The city of Los Angeles is a kaleidoscope of history, art, culture, races, and experiences. Visiting it is like moving through a grand exhibit of eclectic artifacts. The said city of angels celebrates marvelous music festivals, has a unique art scene, and homes some of the best beaches and food places you can find in the United States. Home to drama, music, ballet, films, television, and all other kinds of art, it is never in dearth of artists. It delights in the fact that life is grand here, no matter its flaws. Structurally sprawled over a vast area, the place is rather an integration of many cities into one. I’ll put it this way: due to L.A.’s prevalent ethnic amalgamation, the easiest way to tell a tourist from a local is by asking them where one city ends and the other begins. And while the cities may differ individually, in the bigger picture, they all make L.A. what it is. And let me tell you something, just like any cosmopolitan, it is equal parts crazy, crowded, grand, and entertaining.

These travel portraits were taken by Arjun soon after landing in L.A. in January 2013 and way before knowing the city up close. While he later discovered much about the place, these pictures stayed with him. When presenting Los Angeles, a city close to his heart, he chose to focus on simpler, everyday things and depicted the same through his striking portraits. The pictures move you to a different place, a place which you’d otherwise never relate to the grandeur of Los Angeles. The photographer is gifted with the art of portraying emotions and these images do justice to the fact. In the years that he stayed in LA, Arjun developed a prominent connection with the city. He hopes to go back and explore it a bit more through its people and culture, in efforts of sating the nostalgia and the longing the city has stirred in him over the years.