The Studio of Master Painter and Sculptor Victor Hugo Zayas

Welding the pieces.

Pianist Headshot.

This was fun to shoot. In addition to the regular lighting for the face, I placed several very small Manfrotto lumie lights inside the Steinway in order to illuminate the gold leaf in the piano.

Paper Cranes, Soul Consoling Tower, Manzanar

Paper cranes left at the site of the Soul Consoling Tower, just outside the barbed wire fence at Manzanar Japanese Internment Camp.

L.A. sculptor Victor Hugo made beautiful sculptures from guns collected in an LAPD buy back program .

The sculpture begins to take shape.

Steinway's are gorgeous handmade instruments that take a year to create. Each Steinway has it's own character and distinctive sound. They are only made in two places in the world, New York and Hamburg, Germany.

Tamron 90 mm, at 90 mm, f/5, ISO 6400, Canon 7D Mark II

An L.A.P.D. SWAT member guards the gun scrap while it is repeatedly checked to be sure there are no functioning guns or salvageable pieces.

Sketch books and studies of L.A. painter and sculptor Victor Hugo Zayas

Gun remains used to make sculptures, Artist Victor Hugo Zayas.

LAPD Chief Charlie Beck and L.A. Sculptor Victor Hugo Zayas discuss the project "Turning Violence Into Art." Zayas created sculptures like the one at right that were made from pieces of ground up guns collected in an LAPD buy back program. The sculptures were displayed at the Laguna Art Museum and garnered world wide media attention. I photographed the entire process from gun collection by the LAPD Swat Unit, to guns being ground, delivered to Zayas and the sculpture creation. 15 of my images were displayed in the Laguna Art Museum catalog and several images were displayed in the museum.