The L.A. Project
TELLING THE REAL STORY OF THE STREETS
Launched in 2021, The L.A. Project is an umbrella organization for the various opportunities that Director Julia Dean offers to photographers and to the city of Los Angeles. This includes Street L.A., a street photography collective who shoots often on the streets of L.A.; several street and documentary photography classes for participants of every level; and PROJECTING L.A., a collaborative exhibit of work by 30+ photojournalists and street photographers showing stories of L.A. and its people.
The mission of PROJECTING L.A. is to collaborate with skilled photographers and to show the work in innovative ways. In 2022 and 2024, Projecting L.A. took place in a gigantic outdoor venue. The images, set to perfectly matched music, were projected 80 feet wide and three stories tall on the side of a building.
FISCAL SPONSOR:
PROJECTING L.A. is a fiscally sponsored project of Creative Visions, a 501c3 nonprofit organization and U.N. recognized NGO founded by Kathy Eldon. Read about the amazing work of Creative Visions, inspired by the life of Kathy’s son, Dan, here:
“We use the power of media and the arts to ignite positive social change.” Creative Visions
What does this mean? It means that The L.A. Project now has support for its development from a dynamic, creative, socially concerned and committed organization with a dazzling record of achievement.
This also means that ALL DONATIONS ARE TAX DEDUCTIBLE. You can donate here: https://creative-visions.networkforgood.com/projects/183342-projecting-l-a
ANY QUESTIONS? Contact The L.A. Project Director: juliadeanLA@gmail.com
Projecting L.A. 2022
Published in HYPERALLERGIC, November 1, 2022
By Matt Stromberg
LOS ANGELES — On a recent chilly Saturday evening, a parking lot in Los Angeles’s Chinatown was transformed into a makeshift screening room as photographs documenting street life across the vast city were projected onto the rear of a four-story building. With helicopters circling overhead and a light rain falling, the assembled crowd of photographers and photo enthusiasts watched a 45-minute slideshow that jumped from surfers in Venice and the bustle of Union Station to lowrider and motorcycle clubs, the 1992 LA Uprising and the protests of 2020, street vendors, a horse ranch, wildfires, and the unhoused.
Titled Projecting L.A., the program featured the work of 35 street, documentary, news, and student photographers, forming a composite portrait of the city’s dynamic and dense urban fabric.
“This is LA,” Vic Brown, one of the participating photographers, told Hyperallergic. “L.A. has the rap of being glitz and glamor, but this is an innovative attempt at revolutionizing how we see art. What better way to do it than in a parking lot in downtown Los Angeles, the heart of the city?”
PROJECTING L.A. 2022 PHOTOGRAPHERS
Lorenzo Aguilar
Karen Ahrens
Wednesday Aja
Vic Brown
Lauren Casey
Ringo Chiu
Oscar Contreras
Julia Dean
Anduriña Espinoza
Michael Feldman
Alon Goldsmith
Ada Gorn
Gerardo Guillén
Carlos Hernandez
David Ingraham
Jamie Johnson
Gail Just
Josh Karbelnig
Brendan Kennedy
Mike Lynch
Stephanie Mei-Ling
Estevan Oriol
Francine Orr
Frankie Orozco
Matthew Nordman
Daniel Sackheim
Ted Soqui
Joshua Stern
Todd Stern
Ann Toler
Katy Parks Wilson
Jeffrey Wolin
Carl Young
Projecting L.A. 2024
Published on the front page of THE L.A. DAILY NEWS, April 27, 2024
By Marianne Love
In bigger-than-life photographs projected on the side of a building in the heart of Los Angeles’ Chinatown, the works of 32 photographers will be shown on Saturday, April 27, marking the return of a free screening that documents the street life throughout the city and surrounding communities.
Projecting L.A. 2024 debuted two years ago in a one-of-a-kind public photography event that celebrated powerful street, documentary and news stories.
On Saturday, the images will be huge, projected 80-feet wide and three stories high on a building in an outdoor venue for a live audience. The images were made by a range of photographers and were chosen in a juried process.
“What better way is there to show off powerful street, documentary and news stories about Los Angeles and its people than on the street?” said Julia Dean, a photographer and director of Projecting L.A. “The work is outstanding. Prepare yourself for a night of inspiration.”
