28/06/2016

Leftovers

My last LA shots from this time round.

The last few days have been a real downer as the country I live in is no longer the country I think it was, and everyone I know here are feeling depressed over what the future holds for the nation. I feel like the kid whose parents are divorcing, and I have no say in the matter (I couldn't vote as I'm still a Swedish national, and believe me, I will remain one now for as long possible), and the fall out from it is going to affect the rest of my life. I'm weirdly more upset than when my actual parents got divorced, but then that was 28 years ago, and my memory probably doesn't serve me very well. But I survived their split, and I know we will survive this one too. Whatever happens, me and my family have each other, and at the end of the day that's all that really matters. And like my brother-in-law said over the weekend, "All we can hope is that the Leave voters were right, and that we were wrong." Time will tell.

14/06/2016

Up the canyon

One of my favourite things that we did in LA this time round was hiking Temescal Canyon in the rain. Yes, rain! El Niño changed the weather patterns this year, and so for the first four days it was pouring with rain, but I didn't mind one bit as I've never seen LA so lush - ever. It's such a city of contrasts (on so many levels), and while you have to spend years of your life in traffic, you're also very near nature, be it canyons, deserts, mountains or the ocean. We ended up in the clouds and couldn't see the city at all, but I wouldn't have had it any other way. As LA is pretty empty of parks people use the canyons to the north of the city as their recreational grounds (it's either that or the beach), but on this rainy day there was hardly anyone else there. I will never forget that walk - it's definitely up there as one of the best I've ever taken.


07/06/2016

Broadly framed

The Broad is LA's newest museum of contemporary art, where all the art is from a private collection owned by the philanthropists Eli & Edythe Broad. Some seriously rich people! The building itself is really cool, and parts of its architecture worked well as accidental picture frames. If you find yourself in LA, a visit there is a must, and if you go soon, try and catch Ragnar Kjartansson's The Visitors. It was one of the most moving experiences I've ever had looking at art - the lump in my throat must have been the size of a melon... Gulp.