About LALOP

Founded in 2002 by Martin Elkort, David Schulman & David Stork and modeled after the renowned New York Photo League, the mission of the Los Angeles League of Photographers (LALOP) is to expose the wider public to photography's essential social, political, and aesthetic values while forming a network of working fine art, street and commercial photographers who join together to discuss, debate and review photography, share and critique work, and organize photographic exhibitions about the greater Los Angeles community in all of its diversity.

LALOP 's most recent exhibitions are as follows:
2009 LALOP AT THE PIER, A Santa Monica Pier Centennial Exhibition at the historic Carousel on the Pier
2007 WITHOUT A PADDLE PART I, Mama's Hot Tamales Gallery, LA
2007 WITHOUT A PADDLE, PART II, Downbeat Cafe/Gallery, LA
WITHOUT A PADDLE was a series of exhibitions in downtown Los Angeles organized to mobilize support for the restoration of the historic paddleboat operations on the Echo Park and MacArthur Park lakes. LALOP worked with community organizations to garner publicity and strength with the result that the Los Angeles City Department of Parks & Recreation decided to include these operations again in their budget.
See "Paddleboat Economics" Los Angeles Weekly
2006 EVERYDAY L.A, Metro Gallery, LA
2004 SITE-SEEN: LOS ANGELES, I-5 Gallery, Brewery Arts Complex, LA
See "A collective focus on L.A." Los Angeles Times


Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Busy, Busy LALOP Photographer: Douglas McCulloh

Douglas McCulloh's exhibition and project schedule is always overwhelming. Here is his latest info:

New Book and Eight Exhibitions

Dream Street
A new book from Heyday Books, Berkeley, and the Inlandia Institute. Foreward by D.J. Waldie. Available through most bookstores, major book distributors, or Heyday Books directly at www.heydaybooks.com. Set for release mid-May; 176 pages.
I won the right to name a street. The chance win at a charity event launched me into an obsessive relationship with a 134-home subdivision being built in Southern California. The extraordinarily timely results illuminate the history and fate of Dream Streets everywhere.
Dream Street Inaugural Exhibition
Riverside Art Museum, California
April 27 - June 13, 2009 Artist's Reception and Book Signing: Saturday May 30, 7:00 - 9:00 p.m.

This Side of Paradise: Los Angeles (1865 - 2008)
Musée de l'Elysée, Lausanne, Switzerland Through April 19, 2009

LALOP AT THE PIER, Santa Monica Pier Centennial Exhibition
On the pier in the 1916 Hippodrome Building, Santa Monica, California
From Doug: "How cool is this? -- an exhibition where you can hit the beach, check out the photographs that celebrate 100 years of the Santa Monica pier, then ride the historic carousel. It's one of the world's few surviving all-wooden carousels. (I now want a carousel in all my shows.) And the L.A. League of Photographers, modeled after the famous, socially conscious New York Photo League, is a wonderful organization."

DIVAS! An Exhibition of Immodest Photography
Robert V. Fullerton Art Museum
California State University, San Bernardino
Contemporary photographers from across the country explore the idea of Divas, "an expansive term with particular resonance in our age of unbridled celebrity worship," writes curator Thomas McGovern. My work in the show is from "60,000 Photographs in Hollywood" where there are many divas to choose from. Through May 9, 2009

Now Then: Six Photographers and Six Years at Marine Corps Air Station, El Toro
Diamond Valley Arts Council, Esplanade Art Center
For the past six years, I've been one of six artists with extreme, possibly unprecedented access to one of the largest military bases ever closed in the United States: Marine Corps Air Station, El Toro. Among our ventures was the making of the world's largest camera and photograph. This exhibition shows new work by Jerry Burchfield, Mark Chamberlain, Jacques Garnier, Rob Johnson, Douglas McCulloh, and Clayton Spada. Artists' Reception: Evening of Friday, May 15

Sight Unseen:International Photography by Blind Photographers
California Museum of Photography May 2 - Aug 29, 2009 Opening Reception Saturday, May 2, 2009 6:00 - 9:00 pm
I've curated the first major museum exhibition featuring work by the wold's most accomplished blind photographers.
This inherently conceptual work proposes a surprising central thesis -- blind photographers possess the clearest vision on the planet. Many of these artists populate the galleries of their minds with vivid images and use cameras to bring their inner visions into the world of the sighted. Others deploy cameras to capture the outside world, but operate free of sight-driven selection and self-censorship. In all cases, the results are original, revelatory, and important.

