Can I get Closer to the Hollywood Sign?

Nancy Baron’s series Talking in LA is a mix of visual stimulation, thoughtful and quirky communication that leaves us with a whole lot of questions. In a good way, Nancy stretches our imaginations by adding randomly collected anonymous conversation to her images creating landscape stories. We are all voyeurs in this landscape, participating in this public private partnership. In this very open space, are we ever alone? Are we ever really anonymous? After looking at this work, I am thinking of all the times I thought I was alone with my friends in a private conversation, yet Nancy gives me a subtle reminder that nothing is really private anymore.

The plot is really complicated.

I’m so excited to see her.

About Talking in LA –

Talking in L.A. is a visual hike through Bronson Canyon in Los Angeles. The canyons are the rare destinations in L.A. where people enjoy walking and chatting, either with a friend or with strangers met on the path as occurs in the public parks of other cities. Much like connectedness in L.A.’s one-person-per-car-culture, the social vibrance of canyon hiking culture is not apparent in these images. As I am photographing the gold and green natural beauty that lies only minutes from urban streets, hikers pass behind me, asking about my camera or my lens, what I’m seeing, but, more often, engrossed in their own conversations; taking advantage of the opportunity for intimate face to face conversation with friends. The images are subtitled with phrases that I overhear while shooting.

she dumped me right after we signed the lease.

About Nancy Baron –

A native Chicagoan, Nancy Baron has lived in Los Angeles and Palm Springs for many years. A background in documentary filmmaking led to her interest in the still documentary. Nancy had her first solo show in Los Angeles at Gallery 825 in 2012 and her photographs have been exhibited in many group shows in the United States. Her work has been featured internationally, in screenings at the Palm Springs Photo Festival, Les Rencontres d’Arles, GuatePhoto, in Guatemala and The Picture Society for Month of Photography Denver and online, including; LENSCRATCH, Le Journal de la Photographie, Esquire Russia, Lost in E Minor, Artsy Forager, and Times Quotidian. Although she loves to travel, Baron is drawn to discovering and documenting, without judgement, the exotic world next door; aiming to capture and celebrate the majesty in worlds that could easily be overlooked, seen as mundane, or otherwise misunderstood.

I saw a huge coyote right on the path.

To see more of Nancy’s work log onto her website.