S7CAG is pleased to announce the photography art exhibition by Los Angeles-based photographer Zebulon Sola. His debut exhibition, titled “For the Love of a City,” will be on display from Saturday, September 7th, to Sunday, January 5th, 2025, at Jones Coffee Roasters in South Pasadena (1006 Mission St, South Pasadena, CA 91030). Guests are invited to visit the café and view the exhibition daily from 7 AM to 5 PM.
From Family Influence to Photographic Mastery: The Story of Zebulon Sola
Zebulon is a second generation Angeleno. Born in 1990 and having lived in Los Angeles for his entire life, he has a sense of pride for, and attachment to, this love-it-or-hate-it city. In his images, he explores the intricacies of nature and patterns - patterns not just seen in visual repetition, but also observed in the course of life. He attempts to highlight meaning where one may not at first notice there is any, hoping to prove that life can be more than it appears to be.
Growing up he was exposed to various forms of art and creativity by his family and teachers at school. His grandfather was a hobby photographer who had his own darkroom, his father played the piano and his sisters were always in performing arts groups. Being surrounded by art, Zebulon developed a love for playing music, creative writing, drawing and other arts and crafts projects, as well as taking pictures using his school’s digital camera. With some encouragement, he ended up submitting one of his early photos to the LA County Fair which went on to win 1st prize for his age group. Already enjoying the process, and now with this validation, he became hooked on the art of photography.
During any time he wasn’t at school, he’d spend most of his waking moments going around his house and his neighborhood finding patterns, “cool” objects and things that one doesn’t normally see, and taking photos of them to turn them into a more artistic representation. It gave him a lot of satisfaction to spot something interesting - something one would normally pass by - take a photo of it, and have someone else see this and say “wow, I never would have noticed that before!”
Being a lover of science and technology, Zebulon was also taken to the mechanics and inner-workings of cameras, in addition to the pure art of photography. For hours on end, he would pore over camera-related minutia like how shutters and apertures worked, how lenses are able to focus, etc. Most importantly, he discovered how it all contributed to taking a picture. This led to his having a very good understanding of the way in which cameras create photographs, and therefore a technical mastery of photo-making itself, which can be seen across his work. However, knowing that technical mastery is not always of the utmost importance in making art, he tries to never let this get in the way of expressing what he wants to communicate when creating his own.
Capturing Los Angeles: The Birth of Zebulon Sola’s Street Photography
Fast-forwarding closer to the present, after experimenting with several techniques, and ruminating on several subjects, Zebulon found a new love in his art form: street photography. Major influences for him were contemporary photographers Jonas Rask and Roman Fox, as well as the renowned Ernst Haas, with their moody, high-contrast images of their respective cities. He admired how they could just walk around, pointing their weapons of truth around the city at the architecture, at the myriad people of the city, and just extract reality while also presenting it in a supremely artistic way. It inspired him so much that he would often go on long walks around his neighborhood, as well as the city at large, just to try to accomplish even one iota of their genius. Though putting the camera up to his eye in front of so many strangers started out as utter discomfort for him, Zebulon was soon able to confront the reality that captures the essence and heart of his city, and he trusted his instinct that made him feel this was important and his calling.
Combining what he had practiced with his love and pride for LA, Zebulon was able to produce the presented collection “For the Love of a City.” In his dichotomic series, you can see how he draws on his penchant for finding patterns and the less-obvious scenes we might pass by in our day-to-day routines. It was later, as he was going through the photos he had made, that he realized he was, in fact, actually extracting a truth from Los Angeles. He identified this truth as a quality that permeates all of those who truly live in this city: “We have, in a way, pledged a marriage to this city, and dare not let it go. Whatever state we are in, whether caused by or caused for this place we call home, we are unwilling to say goodbye. It gives us pride to call Los Angeles home; to say we live here and continue to live here. Because by living here we are asserting that we can, and that is no small feat. Those who are here, who have held on and continue to inhabit this city, are the true Angels that make up Los Angeles.” Through the juxtaposition of black and white for the city, and color images for those who live here, he also attempts to emphasize the importance that these Angels, as he calls them, have in Los Angeles. Through their diversity they give a bright life to the city, no matter their state or condition, and should be given recognition and help as such.
This collection proved to be an important one for Zebulon as an artist as well, solidifying for him his choice in the practice of photography as an art form. He believes that with cameras and photography, one is wielding - as mentioned earlier - a “weapon of truth.” “It is an extremely powerful medium, in which I can present what actually is, encapsulated as a piece of art. This means, for me, that I feel empowered to capture a message, however comfortable or uncomfortable it may be, and still be able to communicate it.”
Moving forward, Zebulon is excited to release further collections, each one of which he hopes will challenge him and push his own boundaries further.
Zebulon's photography exhibition, titled “For the Love of a City,” will be on display from Saturday, September 7th, to Sunday, January 5th, 2025, at Jones Coffee Roasters in South Pasadena (1006 Mission St, South Pasadena, CA 91030). Guests are invited to visit the café and view the exhibition daily from 7 AM to 5 PM.
All artwork is available for purchase. For questions or inquires, please contact Esteban at Esteban@S7CAG.com. Curatorial consultations are available upon request.