Paper & Ink
I'm in San Francisco this week to show my new book, which took a long time to design, edit, print, put together, and fine tune. But it's done, and I love it.
I have 10 copies of my old book, which I made about five years ago. The pages are interchangeable, so while the covers remained the same, the contents changed every year. Initially, these books were fedexed around the country for agency presentations, or left behind with art buyers / photo editors. There were 6 in San Francisco, 3 in New York, and one for me.
Things have changed, though. Many decisions are now made based on imagery seen online. Fedexing books around is really rare. And the tactile experience of holding a nicely printed book is becoming less common as things are converted into zeroes and ones.
My new book is designed to be the opposite of viewing images on a monitor. It's covered in a beautiful, fine linen bookcloth. The paper is really thick, with a very slight texture to it. At around 30" wide while open, it's just small enough to fit in your lap, but big enough to reveal details and tones that you can't see online. And it's heavy. You feel the weight of the book, and of each page.
So far the response has been great. I even shared it with a guy from the Red Cross that was soliciting donations in Hayes Valley. He'd never seen a photography portfolio before, I hope it made his day a little bit better.
I also hope that my meetings this week are an opportunity for people to remember what it's like to experience images in a tactile way, and to talk face-to-face. It's easy and convenient to deal in pixels -- but having this new book is a reminder that some things will never be replaced by zeroes and ones.
