"Esquire's editors sent me to Los Angeles, and when I landed
at L.A. International Airport I noticed giant palm trees growing
in the parking lot. I ordered a hamburger through a microphone
speaker in a drive-in called Tiny Naylor's. The freeways were blank and brilliant, chromium-plated bumpers reflected the Pacific Ocean, but the air quality was said to be bad. People looking like mannequins seemed at peace on the Sunset Strip while others were euphoric as they watered the desert. I stood there ready with my Leica, aware of my shadow on the pavement. I walked up to strangers, framed, focused, and in a split second of alienations and cynicism, pressed the shutter button. Suddenly I had an awakening that led me to another level of visual understanding. But in the end, for some unknown reasons, the editors rejected the
pictures, and I had to return home with a big box of prints, put them in a drawer, and forgot all about the trip."
Bruce Davidson
at L.A. International Airport I noticed giant palm trees growing
in the parking lot. I ordered a hamburger through a microphone
speaker in a drive-in called Tiny Naylor's. The freeways were blank and brilliant, chromium-plated bumpers reflected the Pacific Ocean, but the air quality was said to be bad. People looking like mannequins seemed at peace on the Sunset Strip while others were euphoric as they watered the desert. I stood there ready with my Leica, aware of my shadow on the pavement. I walked up to strangers, framed, focused, and in a split second of alienations and cynicism, pressed the shutter button. Suddenly I had an awakening that led me to another level of visual understanding. But in the end, for some unknown reasons, the editors rejected the
pictures, and I had to return home with a big box of prints, put them in a drawer, and forgot all about the trip."
Bruce Davidson