Dotan Saguy was born in a small kibbutz five miles south of Israel’s Lebanese border. He grew-up in a diverse working class Parisian suburb, lived in Lower Manhattan during 9/11 and moved to Los Angeles in 2003. In 2015 Dotan decided to focus on his lifelong passion for photography after a successful career as a high-tech entrepreneur.
Since then Dotan studied photojournalism at Santa Monica College and attended the legendary Eddie Adams and Missouri Photo Workshops. Dotan’s work has been published by National Geographic, Smithsonian.com, PDN, Leica Fotografie International, ABC News and has been exhibited in several galleries across Los Angeles. He has been awarded 1st place photo story from the nationwide Journalism Association of Community Colleges in 2016 and an honorable mention in the National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Award 2016. Dotan is currently working on several ground-breaking long term projects including an in-depth photo documentary about the culture of Venice Beach. He’s also working with several LA-based non-profits to document the journey of people coming out of homelessness. Dotan lives in West Los Angeles with his wife and two children.
Touch of Venice
In a western culture where societal norms have rendered in-person contact and spontaneous generosity scarce, Venice Beach is one of the last places where free spirited moments still occur frequently and between complete strangers. Dotan’s work aims to capture the magical moments happening on Venice Beach and the people who take part in them, from the buff Muscle Beach body builders to the frail intoxicated transients living the bohemian lifestyle.
Venice Beach has long been word-famous for spawning the worldwide fitness movement and modern skateboarding among other historic milestones. Today this cultural icon is under attack by accelerating gentrification and an aggressive corporate invasion by high-tech giants like Google and Snapchat who are effectively turning the boardwalk into their corporate campus. Dotan feels the urgency to document this endangered culture while it is still very much alive. He hopes that his work will create awareness to help save one of the last bastions of tolerance where weirdness is glorified and people aren’t judged by their wealth, lifestyle or the color of their skin.
To view more of Dotan’s work please visit his website.