Sothern Exposure
Hooray for Hollywood Boulevard
I've spent a good portion of the last four decades photographing strangers in Hollywood.
The Hot Model and the School-Bus Stripper
In 1979 I moved back to the Ozarks, after a 12-year absence, and crashed at an abandoned old hotel owned by my dad. Luckily he had a photography studio downstairs.
Pictures from a 1986 San Diego Tattoo Expo
Tattoos in the 80s were still somewhat unique to alternative lifestyles.
Workplace Hijinks in 1980s Times Square
Working the graveyard shift at a photo studio in Times Square leads to some bizarre happenings.
High School Hijinks
It's 1965 and photographer Scot Sothern is driving to St. Louis with his high school to see a basketball game. He downs a pint of rum and ends up naked in a hotel lobby at four in the morning.
Shooting Up a Confederate Barn on New Year's 1970
Photographer Scot Sothern looks back at some of the weirdest New Year's nights he's had.
Working at the Carwash Blues
It's 1970, and I work a couple of days a week at a Newport Beach carwash for $1.50 an hour, which keeps me in Banquet TV dinners, Hostess cherry pies, and Kool Kings.
My Summer at Fantastic Caverns, Missouri's Drive-Through Cave
It's 1966, and I develop photos of tourists in a leaky darkroom and sell them for a buck each and hope they don't fade before the people drive away.
Special Ed and the Turkey Factory
It's 1962, and mother wants me to learn humility. So she takes me away from afternoon cartoons to deliver care packages from the church to families experiencing hardship.
My First Time in the Drunk Tank
I remember a bottle of Bacardi rum, going to a party, stripping naked, following my stiff wiener, and chasing girls around.
Look At Me: The Seeds of a New Project
I figure everyone with a camera takes pictures of homeless people, but homeless people don’t get to shoot the alternate view, so I’m doing it for them.
Trials and Tribulations of a Portrait Photographer
In 1978 I was working at a portrait studio in a mall in Orange County and living with my soon-to-be ex-wife. She had given me the green light to sleep around, but I was still miserable.