Probably, on some days, in a heated huff, you wish the 405 were completely void of cars.
But the bustle and jostle of Los Angeles help make it Los Angeles; our identity is tied up in our people, and our connections, and yes, our ever-present cars. Photographer Matt Logue has considered that, and in his new book he boils the city down to just the city, the physical city, our concrete bones and stretching freeways and all those buildings.
And no people. It is at once eerie and beautiful, to see the sights we all know so well from a surprising, people-free angle. The photos have been collected into a book called "Empty L.A.," which just got an honorable mention in the Photography.Book.Now competition. Boing Boing's been talking about it, and we're thinking this just might be the ideal holiday gift for the LA lover and/or shutterbug in your life.
Must mention that Mr. Logue worked on "The Lord of the Rings" films as an animator; he's lent his talents to a number of other major releases, too. When we think of the look of the "Rings," its epic and panoramic sweeps of the vast and uninhabited Middle Earth, it isn't hard to see a kinship with the "Empty L.A." series.
