As it gets closer to Halloween for LAist, a contributer recollects her tale of staring down the serial killer, Richard Ramirez, otherwise known as the Night Stalker. Must think happy thoughts — okay, free organic chocolate chip cookies for Los Angeles — now that’s a happy thought. Other happy Los Angeles thoughts include an interview with Jack Kehler of The Big Lebowski (he was the Dude’s landlord), a beautiful and magical photographic moment in Venice…

Let’s get this out of the way: Whether you like it or not, Annie Leibovitz is an American Icon. Her intimate portrait photographs of the famous are so pervasive that even if you don’t know the name, you’re guaranteed to have seen her work, and lots of it. She began her career with Rolling Stone magazine when it was in its infancy, photographing the musically talented, and quickly became known for her deconstruction of human…

There are, of course, many criteria by which one can judge a photograph: form, composition, color, subject matter, context, or the viewer’s emotional response. In viewing Harry Benson: Being There, currently on display at Donald W. Reynolds Center for American Art and Portraiture at the National Portrait Gallery, it is not Benson’s technical ability as a photographer that impresses, but his uncanny ability to be present when historic moments occur and then place himself…