St Marks Theater, 2nd Ave. Then and Now. On my recent trip back to NYC, I went to some of the locations I shot 40 years ago just to see how things have changed (or not). Circa 1984 and 2023.
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I was by the Venice Pier with my Night shooting class last November, waiting for the sun to set when we looked up and saw a flurry of giants bubbles rain down from us. Kind of magical to see and I followed this one on its voyage to the water.
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Huntington Beach oil Spill
We were all horrified at the recent news of the oil spill off the coast of Huntington Beach in Orange County and I decided to go down there a few days after the news broke to photograph it for various news organizations I work with. Based on the reports I had heard, I was prepared for the worse, and decided to make my first stop the Bolsa Chica Wetlands, a place I had frequently photographed and had a lot of concern about. Thankfully, the wetlands were spared as the currents took most of the oil south of the Huntington Beach Pier, so I made my way down the coast a bit to see what I could find.
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Now on sale. The time has finally come, my LA River book is soon heading to the printer and I am taking orders for both the hardcover and the softcover editions.
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Join Me at Open Show LA
I am really happy to be presenting at the next Open Show LA, this coming Tuesday, April 13 from 5-6:30pm PDT/ 8-9:30pm EDT.
I am going to be showing pictures and telling stories about the East Village in New York during the 1980’s. A crazy place and a crazy time, so we will have some fun in the Wayback Machine for an evening.
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One of my favorite places to go and to photograph is Morro Bay up the Central Coast. I spent a week up there this summer and was reminded once again why I love to be there. The Bay’s wetlands and an estuary on its eastern shores are a natural habitat for a variety of birds including Herons, Pelicans, and Great White Egrets.
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Just published on Desmog- an important story on how the housing shortage is colliding with a toxic oil field in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Vista Hermosa. A great article written by Marissa Pianko, photographs by myself, and enormous help from the residents of Vista Hermosa.
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Join me on Saturday, October 17 at 4 pm, along with fellow artists Margaret Gallagher and T. Chick McClure, for a panel discussion on the LA River as part of the Frogtown Artwalk. It will be hosted by writer and LA Times columnist Patt Morrison.
RSVP here - https://www.evartscollective.com/event-details/la-river-x-panel-discussion-look-at-the-la-river-what-do-you-see
Hope to see you there.
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I’m standing next to World Famous Curley’s Café looking at two active oil wells that happen to be located smack dab in the middle of the parking lot, cars drive in and maneuver for their spaces around them. These pumpjacks, as they are known, look like giant metal rocking horses bobbing up and down as they beat out a steady rhythm of ke-chunk noises, sucking the oil from the vertical well beneath them into some underground storage tank. Across the street there is another well next to a McDonalds drive-thru, and up on the hill the wells are scattered in and around an upscale housing development. There are hundreds of wells everywhere; they are next to businesses, houses and whatever happens to be built next to them. This is Signal Hill.
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I will be exhibiting a couple of my LA River Aluminum prints at the Common Threads II show being held at the Angel Street Brewery as part of this year’s MOPLA - Month of Photography LA.
We will be having our opening event during the DTLA Art Walk on April 11, 6-10pm. Join us.
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Please join me at this years Open Show LA hosted at the Los Angeles Center of Photography. I will be among five presenters of our work and will speak for 20 minutes about my project - Where We LIve
OPEN SHOW LA #51: Los Angeles Center of Photography
SHOW DATE: Saturday, March 16, 11:30am-1:00pm
VENUE: LACP | 1515 Wilcox Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90028
FEATURED PRESENTERS
Mimi Haddon, The Palace Wild, www.mimihaddon.com
Peter Bennett, Where We Live, www.citizenoftheplanet.com
Robert Bonk, Little Dramas Italy, www.robertbonk.com
Morgan DeLuna, Phenotype, www.morgandeluna.com
William Zhang, A Journey In Se Asia
I often ride my bike along Ballona Creek which has a wonderful bike path that takes you down to the beach at Playa Del Rey. If I am lucky I will see a Great Blue Heron or an Egret along its banks. At certain spots, you can watch Brown Pelicans trying their luck as they dive for fish at places where the salt water from the sea finds its way a bit inland. There are many things about Ballona that remind you it is still a creek even though its natural shores have been replaced by concrete ones.
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The Woolsey wildfire started on November 8, 2018 and has burned over 98,000 acres of land, destroyed an estimated 1,100 structures and killed 3 people in Los Angeles and Ventura counties especially in the hard hit area of Malibu.
I had a chance to visit the area last Friday to witness the massive destruction. The first thing I came across was a bridge that spanned a creek over Mulholland Highway near Kanan Road. The steel beams had actually melted from the extreme heat and workers were pretty amazed at the sight as they attempted to formulate a plan to resurrect it.
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I hope you can join me this Friday at the First Annual Faculty, Member and Alumni Exhibition at Los Angeles Center of Photography. It will be held from 7-10PM and is a collection of photography honoring the organization’s faculty, members and student alumni. 33 artists will be exhibiting their work, with a total of roughly 60 images on display. The exhibition will show at LACP April 13 – May 18, 2018. The FMA will be an annual exhibition in the Spring of each year.
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On Saturday, January 28, as part of MOPLA (Month of Photography LA), myself and my cohorts will be doing an artist’s talk about our show, Los Angeles: Detailed, currently hanging at the Annenberg Community Beach House through February 19th. Los Angeles: Detailed is an exhibition featuring photographic works by nine diverse local photographers and which seeks the connection between the details in the artists' minds and the quotidian details of the unique landscape that is Los Angeles. That’s the official description, but it really is a cool show with some great work.
Tickets are free, but it is advised you RSVP to hold your place as space is limited. Hope to see you there. Get tickets here
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Every year I lead a photo tour of the LA River, and every year there is something that has transformed or disappeared, that’s how fast things are changing along the river. One of my favorites was an old auto scrap yard and its ancient metal fence that ran along East Cesar Chavez Ave. Gone but not forgotten. The next tour is coming up in a couple of weeks. Sign up here - https://lacphoto.org/events/the-los-angeles-river-photo-adventure-with-peter-bennett-oct-2016/
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Proud to have two of my LA River prints hanging in the new California Speaker of the House, Anthony Rendon’s State Capitol office. Speaker Rendon represents LA’s 63rd district, which includes southern portions of the LA River, and is a great river advocate. His Assembly Bill 530, which authorizes the creation of a local working group to develop a Lower River revitalization plan was signed by Gov. Brown in 2015.
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I am going to be part of a great upcoming show on the LA River. Info below and I hope you can make it, should be a fun evening. Will post some of the photos from the show in the weeks leading up to the show
ANNOUNCING: Gallery Opening on Saturday,February 20th, 2016- from 7-10pm
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This is the new trailer for A Concrete River, a new documentary on the LA River by Raphael Sbarge. Many of my stills are used in the film and 13 of my prints are currently being exhibited at the Laemmle NoHo Theatre until the end of the year as part of Laemlle’s Art in the Arthouse series.
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