VBWL BAGEL by Josh "Bagel" Klassman

 

VBWL BAGEL
by Josh "Bagel" Klassman
June 4 - June 30, 2022
Zoom Talk June 5, 2022 6pm HST, Zoom ID 808 597 8733

Go Skateboard Day is on June 21.  With this happening, we are excited to show 80's skateboarding photographs by Venice Beach long time film photographer Josh "Bagel" Klassman.  He grew up surfing & skateboarding in Venice Beach, CA & still resides there today.  We will be showcasing his insider's perspective photos of the 1980's.  Photographs will be up in shop thru June 30, 2022.  Manny Pangilinan is the curator for this grouping.  Please visit the shop to see these  photographs up close.  Prints are available for purchase.

There will be a Photographers Zoom Talk on Sunday, June 6 6pm HST.  Josh Klassman, Jef Hartsel & Manny Pangilinan will be doing on the Photographer's Zoom Talk, moderated by shop staff Anabelle Ellewein.  Please join us as they will be discussing the photographs & skateboarding in Venice Beach during the 80's.  There will also be a Q&A.  You won't wanna miss this!  Zoom Talk ID 808 597 8733.

Josh "Bagel" Klassman Artist Statement:
I'm an Underground Documentary style Photographer from Venice. I grew up in Venice and I was a little kid in the 1970'z, a teen in the mid to late 1980'z, and a young adult in the early 1990'z. I grew up surfing the Venice Break Water and skating at the Venice Pavilion. I went to Venice High (Class of ‘88) where I studied under the incredible Photography Teacher Larry Shapiro in the multiple photo classes that I had throughout the day. My photos are an insider's perspective, they come from a personal point of view. Being from the school of Gonzo Journalism I’m a participant documenting my world. I still live in Venice today and I still document all I see around me. I like grainy and gritty, I never go for clean, I go for real. My photos are far from perfect, but the imperfections make them unique, imperfections are the perfections in my eyes. I shot with and still shoot with my original Nikon FM2 camera with a 28mm lens, both were used second hand pieces of gear bought at the old Venice Camera Exchange (RIP) that used to be on the SW corner of Venice and Lincoln. I also had a used second hand 500mm lens and a cheap water camera, both bought from the VCE as well. From time to time I would borrow a fisheye lens from my good friend Luke "Doc" Hudson (RIP). I shot and still shoot on Kodak Tri-X 400 black & white film the majority of the time, every once in a while I would shoot color slide film. All of my photos are a one shot take, meaning I do not have a motor drive, no shot is a part of a sequence, each shot is do or die, each shot is its own entity of that single image.