allcitiesarebeautiful.com / #allcitiesarebeautiful

Interview • 063 PH

David Randall

Los Angeles, California, USA

Please introduce yourself: What is your name, where are you from, what do you do?

Hey there! My name is David and I am an urban and social landscape photographer based in Los Angeles. I grew up here, but spent nearly twenty years living in a variety of places, including Montreal, Budapest, and Oakland.

What is your relationship with photography and how did you get into it?

I took film photography class in high school, where I learned the basics and to be comfortable in a dark room, that pretty much sat on the back burner for twenty years. I started taking pictures again after I moved back to Los Angeles because I wanted to document and engage the things I was seeing as I rediscovered my former hometown. I was quickly hooked. Wanting to get better, I was lucky to stumble into a social landscape class tought by Thomas Alleman who pushed me to start taking my work seriously. Now, every day of my life involves photography in some form or another.

What do you think triggers you to photograph in a certain moment? Is it planned or solely driven by intuition?

Virtually nothing I do is planned in advance. I may spend some time researching a location, but the overwhelming majority of my time is spent driving, and then walking, in search of interesting subject matter.

What is the story you want your pictures to tell?

Visually, I am drawn to color, symmetry, industrial buildings, isolated subjects, the detritus of consumer culture, and human-altered landscapes. I avoid taking pictures of people, preferring to document their impact in absentia. I love finding surprising moments of beauty in the monotonous sprawl of Los Angeles.

Which city would you like to visit the most, and why?

Kaliningrad and Teheran are currently at the top of my list of places I have yet to go. Otherwise, Montreal is my favorite city and a place I would go back to time and time again.

What is your personal relationship to cities and how do you perceive them as places in general?

I am a city person through and through. If given the choice to lounge on the beach or explore a new city, I would choose the latter option.

What are you currently working on, and—if there is—what is your next project or journey?

I have been spending more and more time in the high desert regions outside of Los Angeles. I am still not sure what direction I will take, but I am excited by what I find out there and intend to keep going at it.

Thank you, David!

Editorial Notes:

If you have a project that you would like to present on this platform, please feel free to share it using the submission form.

Photography: David Randall (2020)
Location: Los Angeles, California, USA

Links: Website, Instagram