Paul Jasmin Livres

“It is when I see their faces, that I long to photograph them. That is my fantasy life. They keep me dreaming.” Paul Jasmin found some of the models through students at the college he teaches at in Pasadena and others are the children of his friends who he has watched grow into adults. With his pictures, he tries to capture the dreams his subject harbour. Most of the photographs were shot in and around his apartment on Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, in a building that William Randolph Hearst bought as a love-nest for Marion Davies. The photographs translate both Jasmin’s emotional attachment to California, with its perfect weather, the pure light, and the population of dreamers, and the inspiration he gets from spending his time with young people. Paul Jasmin was born in Helena, Montana in 1935. He lives and works in Los Angeles where he teaches at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California. His previous book Hollywood Cowboy was published in 2002. He is a regular contributor to L’Uomo, Vogue, Teen Vogue, W, Vogue Homme, Jane, and Interview.

In Paul Jasmin's hauntingly beautiful new book, Lost Angeles , the city takes on a quality of light and personality known only to someone who has experienced it first hand. Here are the “tarnished angels” that hang out on Hollywood Boulevard or in local motel rooms, that have come to L.A. looking for the American dream, Hollywood style, and have quickly discovered it takes more than just desire to succeed. Jasmin combines formally fluid pictures of these youths languishing in dreamlike settings or in erotically charged compositions--clothed and unclothed. His images present the viewer with a personal survey of Los Angeles, of the place and the people who live there, some of whom have realized their dreams, some of whom are still searching. A major figure in the world of photography and an influence on many of today's young artists, Jasmin has included among his subjects his friends, including Sofia Coppola, who along with long-time friend and admirer Bruce Weber, have contributed essays that explore the depths of this truly rarefied vision. They add yet another dimension to his portrait of a town they all love.