Larry Sultan, photographer was 63

Larry Sultan, who died Sunday of cancer at his home up in Greenbrae, grew up in the San Fernando Valley and in 2004 came out with a large-format book called "The Valley" that explored the conversion of suburban homes into porn sets. The photos also formed a show at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Today's New York Times obituary calls Sultan "a highly influential California photographer whose 1977 collaboration, 'Evidence' — a book made up solely of pictures culled from vast industrial and government archives — became a watershed in the history of art photography." His editorial work included photos from Los Angeles for W, including the photo above from a story the mag called the Persian conquest of Beverly Hills.