California dreaming

“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.