Projecting L.A. 2024 aims to highlight photojournalists in a way that, two years ago, had never been done in Los Angeles, according to Dean who for two decades concentrated on street photography around the world.
For the past 13 years, her primary focus has been shooting in downtown Los Angeles, and her work has been published in magazines and books, and on websites.
The mission of Projecting L.A. is to collaborate with skilled photographers to tell the stories of the streets in an innovative way, and to preserve the work through donations to the Los Angeles Public Library..
Some of images that will be shown include the Sixth Street Bridge, the region’s fentanyl crisis, Hollywood behind-the-scenes, the legacy of Marilyn Monroe, a midwife-led labor and delivery unit, cruising Van Nuys Boulevard in the 1970s, the Venice barrio in the 1980s and the Armenian diaspora in the early 2000s.
The roster of photographers include Pulitzer Prize winners and other acclaimed photographers from the Associated Press, Los Angeles Daily News, Los Angeles Times and Reuters, in addition to war photographers, Emmy Award-winners and other accomplished documentary and street photographers.
The jurors who chose this year’s images included Paris Chong, gallery manager and director at Leica Gallery L.A.; Dean, director of Projecting L.A. and photographer; Calvin Hom, former executive director of photography at Los Angeles Times; Daniel Sackheim, Emmy Award-winning TV director/producer and photographer; and John Simmons, Emmy Award-winning cinematographer and photographer.
The L.A. Project Photographers 2024
JURY SELECTIONS
Karen Ballard: Venice—Lost in Transition
Jill Connelly: The 6th Street Bridge
Laurie Freitag: The Lost Years
Amy Gaskin: The Legacy of Marilyn Monroe
David Ingraham: Street Photography
Jamie Johnson: Le Petite Cirque Los Angeles
Sarah Reingewirtz: Fentanyl in the Streets
Sarah Reingewirtz: Black Women Turn to Midwives
Richard Smith: Street Photography
David Swanson: Disturbing the Peace
Richard Vogel: Street Photography
Jason Williams: Wrestling Underground
Plus, 5 Decades of Docs
Richard McCloskey: 1972, Cruising on Van Nuys Blvd.
Don Weinstein: 1988, Runaway Teenagers in Hollywood
Cristina Salvador Klenz: 1990-1993; 2003, Life with California’s Roma Families
Robert Yager: 1992-2002, Streetwise
Ara Oshagan: 2000-2008, Traces of Identity: The Armenian Diaspora in L.A.
SPECIAL GUESTS
Jeff Bridges: Behind the Scenes in Hollywood
Susan Bridges: Venice Barrio in the Eighties
Ringo Chiu: Daily News in L.A.
Larry Hirshowitz: Personal Portraits at KCRW
Christina House: Hollywood’s Finest
Estevan Oriol: On the Streets
Francine Orr: The Chaplain
Allen J. Schaben: 30 Years of Photography with The L.A. Times
STREET L.A. COLLECTIVE
Wednesday Aja
Julia Dean
Marta Evry
Alon Goldsmith
Ada Gorn
Gail Just
Mike Lynch
Daniel Sackheim
Joshua Stern
HONORABLE MENTIONS
Alexander Seyum
Ambrus Deak
Ann Toler
Carl Young
Danny DeGennaro
Domenico Foschi
Eric Renard
Florian Froschmayer
Glen Wilbert
Jason Williams
John Travis
Juan Fernando Mora
Kei Rowan Young
Ken Karagozian
Lalo Sanchez
Matt Stasi
Melanie Chapman
Oscar Contreras
Poul Lange
Rene Melendrez
Skip McCraw
T. Chick McClure
Timothy Suh
Todd Stern
Vonjako
Yulia Morris
JULIA DEAN, PROJECT DIRECTOR
Julia Dean is a photographer, educator, writer, and founder and former executive director of the Los Angeles Center of Photography. Before her departure in 2021, she led JDPW/LACP for more than 22 years. She is currently the director of The L.A. Project, which is an umbrella organization for everything she creates and offers, which currently includes a street photography collective called Street L.A., documentary and street photography classes, and a large outdoor event called Projecting L.A..
