We love an ambiguous story more than most. We love a series of images that have no real beginning or end but are whole in and of themselves without need for characterization or explanation. This series of images shot by photographer Andy Smith does just that. The images exist in a place where they reference a vague noir-ish storyline with Los Angeles as the backdrop.

Los Angeles feels different, it feels both expansive and claustrophobic, busy and laid back, dark and much too bright, strangely cold by the ocean and murderously hot downtown. it's like no place else. I can't remember who said it when characterizing Los Angeles but it went something like this..."LA is a city that has no roots in Europe, it is an entirely invented place that is purely without reference to the old world as we know it". I am sure I am ruining the statement but that's the gist of it. The idea that LA exists just for itself, apart from the rest is interesting to us. It is also interesting to Andy Smith. Andy is new to LA so sees it all for the first time. That's what interesting photography does, it sees for the first time. How many times have you gotten off a plane and everything looked exciting and new, then after a day or two of being in that new space you don't see anymore the things that were so different a day or so before? Andy sees it still. A Londoner recently transplanted into a most American place, Andy was able in this series to carve out a story on the bike that has as its backbone a reference to film noir, a timeless ambiguous quality that defines a moment without artifice, a uniquely LA story.

We hope you enjoy this series and interview with Andy as much as we have enjoyed being a small part of it's creation....a special thanks to Mateen Richey for riding hard all day.

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