The light in Los Angeles transforms the mood of the city in an instant. Pink skies, relentless sun, and black clouds rolling over the Valley before a storm all reveal the darkness and light that makes up the city’s vast network of overcrowded freeways and palm tree-lined streets.
Photographer C.M. Forbes has had a love affair with Los Angeles since he was 19 years old. (Full disclosure: your editor knows the artist.) Although he’s come and gone, he returned to the city recently and just published a book that documents the L.A. identity, its essence, and its allure. Forbes steers clear of L.A.’s glossy veneer and prefers “areas that are off the beaten path, a little rough around the edges, the forgotten spots, the faded glories,” he shared in an interview.
His new book Disappear Here features photos of L.A.’s worn and offbeat gems, captured intuitively with his mobile phone. Forbes shoots favorite L.A. haunts like the Griffith Observatory, but from an unusual perspective. Other photos are electrifying, cinematic, and mundane yet strange. See more of Forbes’ work in our gallery.
©C.M. Forbes, published with permission
©C.M. Forbes, published with permission
©C.M. Forbes, published with permission
©C.M. Forbes, published with permission
©C.M. Forbes, published with permission
©C.M. Forbes, published with permission
©C.M. Forbes, published with permission
©C.M. Forbes, published with permission