Along this stretch of Sunset Blvd.:
A look at LA’s diverse religions, its fast growing Metro system and a discussion about Poverty Porn…

Into the Underground

Los Angeles has the 9th most used subway system in the United States. That is only due to its size at 17.4 miles of underground. That underground, however, connects to the busiest Light Rail transit system in the country. More than 51 million riders annually take a trip on the 83.6 miles of track run by Metro Light Rail in 2019. Still none of that compares to New York City’s 2.7 billion annual rides on their subway system. But just like Rome wasn’t built in a day, LA’s metro system has huge plans for expansion in the coming years. The 2028 Olympic Games are also a driving force behind LA’s drive to get more people to stop driving. According to Metro’s website, they have 28 transit projects in the works to be started by 2028. Several pop these include a new light rail line to LAX, and an extension of the subway purple (D) line from Wilshire / Western to Westwood, 9 miles away. A total of 32.1 miles of new rail transit are currently under construction as of July, 2021, and another 10.7 miles may be completed by the Opening Ceremonies. .

A Diversity of Religions

When you have so many immigrants from different nations coming together to live in one place, they not only bring their foods, their traditions, they bring their faiths. Nowhere is this more evident in my walk across LA than here in Little Armenia and Thai Town.

Most Armenians practice Orthodox Christianity that can be traced to the First and Second Century. It is steeped in the Armenian Culture just as Armenia is steeped in it. Since LA has the largest Armenian community outside the former Soviet Union, it is no surprise that there are so many Armenian Orthodox Churches in Southern California.

The Armenians were not the only ones to bring Orthodox Christianity to the region. The Greeks and the Russians also brought their churches here too. Below is a mix of these Orthodox churches as well as some photos I took of a very different faith system: Scientology, which was founded here in Los Angeles.

Meanwhile Thais are largely Buddhist. Earlier on my route through Angelino Heights, I passed a Buddhist monastery. The various Buddhist temples that dot the Southern California landscape were not brought here by Jon Lennon after he went to India in the 60’s or 70’s. No these were grown out of the roots that people re-planted here from Buddhist-practicing countries of Southeast Asia.

The crazy thing is, while many think of the Bible Belt as being the Southern, Midwestern and Plains states of the US, the modern Pentecostal and evangelical Christian movements were largely born in and sustained from Southern California from throughout the 1900’s. The Foursquare Church was born out of this movement and its headquarters are in Echo Park.

In addition, the world’s first church founded by and for the LGBTQ+ community, the Metropolitan Community Church, was founded in 1968 in the LA area and their founding congregation worships just blocks from where I started my journey into Little Armenia.

There is no question that this city and surrounding communities are home to people who practice their faiths alongside one another in a remarkable space of co-existence. So while “who” the “faithful” are in Los Angeles may have evolved over time, at its core this region is deeply spiritual.

And just as Los Angeles is home to all the major religions of the world, it is home to the people who practice them and the cultures and languages to which those people call their own.

What about Poverty Porn?

In all my travels it never fails. At the crossroads of wealth and poverty, there is always someone wanting to snap a photo of the homeless person down on their luck. It’s especially popular among Western tourists in developing countries to take photos of poor children so that they can go back to their countries to show everyone how hard those kids have it “over there”.

Or even worse, post it on social media to pretend to be doing something about the plight of others after spending thousands on a trip only to complain that taxi ride was too expensive.

I call it “Poverty Porn” though I don’t claim to have invented that phrase.

It is always in my consciousness and it’s easy to slip. It was on this walk here in Thai Town that I was about to take a photo of a homeless man and his cart filled with his livelihood when he looked at me as I raised my camera. I knew that he knew what I was about to do and he just stared at me with this moment of “Really man! You too!?!?!?”

I put the camera down. Whenever I see a man or a woman down on their luck, I see that face and remember what I felt like. When I see a child, I don’t take it either.

What I will do is take wide angle shots of a scene. If someone is in the frame I try to frame the shot so that they are not the prominent subject or easily identifiable.

We walk a fine line when doing street photography. On the one hand in the public right of way we have the right to photograph anything - and if someone is homeless on the street in front of you it is not a crime to take their picture. But is it right?

In the end I put myself in their shoes and ask myself if the roles were reversed, would I be OK with my photo being taken? No.

Thus I do my best to avoid exploitive art that is especially easy to do when you have a 300mm lens and you are standing across the street. More distance between you and your subject does not make it right.

If you do end up taking someone’s photo in these circumstances, my hope is that you do more than just take the photo. Offer that person something or even better, use your art to change the circumstances.