By far the most common use of land in the West is people moving in on it and living there. William Garnett photographed the great surge of population growth in California after World War II, and the boom of the 1970s was of central importance to a number of photographers working in the western areas of rapid growth at that time. Before that, there was the belief, as seen in the photographs of Ansel Adams and Edward Weston, that wilderness was the more appropriate subject for artistic contemplation.
Development has, if anything, accelerated in recent years.
There is a disturbing underside to this artificial prettiness. Under the freeways or on the islands created by them there are encampments of homeless people, their sites photographed by Anthony Hernandez. Please add to our guestbook . Or read others' comments.