The New York Times ran a story Sunday about our very own Windsor Square resident Eric Garcetti. No, it wasn’t about his mayoral track record to date, or the state of Los Angeles politics, or the fact that he is such a young mayor (well, it is a bit about that) Â – but about his photographic talents.
Taking photos with his Samsung Galaxy phone, Garcetti shares them on his Instagram account (ericgarcetti) that currently has just 4,095 followers but will no doubt grow immensely after this rave Times story. The New York Times wrote that Garcetti converted his Instagram account, first used in the campaign, to his own private feed of photographs:
But about six months after taking office in June, Mr. Garcetti, who at 43 is the youngest mayor of Los Angeles in over 100 years, turned that account into a personal experiment in the use of social media by a new generation of officeholder. He has since posted a torrent of photographs — many of them artistically ambitious, and by any measure politically unconventional — that offer a textured and off-kilter view of Los Angeles.
As Mayor, Garcetti often has a unique perspective on events (standing in the curtain wings), on life on LA’s streets (he’s being driven around and doesn’t have to keep his eyes on the road) and has taken the opportunity like so many of us, to stop for a moment and take a photo. Once in a while he even shares a “selfie.” Good thing he’s got a great eye.
New York Times: A Young Mayor Who Likes to Share His View From the Top
