American Apparel: behind the wheel

http://www.americanapparel.net/gallery/amateur/index.html

According to Claudine Ise, editor of Vanishing Point, “One of the most common ways of perceiving the urban environment today is through the window of the moving automobile. The fleeting, sweeping glances employed by drivers and passengers turns the built environment into something dreamlike and abstracted, a steady stream of lights and shadows across a series of reflective surfaces. “Non-places” like these make up an increasingly large percentage of our built environment. The city is a type of a dream space that exists in the subject’s mind as much as it does in material reality.”

Austin Calhoon is a 23-year-old from Bradenton, Florida. After first hearing about American Apparel's Amateur Photography competition, he sent in these snapshots, mostly taken from behind the wheel of his car all over LA. We loved them so much, we commissioned him to do a custom project documenting various streets in LA (Western Ave. in Koreatown, which can be seen on our homepage slideshow, and Sunset Blvd. from the Pacific Ocean to downtown LA, a work in progress). Whether or not behind the lens, Austin spends his time getting lost, enjoying the freedom that comes with not having a hairstyle, and going on garage sale adventures where he often finds the cameras that he uses for his work. This series was taken with some of the gems that he has discovered while shopping in various front yards and driveways.