For years I carried around a small Olympus point and shoot film camera. I liked it because it had good glass and made all the technical decisions easy. I loaded it with high-speed black and white (and sometimes color) film which allowed me to shoot inside and outdoors. I composed through the viewfinder or pointed in the general direction of whatever interested me.
I like to walk. In 2001, I was taking a walk when something caught my eye. It was a courtyard. I took a photo. Something about that image sensitized me to this subject matter. I shot commercial architecture professionally. Maybe there was something in the bygone era architectural details of these older buildings that resonated in my imagination. For the next couple of years, I walked around my neighborhood of West Hollywood and environs, visually recording residential courtyards and bungalow courts.
The shared green space provided an instant sense of community while enabling residents to enjoy the outdoors and the California weather. One can imagine the letters written – especially during the winter - to those back home marveling about the sunshine, the excitement of working on movie sets, and maybe seeing stars.
Later versions of these apartment buildings would often include swimming pools, a precursor for the next generation of ubiquitous LA dwellings, the dingbat.