Collaborative projects with talented photographers are Julia’s passion. In the 1990s, she raised money to send six photographers around the world to document stories about child labor. This work resulted in two trips to the Capitol and a lot of press. Her current collaboration — Projecting L.A. — pulls together talented L.A. photographers who are covering stories on the people who make up L.A..
Julia began her career as an apprentice to pioneering photographer Berenice Abbott. Later, Julia was a photo editor for the Associated Press in New York. She has traveled to more than 45 countries while freelancing for numerous relief groups and magazines. Her extensive teaching experience includes 42 years at various colleges, universities, and educational institutions including the University of Nebraska, Los Angeles Valley College, Los Angeles Southwest College, the Santa Fe Workshops, the Maine Photographic Workshops, Oxford University, The Julia Dean Photo Workshops, the Los Angeles Center of Photography. Besides her own classes, through The L.A. Project, Julia is currently teaching at Santa Monica College and the Leica Akademie L.A..
For two decades, Julia concentrated on street photographer around the world. For the past 14 years, street shooting in downtown Los Angeles has been her primary focus. Julia’s work has been published in many magazines, blogs, and books.
Julia received a Bachelor of Science degree in photography at the Rochester Institute of Technology and a Master of Arts degree in journalism at the University of Nebraska, and is the author/photographer of the award-winning children’s book, A Year on Monhegan Island, published by Houghton Mifflin Co..
Take a class with Julia Dean
PROJECTING L.A. TEAM
DANIEL SACKHEIM | PRODUCER
Daniel Sackheim is an Emmy Award-winning, Film & Television director and producer best known for his work on such critically acclaimed series as HBO’s True Detective Season 3, Game of Thrones, Ozark, and The Americans.
A list of partial credits includes the Apple TV+ series Servant, Better Call Saul, Jack Ryan, The Leftovers, The Man in the High Castle, The Walking Dead, and HBO’s acclaimed Lovecraft Country. Sackheim directed the Sony feature film The Glass House, starring Leelee Sobieski, Diane Lane, and Stellan Skarsgard, and produced The X-Files Feature: Fight the Future for 20th Century Fox.
Dan is a co-founder of Bedrock Entertainment, which produces prestige content for Streamers and premium cable platforms.
Dan developed a passion for movies at an early age. An obsession with the genre of Film Noir, continues to influence not only his directorial work, but his photography as well. His project “Slow Kiss” is an homage to the classic Noir films of the fifties, but with a contemporary Neo-Noir esthetic. UNSEEN is a black and white series which explores life in the shadows.
JOSHUA STERN | PRODUCER
Joshua Stern grew up in the entertainment business in New York and Los Angeles. He appeared in his first commercial at the age of five and had his own sports radio show at the age of twelve. He graduated with a degree in English from U.C.L.A. Upon graduating he immediately went to work at Universal Studios and sold a story to Law and Order in its freshman year. He went on to write numerous episodes and since then has written for such successful shows as Chicago Hope and Judging Amy. His biggest break came with the landmark show Resurrection Blvd. on Showtime; the first television show to feature an all Latino cast. While on staff he won several awards, including two GLAAD awards for writing.
Joshua wrote, produced and directed two short films which combined to appear in over 30 festivals worldwide. He has written plays, features, TV pilots, developed a digital series for Rosario Dawson and published a non-fiction book 365 Ways to Teach Your Children How to Love Themselves. Recently he has turned his focus into producing full time and has an expansive slate of projects in varying stages of development for the U.S. and international marketplace. He’s an original member of the photography collective Street L.A. run by Julia Dean and he produced Projecting LA 22.
ALON GOLDSMITH
Dubbed “LA’s iPhoneography Wizard” by Forbes magazine, Alon Goldsmith is an award-winning photographer who has been featured extensively across media and exhibited in galleries around the globe. Alon’s achievements include overall winner of the MIRA Mobile Prize in 2022, 3rd place in the Los Angeles Center of Photography’s Street Photography Around the World Competition, and runner up in the journalism category in the prestigious MPAs. Alon was a jury member for the 2018 and 2019 MPAs. His work has also been published in the Los Angeles Times, Reader's Digest, the Forward, the Argonaut and the App Whisperer, and has been extensively featured in Snap and Mobiography magazines. Alon is also a seasoned ad-industry professional with more than 20 years of experience as a copywriter and creative director.
