12th Street/Arlington, Country Park 1995

Madoka Takagi, who was born in 1956 and died in 2015, made this black and white photograph called '12th Street/Arlington, Country Park'. Looking at this scene, I think of the tradition of photography, the sharp detail of the buildings and palms. I wonder, what it was like for her to find this view, and how long it took her to take the picture. It looks so still, almost empty. But you can sense the heat! Palm trees are so LA. But, they are also alien; they seem to be from somewhere else and have been planted to remind you of elsewhere. Do they make LA seem more dreamy, or less? I wonder if it feels strange to live amongst them. Anyway, Takagi gives me a feeling that photography is about the poetry of looking and finding something uncanny in what you see.