Book it!

I’ve always enjoyed books —- the covers, the heft of them, the flutter of pages, the creak of the spine, the excitement of discovery as you travel from beginning to end, retracing your steps if you need to, the satisfaction of closing the cover when you arrive. I was lucky enough to teach about books for years, to have run across some mentors and many willing students who shared the excitement, not just of reading, but of creating books. Now that I’ve gone all-in with photography —- and having read many photo books —- I’m ready to begin one of my own. Here’s what I’m thinking and where I’m going.

I’m starting small and pretty simple: 22 4 x 6 pages, each with a 3.5 in square image, tied together using 4-hole Japanese binding. I’ve decided to use half color and half B&W, to create a simple narrative: each image leads to and follows another, and images face each other in conversation. I’ve chosen the photos, most of them made over the past 7 years, and edited them. I plan to print all of the B&W first, and then lay them out, move them around, order and re-order them, and find a color match for each.

Here’s a first-look example. The English teacher and mansplainer in me wants to tell you all about them, but I’m going to allow them to speak for themselves and, I hope, to one another.