KEITH SKRETCH | EDITOR/PROJECTIONIST
Keith Skretch is a Los Angeles-based media artist and video designer. His video designs have been seen on stages across the U.S. and internationally, earning Bessie, Ovation, and Henry Hewes design awards, while his installations have been presented at such venues as San Diego International Airport, Bohemian National Hall in NYC, Occidental College, and Studio Teatrgaleria in Warsaw. Skretch is a creative director and core team member at LA-based interactive media company NightLight Labs. He holds degrees from CalArts and the University of Chicago..
LISA BEVIS | PRODUCTION MANAGER
Lisa Bevis is a filmmaker/photographer living in Los Angeles. A world traveler and polyglot who speaks four languages, Lisa has shot, produced, cast and directed projects in the U.S., Latin America and Europe. Lisa is excited to be working with Julia Dean and The L.A. Project team to co-ordinate the public exhibition of photographic images, created by L.A. photographers, of our beloved Los Angeles that mirrors its vibrant, multicultural community.
ANDY COMINS | PRODUCTION MANAGER
Andy Comins is an award-winning photographer whose compelling images capture the beauty in the world around us, from the wonders of modern science to the character of a human face.
Collaborating with esteemed natural science writers, Andy has been privileged to work with and help renowned scientists illustrate their technical, ground-breaking research through fascinating visual imagery.
He is a two-time co-recipient, with science journalist Pamela S. Turner, of the American Academy for the Advancement of the Sciences Prize for Excellence in Science Books. Both Houghton Mifflin Harcourt titles, The Frog Scientist (2010) and CROW SMARTS – Inside the Brain of the World’s Brightest Bird (2017), make sophisticated scientific concepts accessible for young scientists.
A feature film location manager for over three decades, Andy was recognized by A list-directors and production designers for his aesthetic sensibility and eye for design which culminated in his creative contributions to the 1990 Academy Award winning film, Driving Miss Daisy.
Andy has always been an advocate for children, and as an early childhood educator he worked with the families of migrant farm workers and their children. His passion and dedication enabled many to improve, hopefully and in some small measure, the quality of their children’s difficult lives.
MARTA EVRY
Marta Evry is an Emmy Award-nominated, Film & Television editor and producer best known for her work on The X-Files, HBO’s The Pacific and Lovecraft Country, Amazon Prime’s The Man in the High Castle, Hunters, as well as Snowpiercer, House MD, and Castle.
PRESS & TESTIMONIALS
2024
AirTalk with Larry Mantle
KPPC (Audio)
KPCC (Article)
LA Daily News
Join the crowd to see Los Angeles in bigger-than-life images at Projecting L.A.
Events List
Things to Do
LA Daily News Things to Do
Acumen
Projecting LA 2024 Reinventing the way to see the City of Angels
We Like LA Things to Do
https://www.welikela.com/things-to-do-this-weekend-in-l-a-4-26-2024-to-4-28-2024/
The Eye of Photography
Projecting L.A. 2024 marks the return of the larger-than-life photography event documenting street life throughout Los Angeles
2022
Podcast Interview with Julia Dean
Check Out Julia Dean’s Story
LA Parking Lot Becomes a Screening Room for Street Photography
Exclusive Interview with Julia Dean, Founder of the L.A. Project
Meet Julia Dean | Photographer/Writer/Educator/Director of The L.A. Project
L.A. Project : Projecting L.A. : 35 Photographers in Public Outdoor Exhibition in Los Angeles
Captivating shots of life on the streets of L.A.
Projecting L.A.
TESTIMONIALS / 2022
“In an art museum, you stand alone quietly looking at a wall, but with Projecting L.A., you’re standing side by side with hundreds of people, collectively looking at the same images—portraits that convey the breadth of Los Angeles’s culture. Accompanied by well-curated music, you want to dance, laugh, cry. Itcreates a sense of community, something that is hard to find in such a big city. Julia Dean and her team has pulled off a magical feat.”
