Suitcase Joe, the nameless LA-based photographer, is thought for sharing vital and infrequently missed views by means of his gorgeous portrait pictures. His photographs usually concentrate on the punks, the unhoused, and the deserted, or what he calls “stunning strangers.”
His newest e-book, dubbed Gray Flowers, is a departure from his earlier e-book Sidewalk Champions, the place he solely showcased uncooked portraits of these on Skid Row, a neighborhood in Downtown Los Angeles that incorporates one of many largest populations of unhoused folks in the USA.
I wished to journey to a brand new space of Los Angeles every day and discover the individuals who encourage me, however most frequently get missed.
Suitcase Joe
Gray Flowers, in distinction, highlights Angelenos, capturing the various characters all through town’s neighborhoods who make Los Angeles distinctive. By specializing in the underappreciated, Suitcase Joe brings to life the cultural make-up of Los Angeles by means of a lens of respect and appreciation for society’s variations. Whether or not it’s totally different courses, races, sexualities, or genders, the e-book and its portraits lean into what makes people totally different.
“After photographing and documenting Skid Row for a number of years, I used to be prepared for one thing new. I’d been fascinated about making a e-book like Gray Flowers for years,” shares Joe when requested what the inspiration behind his e-book was. “I wished to journey to a brand new space of Los Angeles every day and discover the individuals who encourage me, however most frequently get missed. My greatest inspiration and objective was to make a e-book about Los Angeles that hadn’t been executed. I did my finest to seize as many alternative walks of life in as quick an period of time as potential.”
Suitcase Joe captured Skid Row as a result of it was largely beforehand unshared; he felt, on a private stage, that by photographing the individuals who name it house, they’d be a part of the historic report. His new e-book, equally, captures the spirits of those that aren’t classically documented. “Typically the folks I {photograph} are pre-judged or seemed down upon for his or her chosen existence of the place they’re on the financial ladder,” shares Joe. “I do my finest to seize them in a dignifying approach. I’ve photographed pimps, gangsters, punks, intercourse employees, drug addicts, and everybody in between, and so they all have redeeming qualities. All of us do.”
By the depth of the photographs shared, Suitcase Joe hopes his readers might be impressed to pause of their private lives and meet somebody they normally wouldn’t respect by means of their tales. Gray Flowers can visually encourage us to journey exterior of our social circles and mingle with those that might sound totally different on the floor. He additionally notes, “I’m presently creating and filming a docuseries based mostly on a number of the folks and subcultures I discovered about whereas photographing for Gray Flowers. I’ve teamed with one other filmmaker and some others, and it’s coming alongside properly. Extra on that within the close to future.”
Study extra about Gray Flowers and pre-order your copy (out this winter).
All photographs copyright Suitcase Joe.
