Really Short Love Stories

The idea came to me during the O.J. Simpson trial. I was at the courthouse with an army of other photographers wondering why I was taking the same pictures as everyone else. What interested me were the opinions of bystanders. I imagined photographing them with their opinions written on placards.

* For the next several weeks, I drove around Los Angeles with black markers and blank placards, interviewing and photographing all sorts of people, including a scuba diver, a palm reader, an ice cream vendor, a dressmaker, runaways, Marines and Buddhist nuns. I recorded their opinions about the Simpson trial on the placards and took their pictures as they held the placards like signs.

* The success of that project led to other sign series. I photographed screenwriters holding up their story scenarios, spiritual seekers with quotes about their faith, and voters with their political opinions. Still, I wanted to use the idea for something more . . . personal. * I started calling single men and women who’d placed personal ads, getting the most responses from the people whose ads had run in L.A. Weekly.

* I began inviting myself and my camera into the lives and homes of those strangers, where their stories emerged more fully. When I was done, I wondered if people in other cultures would so readily pose with signs that revealed so much about themselves. Or could this only happen in America, where we propose in skywriting, declare our children’s brilliance on bumper stickers, announce our spiritual salvation on T-shirts, emote in online chat rooms and advertise ourselves to potential lovers in 50 words or less?

*

NAME: Ray Sarver Nessel

HOMETOWN: Irvine

OCCUPATION: Documentary Filmmaker/Writer/Sculptor

*

NAME: Pamela lynn

HOMETOWN: Lake Forest

AVOCATION: Event Coordinator

*

NAME: Dina Mande

HOMETOWN: Los Feliz

OCCUPATION: Art Director for Entertainment Marketing Company/Filmmaker

*

NAME: Jennie Brown

HOMETOWN: Santa Ana

OCCUPATION: Graphic Artist

*

NAME: Amahl Van Halsema

HOMETOWN: Marina Del Rey

OCCUPATION: Professional Angel

*

NAME: Alexander Scott

HOMETOWN: Lomita

OCCUPATION: Assistant Manager at Nursery

*

NAME: Kim Bishop

HOMETOWN: Los Feliz

OCCUPATION: Filmmaker/Actress/Painter

*

NAME: Remi Fontaine

HOMETOWN: Canoga Park

OCCUPATION: Rental Property Manager

*

NAME: Bernard N’Guyen

HOMETOWN: Canoga Park

OCCUPATION: Personal Trainer

*

NAME: Patti Santino

HOMETOWN: Los Angeles

OCCUPATION: Secretary