Go to the Land and I Will Show You: Alana Perino

July 25, 2022 in interview, Book Talks

Go to the Land and I Will Show You : Alana Perino

Andrew D. McClees (ADM): For those who aren’t familiar with you, or your work, could you introduce yourself?

Alana Perino (AP): I'm a photographer but also broadly a lense based artist. My practice and my work is occupied with the reconciliation (or lack thereof) of self, home, and belonging.
ADM: I've never been super clear on what a lens based artist is, I'm familiar with photographers, filmmakers, videographers, etc - but "lense based artist" is a label or classification that I've never quite wrapped my brain around, mostly due to lack of explanation. Could you fill me in on what defines a lens based artist, and possibly relate it back to your own work and practice?

AP: I’m glad you asked this question because I have been grappling with how to define myself as an artist lately. I fall back on the classification of “lens based” as a means to say that I work with cameras. Film cameras, digital cameras, videocameras etc. But the truth is that I’ve also been engaging with collage, casting, and installation for some time now. I don’t feel as proficient in these other fields, but one day I’m hoping to consider myself as an artist who is not media specific. Till that time comes, I use lens based to define the kinds of tools I engage with, tools with lenses.
ADM: We’re talking about your upcoming photobook project “Go to the Land and I Will Show You” - how did you start your project? And where did the title come from?

AP: I began the project on a road trip from New York to California. I had wanted to stop to see Gettysburg on the leg from Philadelphia to DC but no one else in the car was interested. We passed many heritage sites in that same fashion and I suppose I became a bit obsessed with them. After that trip I made 11 road trips over the span of 8 years to specifically see "American" heritage sites. I was interested in the struggle of trying to experience invisible histories and the ways that landscape creates collective memory. More specifically I was interested in photographing the illusions of how history imprints itself or is imprinted upon landscape. The title comes from the Bible. In Genesis, God commands Abraham to leave his home and go to a land that will be shown to him. Obviously there are many translations of this Hebrew text, but I chose this version. It felt particularly relevant to the United States mythologies that justify settler colonialism, indigenous genocide, manifest destiny, and the mechanisms that engage with tourism in the US.

ADM: 11 road trips over eight years is a major endeavor - I'm sure you've seen almost every major site (official and unofficial) at this point - however, did you find yourself gravitating more towards a specific set of sites, and were there any sites that you came away from either with a new understanding of American history, or that you found yourself making especially significant (to yourself, or otherwise) images at?

AP: There are so many historic sites, I’d argue that the functioning of American culture is very much embedded in the designation and curation of these sites. It’s impossible to see them all, but yes I’ve many of the “major” ones. Truly it was an obsession which began on my first road trip in 2013. I was with some friends who were less inclined to stop at these sorts of places. They were more interested in seeing friends and family. Gettysburg was on our trajectory but we didn’t stop there. My father isn’t a Civil War fanatic but he is emotionally invested in 1993 film about the battle. We used to watch it together when I was young. He knows every line. I had always wanted to go there, to situate my body where I had seen the bodies on screen, where the historic bodies descended on the hills or fell in the fields. When I finally went to Gettysburg, it was a culmination of that desire that was quite anti-climactic.
ADM: The project has undergone several really fascinating evolutions over the time we’ve been in class together - what’s influenced the changes in the book?

AP: A lot of the work I made over the years were nods to various photographers who engaged with the US landscape: Ansel Adams, Lee Frielander, Joel Sternfeld, Mitch Epstien. The editing process has mostly been a matter of distilling the work into a very specific vision, one that attempted to avoid the influences of other artists and relied on a personal conception of what these places look like. After a while it became clear to me that I wasn't even trying to tell a narrative as much as create an optical experience that triggered notions of place, memory, and history. The decision to not name the sites in the book felt crucial in this way, because it wasn't important to divulge where the pictures were made. It was only important to make the reader want to know, to question, and to want to see more.
ADM: When making photographs for the book, was there a particular thought process, or a specific intuition you followed?
AP: I suppose I photographed whenever I felt like I couldn't really see. The frustration would drive me to try to visualize in a different way, around a corner, through a viewfinder, from a different perspective. In this way, many of the photographs included in the book are instances of my seeing unsuccessfully, and the images where I achieved a certain amount of visual or narrative satisfaction were left on the cutting room floor. Seeing became a metaphor for knowing, for experiencing, and I wanted to create a world full of the unknowable and the unseen.

