LA Times Article on Robin Layton WORKS photography/art exhibit in Los Angeles

Robin Layton's first solo show in L.A.

Photographer Robin Layton, left, with "Desperate Housewives" star Felicity Huffman at the opening of Layton's first solo show in L.A. Credit: Jayson Mellom

At an art show in West Hollywood on Thursday evening, "Desperate Housewives" star Felicity Huffman embraced the star of the hour, Robin Layton; looked around the gallery; and went shopping.

Layton, a Los Angeles photojournalist once declared one of the world's eight most talented photographers by Life magazine, combines gauzy art photography with rustic found objects she picks up at farms and flea markets around the country. And this is her first solo show here since moving to town seven years ago.

"I decided to follow my dream of marrying found objects with my fine art photography because I've been a hired gun for years," Layton said. "I thought, when is it going to be my turn?"

Along the way, Layton has photographed and befriended Hollywood celebs, who have gone on to collect her work, including such A-list arbiters of taste as Oprah Winfrey and Sarah Jessica Parker. Cruising the gallery at 8816 Melrose Ave. were Frances Fisher, Kathy Najimy, "True Blood's" Patricia Bethune and Thom Bierdz of "The Young and the Restless."

Having met through a mutual friend, Emmy winner and Oscar nominee Huffman commissioned Layton to photograph her preparing for the Academy Awards a couple of years ago, "from getting ready to getting into the car," said Huffman, who compiled the pictures into a journal. "It's one of my most treasured books."

"I've been watching her and she came and photographed my children and my husband, [William H. Macy]," she continued. "She's a find. It's how she shoots -- it's the truth of the moment and yet it speaks volumes, and I think that's what real artists do.

"Their medium is the moment and they're catching the moment and how it extrapolates through to the human soul."

-- Irene Lacher

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Getting up close and personal with a Hollywood legend.

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