Typically when a “celebrity photographer” snaps people and events in his own life, it's still pretty glamorous scenery. But with Gregory Bojorquez, it's a bit of a different story. Bojorquez grew up in East Los Angeles, where he first picked up the camera he has basically never put down since. It's the real-world light and darkness he brings with him to his career as a professional photographer (working for this paper, among many others) that make his work special. “Gregory Bojorquez: .45 Point Blank” is a survey of the artist's personal work made from 1992 to 2011. Its title is taken from a series made on the corner of Sunset and Vine late last year of a real-life shootout that killed the perp and an innocent onlooker — a scene Bojorquez literally stumbled across on one of his frequent camera-toting walkabouts. Although some of those pictures were widely published in news accounts, the full series has never been exhibited until now. Seen together and shown in the context of several other of his high-octane, startlingly candid documentary series, Bojorquez's gift for the natural melodrama of ordinary life and the evocation of meaning from the smallest detail is in full effect. In some ways, it's perfect to present this work at a gallery (Hard Hitta) that is itself a peripatetic international pop-up program run by Taschen publishing scion Bene, with its temporary home inside the Variety building. Bojorquez has, after all, made a name blending the sensibilities of far-flung versions of L.A. life together into something unique, genre-defying and, pardon the pun, hard-hitting. Hard Hitta Gallery, Variety building, East Annex, 5900 Wilshire Blvd.; Sat., June 9, 6-9 p.m.; exhibit runs Tues.-Sat., 11 a.m.-6 p.m., thru July 12; free. hardhittagallery.com.

Sat., June 9, 6-9 p.m.; Tuesdays-Saturdays, 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Starts: June 9. Continues through July 12, 2012

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