Grant Mudford

More than 300 galleries and dealers have convened at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium for Photo L.A., the 22nd annual photography-based art fair that is running through Monday. Photo L.A. is more than exhibits. The schedule includes lectures on collecting, technology, "iPhoneography" and fashion photography as well as seminars devoted to architectural photography. On Sunday, Gordon Baldwin, former curator of the photography department at the J. Paul Getty Museum , moderates a panel titled "The Architectural Photograph.

More than 300 galleries and dealers have convened at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium for Photo L.A., the 22nd annual photography-based art fair that is running through Monday. Photo L.A. is more than exhibits. The schedule includes lectures on collecting, technology, "iPhoneography" and fashion photography as well as seminars devoted to architectural photography. On Sunday, Gordon Baldwin, former curator of the photography department at the J. Paul Getty Museum , moderates a panel titled "The Architectural Photograph.

"The best buildings are always disappointing to me in photographs," says Grant Mudford, one of the most sought-after architectural photographers working in this country. "I see buildings that are accepted as being great works of architecture, and I've always experienced them through photographs before I've actually experienced them firsthand. I'm always pleasantly surprised when I see the real thing.

In the postwar years, there was a shift away from the picaresque and the anecdotal in Southern California photography to a more conceptual and experiential mode, one that took into account artistic processes and that was anchored firmly to the image maker's conveyance of choice in navigating the midcentury landscape: the car. The exhibition "Street Sight" tracks this shift with works from the late 1960s to the early 1980s, including those by...

In the postwar years, there was a shift away from the picaresque and the anecdotal in Southern California photography to a more conceptual and experiential mode, one that took into account artistic processes and that was anchored firmly to the image maker's conveyance of choice in navigating the midcentury landscape: the car. The exhibition "Street Sight" tracks this shift with works from the late 1960s to the early 1980s, including those by...

It's not what it looks like--a ship under construction. But it could have been. Since 1992, Frank Gehry has used a computer program called CATIA, which was designed for shipbuilding and aerospace applications, to achieve his signature curving walls. (Richard Serra has used the same program for his "torqued" sculptures.

Architectural timeline -- A graphic in Thursday's Home section showing a timeline on the architectural history of Los Angeles included two incorrect photo credits. A photo of the Blacker House in Pasadena, credited to the Monacelli Press, should have been credited to Stefano Paltera for The Times. A photo of R.M. Schindler's Kings Road house in West Hollywood, credited to Paltera, should have been credited to Grant Mudford and Harry N. Abrams Inc.

The work of died-in-the-wool formalists has proven the old adage that if you plumb structure carefully enough, some deeper reality is revealed. Australian-born photographer Grant Mudford says that his work is designed to take one subject and thoroughly examine its formal features in a controlled setting.

Anatomy Lesson: At Rosamund Felsen Gallery, the decidedly cool temperatures of Grant Mudford's black-and-white photographs documenting the construction of a hospital emergency wing could not be further away from the fevered pitch we usually associate with lifesaving medical procedures. Mudford documents inchoate sites that are in flux or that haven't yet taken on a recognizable identity.

LOUIS I. KAHN: In The Realm Of Architecture by David B. Brownlee and David G. De Long, introduction by Vincent Scully (MOCA/Rizzoli: $65; $40 paper; 448 pp.) Published to accompany a major exhibition organized by MOCA, this book is intended to be the definitive scholarly source on Louis Kahn, a visionary architect who thus far has been given short shrift in the history books.

It's not what it looks like--a ship under construction. But it could have been. Since 1992, Frank Gehry has used a computer program called CATIA, which was designed for shipbuilding and aerospace applications, to achieve his signature curving walls. (Richard Serra has used the same program for his "torqued" sculptures.

"The best buildings are always disappointing to me in photographs," says Grant Mudford, one of the most sought-after architectural photographers working in this country. "I see buildings that are accepted as being great works of architecture, and I've always experienced them through photographs before I've actually experienced them firsthand. I'm always pleasantly surprised when I see the real thing.

ART Art-A-Fair 2011 Two- and three-dimensional art created by Laguna Beach and national artists abounds at Art-A-Fair 2011. View works in every medium, including oil paintings, watercolors, acrylics, drawings, photography, digital art, mixed media, sculpture, jewelry, ceramics, glass and wood, and watch the artists as they create. 777 Laguna Canyon Road, Laguna Beach. 10 a.m.-10 p.m. Sat. 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Sun.-Thu. through Aug. 28. $7. (949) 494-4514. http://www.art-a-fair.com.