Day of Diversity March in Venice Beach

Hundreds of LA area people march in a day of diversity march. The march started in Venice Beach and made they way down the boardwalk, and then to Google headquarters in Santa Monica. After a short rally, they did a long 30 block march to HBO offices in Santa Monica to demonstrate against a new show about the confederacy.

Photo by Ted Soqui © 2017

Hey hey, ho ho....

Venice Beach Freakshow RIP

The famous Venice Beach Freakshow located right on the Venice boardwalk is now closed. They have been quickly forced out by their landlords. Local rents for businesses have sky rocketed due to high demand from wealthy tech companies that have moved on over the last few years. Snapchat LLC has been on a land gobble all over Venice forcing out many locals out along with the Venice way of life. Many Venice locals have seen funky Venice turn in to Beverly Hills by the Sea. The Freakshow is the latest victim of a sea change in the area. The new tenant for the former Freakshow building has not been announced, many have speculated it would house more Snapchat offices. Snapchat LLC recently denied that they had a lease with the building's owner.

Photos by Ted Soqui for The Argonaut © 2017

Bearded lady.

Morgue with a steel hook in his face.

The smallest man.

Live turtle with two-heads.

The cast and owners of the Venice Freakshow.

Wolf Boy.

Beverly Hills by the Sea

The residents of Venice and Oakwood back in 1993 during the first wave of gentrification. 
Now the area is called "Beverly Hills by the Sea" and is quickly becoming the most expensive place to live in the LA County. Read about it in this week's LA Weekly.

Photos by Ted Soqui © 1993

The residents of Venice and Oakwood '93.

The Venetians '93

These images were photographed 23 years ago in the community of Oakwood/Venice, CA. It was one year after the L.A. riots and the area was undergoing a sea-change. The L.A.Weekly sent writer Jill Sharer and me to do a report on the area. The area was under siege by gangs, drugs, police, and rich gentrifiers. In the middle of it all was an amazing vibrant community. Here a small selection of images from then.
Wondering who stayed and where are they now.

Photos by Ted Soqui © 1993

V13's.

An Oakwood Allstar Little Leaguer.

Young boy holding a dying sparrow.

Basketball on a Oakwood street.

Young boy sweeping the sidewalk in Oakwood.

A Touch of Venice

The Venice lights over Pacific and Windward Ave at night.
Drawing inspiration from the film "A Touch of Evil," a noir thriller movie starring Orson Wells, Charleston Heston, and Janet Leigh.
Much of the film was shot at night in the Venice area.

Photo by Ted Soqui © 2015

Venice noir.

Venice Beach Photo Workshop Sat. Feb. 28

Venice Beach at sunset.

On Saturday February 28, 2015, we are offering a daylong photo workshop in Venice Beach. This workshop will be lead by Jonathan Alcorn and Ted Soqui, with special guest speaker Nick Ut. Between the three of us, we have about a 100 years of photo experience. With our workshop, we will motivate and inspire you to improve your photographic vision.
Most of the class time will be spent in the field taking photos and learning.
This class is good for travelers or folks who want to learn to shoot in a photojournalistic style.


All abilities are welcome, we enjoy working with all levels of photographers. This is a hands-on in the field workshop where you we will show you how to use your camera as a powerful photographic story telling tool. We will begin the day with a slideshow and instruction on what we will do throughout the day.

Class size will be limited to 12 people maximum. We will start at 10:30am and will shoot until dusk, that’s when we get the best photos of the day.

The techniques and approaches we will teach you are the exact same ones we use. You will explore some of Venice Beach’s most interesting people and locations with us.


We will cover lots of ground and see some amazing places including the Venice Beach Boardwalk, Venice Skate Park, canals, and the sandy beach by the breakwater. Hopefully by the end of the class, you will be more comfortable in meeting and photographing some of Venice’s most interesting sites and people. We will push you to a new and better level of story telling with your camera.

UPDATE.

SAMSUNG Cameras USA will be bringing some of the newest and latest NX mirrorless cameras and lenses for our participants to use for the day. This is a great opportunity to try some of the latest and best mirrorless camera technology on our workshop. The SAMSUNG NX camera system is at the leading edge of mirrorless camera technology.

What to bring:
A camera with fully charged batteries.
Lots of battery power this is a daylong class.
I prefer using a DSLR type of camera. Digital cameras are good to help us evaluate your progress.


We will be chasing the decisive moment and DSLR style cameras are best for that. Overall, bring your most comfortable camera. Lenses I suggest bringing, a wide-angle 16mm up to 28mm, and a med-telephoto lens. If you have a zoom lens, make sure it covers a wide a semi-telephoto focal length (24-105mm range). I like shooting with a longer zoom like a 70-200mm, but any medium zoom will be awesome for this class.

We will also be exploring the use of iPhones and other camera phones as options to capture amazing images.
Leave your flash and tripod at home.
Lots of memory cards for your cameras. We don not delete images during the class.
Hat and sun block.
Money for snacks.
Wear very comfortable shoes with rubber sole shoes. Sandals and flip-flops for the end of day, when we walk on the beach.
A small notepad with a pen. Always great to take notes and exchange email address with.

What we will provide:
A guided view of Venice and the environs with two world-class photojournalist as instructors and special guest speaker Pulitzer Prize winning
Photojournalist Nick Ut.
Snacks and coffee, tea, or water at the beginning of class.
A delicious lunch meal.
Entrance fees to any attractions we enter.
We can help with some phone and camera charging, but would prefer if you took care of that before the workshop.

