When the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art asked photographer Alec Soth to go photograph Silicon Valley, he faced a quandary: how do you photograph something where most of the action is happening in the cloud.
"We have an idea what Silicon Valley is, but it just sort of exists in our imagination," says Soth. "What is so fascinating about the most recent rush to Silicon Valley is that the harvest is invisible — the gold is in the cloud."
Soth, in his black and white pictures, which are display in Los Altos this month as part of a SFMOMA exhibit, went after the absences, the surfaces, and the landscape surrounding the ephemeral.
Quick Fix Computer Sales & Services, Mountain View
Facebook main campus, Menlo Park
Ten-week-old Gaia. The Googleplex, Mountain View
Valentine’s Day “Falling in Love with Ukrainian Startups” meet-and-greet, Redwood City
Round Table Pizza, Santa Clara
Our Lady of Peace Shrine and McAfee Corporate Headquarters, Santa Clara
Charleston Park, Mountain View
The Hewlett-Packard garage, Palo Alto
Udacity, Palo Alto
This post has been updated with additional photos