Road trippin' through California

Davis Bell has made photography his life's work as well as a vehicle for discovering the world

LOCAL BOY Davis Bell says he cut his photographic teeth in the music industry in Hollywood, shooting everything from garage bands to such headliners as Social Distortion and Sugar Cult.

Bell spent four years working as "official photographer," touring with bands, and in the process being exposed to "the highways and byways of California."

Today, Bell has resettled back in Hawaii and works for FX, a production company that serves the likes of such businesses as the Gap and magazines like GQ, Vogue and Elle. And he still gets out to California regularly to work on projects from his former career.

But what Bell is most interested in these days is "rediscovering America, California in particular, because it's such a diverse area of the country," he says.

"I try to find the things that are less seen, things that are disappearing or forgotten about."

The scenic shots on this page are part of that rediscovery and are on display along with other work at Morning Brew in Kailua, in a series titled "The Life and Times of California."

BEFORE HIS Hollywood days, Bell recalls documenting isle punk shows and vacations to Mexico and the Midwest as a teenager. It was classes with Kapulani Landgraf and Mark Hamasaki at Windward Community College that exposed him to the technical side of the craft, and an education at the prestigious Brooks Institute of Santa Barbara followed.

Bell says he learns about the world through his craft. "For me, photography is all about understanding the subject. It's not purely documentary. A photographer must understand the people and places and all the technical aspects. He can't just get caught up in emotion."