I'm naturally curious about the world, and I'm particularly interested in people–that's probably why I'm a portraitist. In the early 90's I read Studs Terkel's book Working, and it left me with an abiding curiosity about the work people do, how they find meaning in that work, and the creativity they bring to the tasks they perform.
In early 2016 I thought it would be a good time to start shooting something that had been rattling around in my head for a while: an environmental portrait series featuring people who work in Ocean Park, the Santa Monica neighborhood where I'd lived since 1992. The area around Main Street in Ocean Park, just a few blocks from the beach, is also known as Dogtown, and was the center of a skateboarding culture that grew and flourished in the 70's and 80's. Most of the people I wanted to photograph worked in shops on Main Street, in a fairly representative cross-section of the businesses there: hairdressers, restaurants, bars (lots of bars!) and a variety of shops that mostly catered to locals. Later, I expanded my reach to include those who worked from home or in other places, and that included artists, musicians, and a dog walker.
* * * * *
I've always been in awe of the power of the human face. As a child, I admired and studied Karsh of Ottawa's photographs, and over the years the portrait work of Duane Michals, Irving Penn, David Bailey, and David LaChapelle has particularly impressed me. In this series I see echoes of influential German photographer August Sander's portraiture, though I don't look at other photographers' work to emulate them, but to understand what their aesthetic is, and how they use light. For visual inspiration, I look to the work of fine art painters, such as Velasquez, Goya, Turner, Manet, and fellow Londoner William Hogarth. I also have a mental library of Catholic iconography, acquired during a childhood attending mass and while visiting family in Italy.
When I photographed my subjects, all of them were at their workplace, even if that workplace was the beach. The shops were usually open for customers while I was shooting, so I knew I had to figure out a way to work fast and efficiently. Early on I'd chosen a lighting scheme that was easy and quick to set up, and I rarely worked with an assistant (meaning there was one less person to interact with). Sometimes I had an idea in advance of where I was going to put the subject, but mostly I'd arrive, take a look around, and decide what offered the most possibilities to make a visually interesting image. Having to be creative at short notice was enormous fun. Also, as a portrait photographer my perpetual task is to get the subject to show me something of themselves; this is frequently a challenge, but it's frequently fun too.
My Main Street may be
unlike the Main Street where you live; it may be unlike most of the thousands
of Main Streets across America. But similarities surely abound: each of those Main
Streets probably has a bar or two, hairdressers, places to eat, and shop owners
and their employees who are part of the fabric of each neighborhood,
village, or town. I hope this series of portraits, with its collection of people and their work places, gives the viewer a sense of what Main Street, Santa Monica, is like.
* * * * *
I want to thank the California
Heritage Museum executive director, and curator of this exhibition, Tobi Smith,
and her assistant, Stephanie Tuttle. All of their hard work was a key factor toward
making this exhibition a reality. I'd also like to thank the following for
their assistance and continuing support of my creative endeavors:
Claudio Bergamin
> Tiziana Mervar
Johnny Brown
Jim Camp
Anthony > Stacy
Cinelli
Jennifer Crook
Jillian Dela Barre
Eleazar Eskin
Richard Espinoza
Marc Flanagan
Yasamin
Jafari-Tehrani
Philip Kaplan
Steve Moulton
Sally Shoquist
Jan Sarah Sink
Chad Taylor
And thanks, of course, to all the brave souls who let me photograph them.
Marco Pallotti
Santa Monica, California
October 11, 2021
Marco Pallotti was born in London, England, and moved to the United States in his mid-twenties. He now lives in Santa Monica, California, and works in a variety of photographic genres, using both analog and digital technologies.