In 2025, I had the opportunity to spend a lot of quality time with my photography, not only taking the most keepers in nearly 10 years but also adding some vintage Nikon kit to the stable. (Nikon was my aspirational brand when I was photo editor of my university’s Associated Students newspaper.) An unused-in-box Nikon F3 and a mint Nikkor 28mm f/2.8 AIS were two of the year’s lucky finds.
In July, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art held a member’s preview of its new pavilion, a magnificent and controversial Brutalist structure that will house LACMA’s permanent collection when it fully opens next April. Architect Peter Zumthor’s horizontal building is said to mimic L.A.’s sprawl and the elevated space actually straddles Wilshire Boulevard. A floor-to-ceiling ribbon of glass surrounds the structure and some of the early concerns expressed by art critics include the amount of daylight that the artwork will be exposed to. (Curtains are planned and light-sensitive art will be placed in interior rooms.) Also, art will be hung on glazed concrete walls, and how the repairs to the concrete will look as the collection rotates is anyone’s guess.
I was shooting a lot of color street photography during the summer and I loaded up some Portra 400 for the tour. The F3’s automatic exposure performed well in the mixed light and the 28mm lens was the perfect choice. During the walk – with the walls and floor bereft of art — I felt lucky to be shooting in some incredible liminal spaces. Who doesn’t get a boost knowing they are capturing a scene that will never again look the same?
The color images ended up looking so-so but as luck would have it, the Portra converted nicely to black and white.
The photo selected as my favorite for 2025 shows an enthusiastic senior museum member strolling the new space — and likely contemplating her return in April.
Share this post:
Comments
Jonathan Murray on Exploring an Empty Art Gallery – My Photo of the Year 2025
Comment posted: 16/12/2025
Comment posted: 16/12/2025
Scott Ferguson on Exploring an Empty Art Gallery – My Photo of the Year 2025
Comment posted: 16/12/2025
Well done!
Comment posted: 16/12/2025
Curtis Heikkinen on Exploring an Empty Art Gallery – My Photo of the Year 2025
Comment posted: 16/12/2025
Comment posted: 16/12/2025
Marco Andrés on Exploring an Empty Art Gallery – My Photo of the Year 2025
Comment posted: 16/12/2025
But I cannot disentangle the image from what the building itself represents. It goes beyond the mega-rich with their tax avoidance schemes cloaked in « good works ».
« The Zumthor building, …was intended to be groundbreaking …
But in recent years, it has morphed into a more-conservative looking beige wave that crosses over Wilshire Boulevard. »
news.artnet.com/market/lacma-expansion-analysis-1822221
The building, The David Geffen Galleries, has also been downscaled from 170k sq ft to 107k to reduce costs.
The cost of the building now stands at 720$ with 300m$ from Los Angeles County with the rest from private donations.
I remember in 2018 on October 30 seeing the architectural team reviewing stone cladding for the building on the site. This was before it morphed into a black amoeba and then changed to the current concrete glass amoeba.
While impressive, the building is not up to the standards of the two Renzo Piano buildings on the LACMA campus or the Bruce Goff design of The Pavillion of Japanese Art or of the adjacent Renzo Piano work on the Academy Museum of Motion Pictutes.
I find it hard to accept the high cost to the public, the long delay (just like the Wilshire subway expansion) and the design that frankly looks like it needs large trees for camouflage.
Comment posted: 16/12/2025