMMONS: THE VALLEY'S MIRACLE MILE

A new sign reaching across the Plaza de Oro to the Encino Town Center. I like it!

Encino Commons photo by Lydia Marcus
Photographed August 13, 2008 in Encino, CA

WESTSIDE

Office For Lease photo by Lydia Marcus. Photographed July 6, 2008 in West Los Angeles, CA

DOWNTOWN

Los Angeles Street & City Hall photo by Lydia Marcus. Photographed February 18, 2007.

CLARA BEE & THE LE MANS

Last December I was visiting Palm Springs when this seriously distressed Pontiac Le Mans caught my eye. The ick green, primer looking paint, the weird Pontiac angles exaggerated by bashed body work - all set against a rusty red building - of course I had to pull over and photograph it. Although I think these photos are okay, I never really got the shot that I "visualized" from the middle of the road driving by. When I got a closer look at the car, it cracked me up that it was a "Luxury" model. I believe this Le Mans is somewhere between a 1973 - 1975 model. I'm not sure what this Clara Bee place is, but I did some googling and it came up as the Clara Bee Lodge. Aside from the cool architecture and interesting sign fonts, it looked seriously rundown, vacant, and creepy, but who knows, maybe people are actually paying to stay there. Yikes.















Clara Bee and Pontiac Le Mans photos by Lydia Marcus. Photographed December 17, 2007 at the intersection of South Canyon Drive and 300 East Ramon Road, Palm Springs CA.

THUNDERBIRD LODGE

Summer 2003 in Laramie Wyoming - Gas was $1.44 - $1.64!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thunderbird Lodge photo by Lydia Marcus. Shot July 31, 2003 in Laramie, Wyoming using a Canon PowerShot S400.

BEIGE

A slice of old school Fairfax





Polaroids and digital images photographed May 10, 2008 and March 23, 2006 in Los Angeles

OLD SCHOOL

Growing up in the Valley, I used to relish going to Shakey's Pizza on Reseda Blvd in Tarzana. Not only did they have killer pizza, but they were the first restaurant I went to that had video games! A night at Shakey's included giddy-upping on a coin-operated horse, watching old Laurel and Hardy shorts projected on a large screen, and playing Pong or Pole Position. Ah, those were the days. That location doesn't exist anymore and I doubt Shakey's Pizza tastes as good as I remember it, but this sign sure brought back memories.

Shakey's Pizza Parlor, Northride CA photographed April 1, 2008

BIO

Lydia Marcus is an Entertainment Journalist, Film Critic, Documentary Filmmaker and Photographer. She has written extensively about queer and indie film since 1995 and has done numerous cover stories for Frontiers (where she was Senior Film critic from 1995-2005), Girlfriends, GO! and the LN (Lesbian News), where she was the “At The Movies” columnist. Her features and photographs have been published in numerous publications and websites including: The Los Angeles Times; AOL / AOL City Guide Los Angeles; The Advocate; Planetout; Gay.com; indieWIRE; Windy City Times; Logoonline; and AfterEllen.com. In 2006/2007 she toured with Sandra Bernhard as an official photographer for Bernhard’s live show “Everything Bad and Beautiful.” She is currently filming her first documentary, Desert Hearts Mon Amour.

Lydia loves to take lots of photographs with an assortment of film, digital, and Polaroid cameras. She shoots primarily with a digital Nikon D80, Polaroid SX-70 Alpha (using a dwindling stash of discontinued Time Zero Film), and a Polaroid SLR 680 SE (using 779 & 600). She’s always been the lone family shooter, but it wasn’t until she took a basic photography class in her junior year of high school that she began to develop her “eye” and interests in automotive and architectural photography. Since then, no classic car, neon sign, funky old building, cute dog, or spectacular landscape is safe from her gaze. This color shooter’s palette ranges from warm tones with a vintage feel to saturated images that absolutely pop.

Her lifelong fascination and appreciation of cars is shared through her “Curious Transport” series capturing abstract pinstripes, distressed paint, and super glossy customization. This native Los Angeleno’s “Sign Language” series reveals quintessential L.A. scenery – places that are thriving and much that is rapidly disappearing.

Lydia’s artistic nature comes from her Mom, Beverly Burton Marcus (1931-2002), a medium and spiritualist. Her love of cars and dogs comes from her Dad, Fred Marcus (1921-), an Austrian Holocaust survivor and former Urguayan swimming and diving champion.

