Taking the bus in L.A
Agnes Varda: " Là-bas faire du tourisme c'est faire de la sociologie"
Inspired by the Many Are Called series in which Walker Evans photographed New Yorkers on the subway between 1938 and 1941, Stanley Kubrick's Riding the Subway and Bruce Davidson's color series, Subway,
I made the choice to not take a bulky, intimidating device. Unlike Walker Evans who hid his camera in his coat, my camera's fixed lens forced me to confront and speak to the people I wanted to photograph. Some spoke to me spontaneously, others saw the camera with reservations . The result of my bus encounters filled me with amazement, ex-stuntmen, failed actors, artists who worked as construction painters to supplement their income and other unusual people. Since buses are somewhat of a rarity I would run into the same people between Santa Monica and downtown L.A. The different stops on Wilshire Boulevard gave away something about the person.
This series was exhibited in Paris in May 2012, at the galerie Victoire Bourgois.