©Tracy L. Chandler, Lone Wolf, from Edge Dwellers

One of my favorite classes that I teach at the Los Angeles Center of Photography is The Personal Project, a nine month class where photographers continue with or create new bodies of work, produce artist’s books or catalogs, hone their articulation and consider their influences. To say that I’m proud of these artists is an understatement–I’m amazed by their dedication to their craft and to their journey as photographic artists and it has been a complete pleasure to spend the last year with them.

Next Friday night, September 14th, this group of talented photographers will open the exhibition, It’s Personal: Photography from the Inside, at the Los Angeles Center of Photography  in Hollywood, CA, from 7 – 10pm. The exhibition runs through October 12th, 2018 with artist lectures on October 1st.

The photographers included are Julia Bennett, Tracy L. Chandler, Karen Constine, Alaina Dall, Rohina Hoffman, Michael Hacker, Paul Ivanushka, Ann Johansson, Alexandra Kondracke, Shari Yantra Marcacci, Basak Prince, Victor Ramos, Kris Shires, and Sharon Johnson-Tennant.

In Edge Dwellers, Tracy L. Chandler explores the notions of being seen and daring to look through her collaborative portraits with a fringe community in coastal California.

©Tracy L. Chandler, Kathy, from Edge Dwellers

©Tracy L. Chandler, Snake Man, from Edge Dwellers

©Tracy L. Chandler, Quepid, from Edge Dwellers

In response to the constant flood of images with which we are all being inundated,Michael Hacker has created a long-running website photo project called One Photo At A Time. The photos selected for this exhibit are the latest images to be uploaded to the website, One Photo At A Time.

©Michael Hacker, from One Photo At A Time

©Michael Hacker, from One Photo At A Time

©Michael Hacker, from One Photo At A Time

In Poem in Memoriam, Alaina Dall honors her mother by connecting images reminiscent of their shared past with present day signs of her spirit, whether a light breeze on a cloudy day, the smell of freshly peeled oranges, or the tick-tock of an antique clock. Through a series of diptychs, Alaina conveys what it is like to be sustained by these life-affirming reminders.

©Alaina Dall, from Poem in Memoriam

©Alaina Dall, from Poem in Memoriam

©Alaina Dall, from Poem in Memoriam

Basak Prince’s Meals Outside, is inspired by Edward Abbey, an American author and essayist whose works reflect an uncompromising environmentalist philosophy, Meals Outside photographic journey searches for rare and exhilarating moments in the wilderness that evokes equanimity.

©Basak Prince, Unexpected Companion, from Meals Outside

In The Next Chapter: Motherhood Reconsidered, Shari Yanta Marcacci gives voice to her feelings and emotions of her journey into motherhood. She explores this new chapter of her life from an honest perspective, without fear of showing the dark sides. Longing for a lost identity while embracing a new one.

©Shari Yantra Marcacci, Breech, from The Next Chapter: Motherhood Reconsidered

©Shari Yantra Marcacci, Postpartum, from The Next Chapter: Motherhood Reconsidered

©Shari Yantra Marcacci, Umbilical Cord, from The Next Chapter: Motherhood Reconsidered

Most people think they can do whatever they want below the surface of a swimming pool because no one can see them. They’re wrong; Alexandra Kondracke can see them and now so can you too in Submerged: Body Language Below the Surface. Take a Look.

©Alexandra Kondracke, Bride Hive, from Submerged: Body Language Below the Surface

©Alexandra Kondracke, Lift, from Submerged: Body Language Below the Surface

©Alexandra Kondracke, White American, from Submerged: Body Language Below the Surface

In the photographic series Privileged, Ann Inger Johansson looks at the hypocrisy of today’s immigration policies by comparing her personal experience as a white immigrant with the experience of people she has photographed in her daily life working as a photojournalist. Ann juxtaposes staged images of her white skin with photojournalistic images that speak to different aspects of immigration.

©Ann Inger Johansson, Privileged II

©Ann Inger Johansson, Privleged, VIIII

©Ann Inger Johansson, Privileged XV

With “Who Is she? I don’t even know” – The Harajuku Girls of Los Angeles Karen Constine captures the self-expression and individualistic style adopted by the Harajuku and J-fashion inspired women living in Southern California.

©Karen Constine, from “Who Is she? I don’t even know”

©Karen Constine, from “Who Is she? I don’t even know”

©Karen Constine, from “Who Is she? I don’t even know”

As neighborhoods in Los Angeles rapidly change, Julia Bennett’ s South Holt hopes to preserve the atmosphere and people of this small corner of the city. The alley is only for the residents of South Holt.

©Julia Bennett, from South Holt

©Julia Bennett, from South Holt

©Julia Bennett, from South Holt

In her collection, Walks with Sennett , Kris Shires examines everyday images through the eyes of her six-year-old daughter, who sees magic in the mundane.

©Kris Shires, from Walks with Sennett

©Kris Shires, from Walks with Sennett

©Kris Shires, from Walks with Sennett

The project by Victor Ramos is untitled. On purpose.

©Victor Ramos, Fashionista

©Victor Ramos, Hippie

©Victor Ramos, Punk

Rohina Hoffman’s Generation 1.75 is a metaphorical photographic journey exploring themes of loss, unrootedness, and gained perspective in Rohina’s personal narrative of migration and identity.

©Rohina Hoffman, Chaand, from Generation 1.75

©Rohina Hoffman, Embedded, from Generation 1.75

©Rohina Hoffman, Loose Threads, from Generation 1.75

Paul Ivanushka’s Maricopa – A Time Now Over expresses profound respect for Maricopa, California, its past and present. Paul sees its people and machinery as a collection of loosely organized memories covered in bruises, a blurry patina from their service and use, cast aside, their useful time now over.

©Paul Ivanushka, Made It Home, from Maricopa – A Time Now Over

©Paul Ivanushka, Well Number Six, from Maricopa – A Time Now Over

©Paul Ivanushka, He Did Not Die Alone, from Maricopa – A Time Now Over

For years, Sharon Johnson-Tennant escaped from her hectic Los Angeles life, walking beaches, deserts, abandoned cities, visiting tribal villages, making work and collecting artifacts, which she brought home and shared with her family. As Sharon’s children grew older, she realized, her family had become its own tribe. This body of work, entitled My Tribe , entwines Sharon’s collected “memories” with her family members – it is a work in progress – it grows and shifts as we do.

©Sharon Johnson Tennant, Nest, from My Tribe

©Sharon Johnson Tennant, Kika with Coral Fan, from My Tribe

©Sharon Johnson Tennant, Entwined, from My Tribe