Weather

Winter/Spring weather is always unpredictable. We always make the most of what weather we get. That’s part of the class. We are hoping for sunny winter weather in Venice.
Be prepared with a selection of appropriate clothing for the day. A small jacket along with a hat would be very helpful. You probably won’t need gloves or scarves.
Sun block is always a good idea.
Wear full-length pants or equivalent.
Venice Beach in December usually is a great time of year, it should be warm and mild through out the day. The early evenings tend to chill down quickly.
How to register:
Send me an email at info@jtaphotoagency.com


Our webpage is now up at www.jtaphotoagency.com

The fee is $300.00 Special early sign-up fee is 275.00 before February 14, 2015
Include your name and address.
Will be able to sign you up over the phone and answer any questions you may have. If you are flying in from out of town, we can pick you up from the airport.
Keep following us on Facebook, Twitter, and now on Instagram @JT A_PHOTO_AGENCY

Biographies: Instructor Ted Soqui

Ted Soqui is a Los Angeles based photojournalist with over 35 years of experience. Most of Ted’s work is editorial based and his clients range from Bloomberg Philanthropies, LA Weekly, Time Magazine, and television shows like “The Closer” and “Major Crimes.” Ted’s work is also in the permanent collection of the Autry Museum of the West.
His work can also be found at the Robert Berman Gallery in Santa Monica.
Ted’s photo interest range from US politics, political movements, and wild fires. Ted also has a book coming out in June, “Snap Cackle Pop.” It’s available for pre-order on Amazon.com.

Instructor Jonathan Alcorn

Jonathan Alcorn is an editorial photographer with images routinely published worldwide while working on assignment for Reuters, Getty Images, Bloomberg News, and The New York Times among others. A highlight for Jonathan was mentoring Alzheimer's patients in a photography project that documented their daily lives, and then curated the images leading to a successful photo exhibition of their work benefiting the Alzheimer's Association.
In addition to his interest in portraiture and breaking news photography, Jonathan is currently working on a long-term photo project documenting his home base of Venice Beach. He is also a member of Samsung Camera USA's Imagelogger program

Special guest Nick Ut.

Nick Ut is a photographer with the AP.
He is best known for photographing a young girl, Kim Phuc, running down a street in Vietnam after a napalm drop on her and her village. The photo was credited with ending the war in Vietnam and it won him the Pulitzer Prize in photography.
Nick still works as a photographer in the Los Angeles bureau of the AP and continues to take great and amazing photos.

Join us, you will have a great day taking photos, learning new things, and making new friends.

TS JTa © 2014 

Elco Welding and Engineering

Bob Libow of Elco welding and Engineering. Read about Bob and his brother Mark in the latest issue of the Argonaut Newspaper.

Photo by Ted Soqui © 1915/2015

Bob Libow of Elco.

Winter Sunset @ Venice Beach

The winter sun setting on the Pacific Ocean at Venice Beach.

Heading back to harbor.

Last ride.

Hoop dancer.

The Main Level.

Venice Beach OG.

These images were taken at my Venice Beach Photo Workshop. Planning the next one for February 2015.

Photos by Ted Soqui © 2014

Abbot Kinney Blvd

On Abbot Kinney Blvd. waiting for the green light today.

Photo by Ted Soqui © 2014

Abbot Kinney Bl.

Venice Beach Freakshow

Visited the Venice Beach Freakshow on assignment for this weeks Argonaut newspaper.

Met some very interesting and wonderful people, and saw some amazing displays of oddity.

Highly recommend visiting the show. You can also watch their show on Netflix.

They are located on the Venice Boardwalk.

Photos by Ted Soqui © 2104

Jessa the Bearded Lady.

Larry the Wolf boy.

Sunshine eating fire.

Morgue with a hook in his face.

Two-headed goat.

Venice Beach Freakshow cast.

LAPD Cowboys

The mounted officers of LAPD's Pacific Division on patrol at the walk-streets of Venice.

Photo by Ted Soqui © 2014

Waiting for the sunset.

Venice Beach Sunset

Another great sunset at the jetty on Venice Beach.

Photo by Ted Soqui © 2014

Venice Beach mermaid.

Venice Beach Sunset

Sunset and twilight at Venice Beach.

Photos by Ted Soqui © 2014

A sandpiper having dinner.

Life guard tower #19.

LAPD Air Support.

A dog chasing waves on the beach.

Street Music

The hands and Guild guitar of musician Peter Demian on the Venice Beach boardwalk. You can see Peter play daily in front of the Sidewalk cafe on the boardwalk.

Photo by Ted Soqui © 2014

Hands of time.

Venice Beach Character

Photographed this guy at the Venice Beach drum circle last Sunday. He was definitely marching to the beat of his own drummer.

Photo by Ted Soqui © 2014

Sunset orange.

Memorial for Alice Gruppioni

Venice locals leave flowers for Alice Gruppioni who was killed in a car crash earlier this week by a deranged driver. Alice's father-in-law and aunt flew in from Italy and visited the make-shift memorial on the Venice boardwalk.

Photo by Ted Soqui © 2013

Venice Beach Sunset

A dude rocking out to a local busker on the Venice Beach boardwalk at sunset.

Photo by Ted Soqui © 2013

Oakwood Venice Back in the Day

Photographed these two V13 OG's in the Oakwood section of Venice, CA back in 1993. It was for a possible cover image for the LA Weekly's expose' on the turmoil of change going in Venice. 

The story was written by Jill Sharer and the image made it on the cover.

Photo by Ted Soqui © 1993