ARTIST'S STATEMENT

Curious Transport Series

I’ve been in love with cars since I was a small child. I inherited my interest and appreciation of automotive beauty from my Dad. When I would drive around with him as a kid, he would always point out any vintage cars and tell me the make, model and specific year of production. At 86, he still does that today. My Dad has always been a “Buick Man” and because of that I’ve always noticed Buick’s on the road probably more than other cars. The image “Glossy #3” is a customized Buick Super Sport I spotted at a vintage GM car show in Van Nuys, CA. I grew up driving around in the family’s 1966 Buick LeSabre Convertible – a car my Dad still lovingly maintains in almost all original condition to this day. I always collected Matchbox, Hot Wheels, and on special occasions received more expensive and collectible Corgi cars as gifts. I still have every miniature car I collected throughout my life.

Six of my photos in the Photography Now show come from an ongoing series called Curious Transport. The series began as I focused on cars that have been uniquely customized. I’ve photographed vehicles that look like shoes, bottles of soda, wieners, and houses, and even ones covered in strange surfaces (like pennies and sod). Now the series has splintered off as I have begun to see the beauty in “beater” cars that are seriously distressed and have seen better days. These images are more abstract and painterly visions of peeling paint, geometric pinstripes patterns, mismatched color body panels, rust, dents, grills and headlamps. I see beauty in these beaters and I really admire people who drive them with pride, which I’m sure isn’t easy to do in a city so wrapped up in car culture. In L.A. a car isn’t just a mode of transportation, it’s a representation of a person and their station in life. In L.A. image is everything and a car is a huge part of that image. I love seeing a distressed beater parked in front of a nice building or sandwiched between two luxury cars. As a person I like standing out and moving to the beat of my own drum in terms of personal style, point of view, and interests. While I like to drive around in comfort and style (albeit in the form of a well taken care of used 1995 Audi A6), I appreciate the iconoclastic spirit of a beater car standing out against everything that is about blending in. Distressed is beautiful.

Part of the Curious Transport series focuses on pinstripes found primarily on 1970’s and 80’s Jeeps, trucks, RVs, and those conversion vans known affectionately as “Love Vans.” While you don’t see a lot of 70’s and 80’s cars on the road you do see a lot of Jeeps, trucks, RV’s and Vans because they are utilitarian vehicles that have a longer shelf life than a typical car. Plus in L.A., people actually live in those vans and RVs. While I also like shooting these relics so that you can see the whole car, lately my interest has gone more “micro” towards focusing on colors and patterns of unique pinstripes that leap across body panels from engine to trunk (or flatbed) on these types of vehicles. I’m attracted to the vintage color palette of earth tone colors that you find in these 70’s and early 80’s cars – really the eras for this type of festooning.

Ironically, one of the worst memories I have in my life was pinstriping by hand my used white 1982 Audi 5000S with black pinstripes. It was 1989, my parents and I decided to pinstripe the car ourselves instead of paying much more to have it professionally done. We stood in the driveway and attempted to put the pinstripes – a black decal pulled from a long paper roll - on straight. I remember lots of yelling, sweat, and probably a few tears. Funny how 18 years later I love to find a pinstriped car out on the street and photograph it. But personally, I never want pinstripes on my own car ever again. Now flames, that’s another thing entirely.

Sign Language Series

I’m a native Los Angeleno who has a unique perspective on this city because I grew up in both “The Valley” in Encino and “Over The Hill” in West Hollywood. I consider it my photographic and civic duty to capture quintessential L.A. – both places that are thriving and much that is rapidly disappearing. Many of these images comprise my Sign Language series.

Architecture in L.A. is very transitory – here today gone tomorrow. Aside from a few protected buildings, it seems like pretty much anything in L.A. is fair game for reinvention. Prototypical “Ranch Houses,” once the sign of having achieved success in the Post-War boom of the 1950’s, are being bulldozed at an alarming rate to make way for “McMansions” that barely leave a strip of land or grass to call one's own.

But while the suburban sprawl is mutating, wherever you go in L.A. you can still find liquor store signs and facades that haven’t changed a bit since they were put up in the 30’s, 40’s, 50’s and 60’s. Whether found in the Valley or the city, these liquor stores have unifying features - many with neon arrows pointing you towards their front doors, positively commanding you to buy spirits and sundries. In a city where nothing is very old, liquor stores are one of the few relics of our past.

