Slowing Down

I wrote a week ago or so about being in the Fast Lane. Between guests, festivals, a trip and a major shooting frenzy it has been busy for the last 30 days. Thank goodness, I've found an exit.....at least for a few days. Not that I'm being lazy because I'm working at the computer processing images, doing a bit of printing and evaluating what I've been shooting. But it is good not to be on the move all the time.

I really needed some time to print up some of the recent Holga images. I know that many people are pleased just to see their images on the monitor but for me I need for some of my images to be more tangible....a print that I can hold in my hand. For some reason I don't see all the relationships of objects in the image or one image to another until I see it in the print. I guess that tells where I come from.....a darkroom, not a Lightroom.

I don't think I'm the only one who likes to see the image in print. More and more photography books are being self-published. Today in the 5B4 blog, there was a great entry about self-published photography books in general and four recent books in particular. Among a lot of other things I agree with, the editor said:

First off, a book is so intimate. You cradle it in your hands and turn the pages, experiencing the work at your personal pace. You can touch the art so to speak. Because of this tangible aspect, you have a different relationship to the photos. In a gallery, no matter how comfortable you may be in those environments, there is a subtle but very real influence to move through an exhibit faster than you may naturally want to.

I equate the monitor to the gallery. There are always distractions and your finger always seems to be on the "clicker" ready to gobble up another image instead of just savoring the one in front of you.

The Holga image in this entry isn't related except that I shot it about 10 days ago, scanned it on Monday and I printed it today. Maybe it is kind of related because it was a part of the frenzy of the last month. I am always grateful when the Photo God has the one kid in a red vest be the one who looks right at the camera.

One of these days, I just have to pull a project together in a book. One of these days.......