Zimmer Children's Museum,
The Art of Language, Curated by Victor Raphael April 30 - June 12, 2009
Opening Reception April 30, 2009, 6:00 to 9:00 pm

California Museum of Photography, Digital Studio
Extreme Places, Curated by Reggie Woolery April 2 - April 30, 2009
Digital Studio Gallery

Busy Busy LALOP Photographer: Cindy Bendat



















One of Cindy Bendat's images called "No Human Being Is Illegal" was selected for use as a 12' x 16' billboard in a park in Sarasota, Florida. The public art exhibit on display through May 3rd is sponsored by www.embracingourdifferences.org and it focuses on issues of diversity and inclusion.
In addition, another photograph by Cindy Bendat called "We Built America" --also from her series shot at the 2006 immigrant rights rallies in downtown Los Angeles ---will be on the cover of the new Los Angeles Public Interest Law Journal to be published in April. More of those images may be found on her website at http://cindybendat.com/Galleries-LegalizeLA.html

With regard to exhibitions: In addition to LALOP AT THE PIER, Cindy will have 2 images in the upcoming inaugural exhibit "Beach Stories" at the Annenberg Community Beach House in Santa Monica, opening May 14th from 6-8 p.m.

Sunday, April 19, 2009

LALOP AT THE PIER EXTENDED THROUGH MAY 3rd!!!!!!

They love our show! The Santa Monica Pier Restoration Corporation has extended LALOP AT THE PIER through Sunday, May 3.

In the interim, many of our LALOP Photographers have been incredibly active in other exhibitions as well, many also in connection with MOPLA's inaugural Month of Photography this April. More to come.

Monday, April 6, 2009

Don't Forget LALOP AT THE PIER!

With all of this activity, LALOP AT THE PIER, is getting lots of traffic. It is up for another two weeks at Santa Monica Pier (closing 18 April) during Carousel opening hours (see March 6th blog). If anyone would like a personal tour through the show, please contact us at lalopblog@gmail.com and we would be happy to accommodate a small group.

This exhibition is part of the MOPLA events for April.

Busy Busy LALOP Photographers

We're getting busier, especially during MOPLA's inaugural Month of Photography LA. Info below about Larry Brownstein, Martin Cox, Mathieu Grandjean, Ken Haber, Mark Indig & Aline Smithson:
Larry Brownstein, Ken Haber & Mark Indig participated in MOPLA's opening at Bergamot Station on 4 April and are in the MOPLA-sponsored show, groupLA2008, a multi-media installation directed by Pier guest photographer Helen K. Garber, and opening 11 April at Gallery Skaart in Santa Monica.

Mark, Ken and Mathieu are also part of MOPLA's slide show event on the evening of 9 April at the new Annenberg Space for Photography in Century City.












Ken Haber and Mark Indig also just conducted yet another of their highly successful LA RIVER TOURs. So far, LALOP photographers who have accompanied them: Larry Brownstein, Cindy Bendat and Sara Jane Boyers. These are incredible full day/weekend tours with access to venues that only Ken and Mark could obtain. Check out Urban Photo Adventures, to see the upcoming events and also participant galleries.




Martin Cox, one of LALOP’s fab curators, is not only an intriguing fine art and commercial photographer, he is a maritime buff.

With websites and photographs glorifying and preserving the history of the old steamships and evocative pics of liners beached on foreign shores, soon to be cut up for junk, Martin is known within the maritime world both for his imagery and for his extensive knowledge.

His latest endeavor is HOLLYWOOD TO HONOLULU, The Story of the Los Angeles Steamship Company just published by The Glencannon Press. Martin, along with fellow steamship historian Gordon R. Ghareeb,wrote this story of how a little-known steamship company founded in 1920 would dominate passenger service from Los Angeles to Hawaii.

Check out the book as well as Martin's evocative maritime and other photography at his photographic website: http://www.martincox.com/. And if you have an interest in maritime matters, be sure to visit Martin's website, Maritime Matters.

AND.... we're having trouble keeping up with so much activity! Check out as well Aline Smithson's work at the terrific group show at Julia Dean's Gallery, DirtyPretty which is up until 22 May!