The Watts Towers On An Overcast Day

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My brother-in-law came to visit Los Angeles last weekend and we wanted to show him the Watts Towers.  I was disappointed that we went on an overcast day until I learned that even when the sun doesn't shine the Watts Towers hold their own. 


The Watts Towers are certainly the most important work of art indigenous to the region.  The Watts Towers are exhaustively documented including a conservation project with over 5000 images recording every tile and every placement.  On other visits I didn't take a single photograph. 


But this time on my fifth or sixth visit I found myself taking shots just for the pure pleasure of acting with the artwork.            


                                                                                                                       

Watts Towers 109 Panorama1 by makepictures


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The best thing I learned on this visit was that Charles Mingus, the extraordinary jazz musician, as a neighborhood kid in Watts was a helper to Simon Rodia, the artist who built the Watts Towers.  Mingus reportedly said that Rodia taught him patience and discipline.  But you can't help but see that Rodia might have taught Mingus something about improvisation and something about jazz.


Watts Towers 200 by makepictures

Simon Rodia


Charles Mingus Wallpaper by makepictures

Charles Mingus



You can download full size images here sta.sh/22f20ch7728z?edit=1 and read more about this remarkable work here www.lacma.org/art/exhibition/w…;

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Gipgm2's avatar
I have known of the towers all my life --I have never seen them in such a display of the art of the lens. These are with out a dough the clearest images of the mans art that I have ever seen--the added history is fantastic