FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 2026
L.A. Stories: A new exhibition of street and documentary photography
curated by Julia Dean and Daniel Sackheim at REN Gallery
Los Angeles, CA – Julia Dean, in association with The L.A. Project and co-curator Daniel Sackheim, presents L.A. Stories, a new exhibition of street and documentary photography on view May 2nd and 3rd at REN Gallery. Bringing together the work of 30 photographers, the exhibition offers a multifaceted portrait of Los Angeles through the lens of those who document its streets, communities and everyday moments.
A cornerstone of the Los Angeles street and documentary photography scene, Julia Dean is a photographer, educator and founder of the Los Angeles Center of Photography. As she prepares to step away from the city, L.A. Stories serves as both a reflection on her long-standing engagement with Los Angeles and a celebration of the community she has helped cultivate. Each participating photographer was either mentored, taught, or closely connected to Dean, an extension of her enduring impact on the city’s photographic landscape.
Co-curator Daniel Sackheim brings a parallel sensibility shaped by his work as a photographer and an Emmy Award-winning television and film director and producer. He will be showing a body of images from The City Unseen, his forthcoming book with Hat & Beard Press to be published this May. Rooted in cinematic language and encounters with the unknown, Sackheim’s practice complements Dean’s documentary approach, together framing L.A. Stories as both an intimate and expansive view of the city.
Sackheim and Dean previously worked together on The L.A. Project’s Projecting L.A., a series of one-of-a-kind public photography events in 2022 and 2024 that featured the work of numerous renowned photographers to celebrate powerful street, documentary and news stories about the city of Los Angeles and its communities.
The exhibition features work by Wednesday Aja, Major Caldwell IV, Melanie Chapman, Oscar Contreras, Danny DeGennaro, Ambrus Deak, Julia Dean, Jeri Dudley, Marta Evry, Scarlett Freund, Alon Goldsmith, Ada Gorn, David Ingraham, Gail Just, Ken Karagozian, Joshua Karlbelnig, David Kim, Joëlle Lavoie, T. Chick McClure, Mark Muller, Carol Noëlle Nin, Kei Rowan-Young, Daniel Sackheim, Lalo Sanchez, TJ Settle, Alexander Seyum, Rick Smith, Joshua Stern, Ann Toler, John Travis, and Richard Vogel.
L.A. Stories Details
Saturday, May 2nd
6:30 – 9:30 pm
Exhibition & Opening Reception
Sunday, May 3rd
12:00 – 4:00 pm
Causal Gathering at the Gallery
743 Santee St Unit B, Los Angeles, CA 90014
About Julia Dean
Julia Dean is a photographer, educator, writer, and founder and former executive director of the Los Angeles Center of Photography for 22 years. She is currently the director of The L.A. Project, a group of street, documentary, and news photographers whose mission is to tell the real story of the streets of L.A.
Collaborative projects with talented photographers are Julia’s passion. In the 1990s, she raised money to send six photographers around the world to document stories about child labor. This work resulted in two trips to the Capitol and a lot of press. Her current collaboration is through The L.A. Project.
Julia began her career as an apprentice to pioneering photographer Berenice Abbott. Later, Julia was a photo editor for the Associated Press in New York.She has traveled to more than 45 countries while freelancing for numerous relief agencies, nonprofit groups, and magazines. Her extensive teaching experience includes 42 years at various colleges, universities and educational institutions including the University of Nebraska, Los Angeles Valley College, Los Angeles Southwest College, Santa Monica College, the Santa Fe Workshops, the Maine Photographic Workshops, Oxford University, the Los Angeles Center of Photography, and the Leica Akademie.
For two decades, Julia concentrated on street photography around the world. For the past 15 years, street shooting in downtown Los Angeles has been her primary focus. She created and co-directs (with Daniel Sackheim) a street collective called Street L.A., which consists of a group of serious photographers who shoot on the streets often. Julia’s work has been published in many magazines, blogs, and books. Her most recent interview took place in January 2025 on The Crit House in a program called myFIVE, where Julia discusses five of her photographic influences, all pioneering women.
Julia received a Bachelor of Science degree in photography at the Rochester Institute of Technology and a Master of Arts degree in journalism at the University of Nebraska, and is the author/photographer of the award-winning children’s book, A Year on Monhegan Island, published by Houghton Mifflin Co.
Website: www.juliadean.com
Instagram: @juliadean_la_streetshooter
About Daniel Sackheim
Daniel Sackheim is a photographer, Emmy Award-winning film and television director and producer living and working in Los Angeles. As a director, Sackheim is best known for his work on multiple highly acclaimed television series such as HBO’s True Detective, Game of Thrones, Jack Ryan, and The Americans.
A partial list of Sackheim’s directorial credits includes M. Night Shyamalan’s Servant, Better Call Saul, Jack Ryan, The Leftovers, Man in the High Castle, The Walking Dead and HBO’s Lovecraft Country. In 2020, Sackheim co-founded Bedrock Entertainment (a label of ITV America) where he serves as Co-CEO and Producer. As a Los Angeles-based television production company, Bedrock develops and produces prestige content for streamers and premium cable platforms.
In addition to his prolific career in film and television, Sackheim is an accomplished photographer. His photography explores the enigmatic nature of urban landscapes, capturing the hidden stories and emotions that reside within the shadows of bustling city streets. He has had numerous solo and group exhibitions, including notable showcases at the SE Center for Photography in Greenville, SC, and Soho Photo Gallery in New York, NY. His work has received prestigious awards such as the Eyeshot Magazine International Open Call and Photolucida’s Critical Mass. His book, The City Unseen, is forthcoming from Hat & Beard Press.
Website: www.danielsackheim.com
Instagram: @daniel.sackheim
Twitter: @DanSackheim
About The L.A. Project
Launched in 2021, The L.A. Project is an umbrella for the various opportunities that Director Julia Dean offers to photographers and to the city of Los Angeles. This includes a street photography collective that she co-directs with Daniel Sackheim, called Street L.A., who shoot weekly on the streets of L.A., several street and documentary photography classes for participants of every level, and an extraordinary outdoor projection called Projecting L.A.
The mission of Projecting L.A. during its past two iterations was to collaborate with skilled photographers to tell the stories of the streets, to show the images in an innovative way, and to preserve the work through donations to the Los Angeles Public Library.
Website: www.thelaproject.org
Instagram: @projecting_la