Whenever I find out a longtime business is permanently closing down, I'm racing to get a photo of the facade or signage before it's obliterated. The image “Processed By Kodak” is an example of signage that is gone forever – recently torn down after the closure of one of the Valley’s longest running businesses, Studio City Camera Exchange. It also happens to be one of the last Mom and Pop camera stores in L.A. – truly a dying breed. Even the selling point of the sign, “Processed By Kodak,” is a dinosaur in the new digital age.

Yes I'm more than a little nostalgic about my L.A. past and if all I can do is take a photo of a place that has held memories for me (even if that memory is just driving by), then I'm doing my best to get out an take a picture before the construction crews show up.

FOR SALE

Lydia Marcus’ Print List Photography Now
Julia Dean Photo Gallery, Venice CA October 19 – November 30, 2007

Curious Transport Series
Pinstripes #1 (International Harvester Scout ll)
Archival Pigment Print, 11x16, Signed & Framed $150-
Digital Image, Archival Pigment Print from an Epson R1800 using UltraChrome Ink,
Printed on Innova Fiba-Print Gloss Warm Tone Paper (OBA Free, Acid Free)


Pinstripes #2 (Chevy Custom/10 Truck)
Archival Pigment Print, 11x16, Signed & Framed $150
Digital Image, Archival Pigment Print from an Epson R1800 using UltraChrome Ink,
Printed on Innova Fiba-Print Gloss Warm Tone Paper (OBA Free, Acid Free)


Pinstripes #3 (Datsun 280Z)
Archival Pigment Print, 11x16, Signed & Framed $150
Digital Image, Archival Pigment Print from an Epson R1800 using UltraChrome Ink,
Printed on Innova Fiba-Print Gloss Warm Tone Paper (OBA Free, Acid Free)


Distressed #1 (Ford Econoline Van)
Archival Pigment Print, 11x16, Signed & Framed $150
Digital Image, Archival Pigment Print from an Epson R1800 using UltraChrome Ink,
Printed on Innova Fiba-Print Gloss Warm Tone Paper (OBA Free, Acid Free)


Distressed #4 (Abandoned Jeepster Commando)
Archival Pigment Print, 11x16, Signed & Framed $150
Digital Image, Archival Pigment Print from an Epson R1800 using UltraChrome Ink,
Printed on Innova Fiba-Print Gloss Warm Tone Paper (OBA Free, Acid Free)


Glossy #3 (Buick Super Sport)
Archival Pigment Print, 11x16, Signed & Framed $150
Digital Image, Archival Pigment Print from an Epson R1800 using UltraChrome Ink,
Printed on Innova Fiba-Print Gloss Warm Tone Paper (OBA Free, Acid Free)


Sign Language Series
Liquor #1 (Time To Buy, Encino Park Liquor, Encino CA)
Archival Pigment Print, 11x16, Signed & Framed $150
Digital Image, Archival Pigment Print from an Epson R1800 using UltraChrome Ink,
Printed on Innova Fiba-Print Gloss Warm Tone Paper (OBA Free, Acid Free)


Liquor #2 (Surf Liquor, Santa Monica CA)
Archival Pigment Print, 11x16, Signed & Framed $150
Digital Image, Archival Pigment Print from an Epson R1800 using UltraChrome Ink,
Printed on Innova Fiba-Print Gloss Warm Tone Paper (OBA Free, Acid Free)


Liquor #3 (The R in Liquor, Valley Beverage Co)
Archival Pigment Print, 11x16, Signed & Framed $150
Digital Image, Archival Pigment Print from an Epson R1800 using UltraChrome Ink,
Printed on Hahnemuhle German Etching Paper (Acid Free)


Liquor #4 (Liquor, Atwater Village CA)
Archival Pigment Print, 11x16, Signed & Framed $150
Digital Image, Archival Pigment Print from an Epson R1800 using UltraChrome Ink,
Printed on Innova Fiba-Print Gloss Warm Tone Paper (OBA Free, Acid Free)


Processed By Kodak (Studio City Camera Exchange CA)
Archival Pigment Print, 11x16, Signed & Framed $150
Digital Image, Archival Pigment Print from an Epson R1800 using UltraChrome Ink,
Printed on Innova Fiba-Print Gloss Warm Tone Paper (OBA Free, Acid Free)


Hattie Kay's Coiffures (Tijunga CA)
Archival Pigment Print, 11x16, Signed & Framed $150
Digital Image, Archival Pigment Print from an Epson R1800 using UltraChrome Ink,
Printed on Innova Fiba-Print Gloss Warm Tone Paper (OBA Free, Acid Free)