~Beth M. Howard/Author and Filmmaker
“Projecting L.A. 2022 is a critical and definitive visual record of the people of Los Angeles at a moment in time. LA is a city of people that are in a constant state of motion and emotion and this collection masterfully captures both - across a broad and diverse spectrum of people and experiences. The moments captured are unique and never to be repeated. This project ensures they will not be forgotten.”
~Candy Marshall/President, TheDream.US
“After all the hard work as one of the project managers who helped put together Projecting LA 2022, it was such a wonderful delight to watch the community come out and see the images of their lives projected on a huge open-air wall for all to celebrate. From East L.A. gang girls, West L.A. surfers and our brave firefighters and health care workers in action working hard to keep us safe, it made me feelproud to be an Angeleno and to feel our common bonds. Especially poignant was observing Photographer Julia Dean with Jose, an unhoused person she has been photographing for many years. When his images appeared 50 ft tall, it was as if he went from being invisible for so many years to proclaiming “I am here! I exist! I am part of the L.A. community and my life matters too!” It was a very beautiful moment that still brings tears to my eyes thinking about it.”
~Lisa Bevis/Project Manager, Projecting L.A.
“Being a part of Projecting L.A. 2022 was not only a magical experience but an emotional one as well. It was so spectacular and well done, the subjects in my photos cried watching how beautiful the show was. The event itself was an incredible event of artists and art lovers coming together for a night of magic.”
~Jamie Johnson/Documentary Photographer
“Julia Dean’s team made history with the visionary photo adventure Projecting L.A. 2022. Using open spaces and open walls is a great way to bring large groups of people to a gathering space, and it is an event that as a matter of course can have momentous cultural impact…and on that scale, the images are awe-inspiring.”
~Marc Milkin/Cinematographer
“What an incredibly memorable and exhilarating event. As a thirty-year resident of Los Angeles, I can confidently say it was a one-of-a-kind evening and visual experience. Hundreds of Angelenos gathered together to witness many of the city's diverse stories and cultures come to life through the magic of world-class photography projected three stories high. It was an amazing celebration, and one I wouldn’t want to have missed.”
~Andy Comins/Photographer
“My husband and I were able to travel from Madison Wisconsin to attend the Projecting L.A. 2022 event. We asked a friend from the LA area to join us. We were all stunned at the quality of the work, the production, and the feel of the night. It was fantastic and we are looking forward to coming again in April 2024.”
~ Carolyn Chadderdon, Retired Pediatric Nurse Practitioner
“It was amazing to see almost a thousand people look up onto the wall to see my Pulitzer Prize winning photos as a photographer and its impact. I could see that this event was more than just a showcase of work, but also a way of bringing together a whole spectrum of generations that have worked in the photography space. I am looking forward to have my work seen once again at the Projecting L.A. 2024.”
~Ringo Chiu/Freelance Photojournalist
“After attending Projecting L.A. 2022, I was reminded of how truly special the Los Angeles community is. My belief in the beauty and exceptional diversity of Angelenos has been reignited. With a three-story projection set to music, Projecting L.A. illuminated the unique diversity and beauty of the city and its people. It left me in awe and truly reignited my love affair with the City of Angels. The artists presentation of the real Los Angeles outside of our manicured worlds, by sharing the beauty and humanity of different Angelenos made me fall in love with my city all over again.”
~Susan Powell/Entrepreneur
“What a gift this was; authentic, innovative , heartwarming at times, gut wrenching at others. The photographs were spectacular and the music underscored everything. On a visceral level, this was one of the most transcendent experiences in the past ten years”
~ Wendy Hoffman/Producer
“Projecting L.A. is an experience that I think all aspiring artists and even just creative individuals should be exposed to. It allows a space for art in the form of photography to be displayed on a large scale, providing an impactful platform that would be otherwise be impossible. Overall Projecting L.A. is a greatly worthwhile event that showcases some of the best photographers that LA. has to offer. I can’t wait to see how it continues into the future.”
~ Hayden Atzberger/Cal State Northridge Film Student
Projecting L.A. gave me insight into our city and the inspiration to know more. As a photography collector, I appreciated the professional quality and the super sharp resolution of those huge images projected on the monster downtown wall. Truly extraordinary. The photographs together with the music selected by each photographer was intense, moving. More please!
~ David Shaw/Founder, Quantum Health