ADM: That's really fascinating - it's sort of like digging into the subconscious of American history - the "silent" history if you will? - are there particular aesthetic notes or semiotics you find yourself using or returning to (if you're not actively considering them at the time of shooting) for that take on history, and "seeing the unseen?"

AP:I think a lot about orientation, disorientation, and the ways in which our bodies and senses are engaged when we encounter these sites. I focus on sight as the locus of that kind of experience. There is a colonial emphasis on “discovery” at most of these locations, which suggests the possibility of a direct observation of the past. The suggestion being that if you stand in such a way on a certain mound of dirt, engaging your imagination and the “knowledge” of history that’s been offered, that you can have an experience in time and space that moves you to forget when and where you are presently. I suppose a lot of my photographs are trying to visually engage with this kind of exercise, and what I settled on more than anything is the impossibility of that experience.

ADM: What projects are you taking on next? What's fascinating to you outside your book?

AP: Most recently I’ve been engaging with personal histories and my relationship to family and home. I’m specifically interested in how inherited trauma is stored in objects, space, and ultimately the body. The first chapter of the work which I call “Pictures of Birds” focuses on my father’s side of the family in Longboat Key, Florida. The second chapter, tentatively titled “Adult Children,” is an exploration of my relationship with my mother. For these bodies of work, I am expanding my practice to include installation, sound, sculpture, and collage but the work is still essentially photographic in nature. It’s all very experimental at this point which means I’m not sure what shape it will take in its final form, but I’m finding that unknowability very exciting and generative.

ADM: Over the course of your investigations into the American Landscape via placing yourself in historical sites, what did you learn?- beyond what's pictured in the book, either about yourself or about the photographic process - that you'd be keen to pass on to others.

AP: Rest became something that I had to actively entrench into my practice, not just as a respite for carrying a camera or walking in the hot sun, but as a mode of engaging my body and mind in ways that exercised other muscles. This was not something I practiced in the first few years of this project but by the end it was essential not just to the work but to my well-being as an artist and a person.

ADM: From Eric Kaczmarczyk: What does a day in the life as a photographer, as an artist, as a person, look like for you? What time do you wake up, go to sleep? Outside of photography, what are some of your favorite hobbies?

AP: I work best at night. I've always wanted to be a morning person but I've come to accept that my "morning hours" will always be closer to 1am, 2am, 3am, 4am, than 5, 6, 7 or even 8am, which is when I'm usually asleep. Late mornings and early afternoons are for meetings, paid-work, shoots, grant applications, sometimes rest or play. Evenings and nighttime are for my practice, and hopefully in the midst of all that I remember to eat dinner.

ADM: What question do you have for the next photographer? - you can answer your own question if you'd like.

AP: I'm always curious as to how other photographers know when a project is finished. For me, I can feel it in my body as a resistance to photographing. I become tired more easily, less motivated. It's very much a physical sensation as opposed to a mental or intellectual fatigue. This is how I know it's time to try something new.

Gallery to the above left contains images of the current maquette of “Go to The Land And I will Show You”

ADM: Do you have any parting words/shoutouts/recommendations?

AP: We don't have a solid ETA yet but I will be publishing Go to the Land and I Will Show You with Drew Leventhal under his incipient publishing house, Valley Books. So keep a lookout for updates on this and other titles he'll be publishing in the very near future.

ADM: Awesome! Looking forward to buying my copy when it’s out in the wild!

Parked: Fraser Havenhand

August 15, 2021

Parked: Fraser Havenhand

Andrew D. McClees (ADM): For those who aren't familiar with you, or your work, can you introduce yourself?

Fraser Havenhand (FH): I'm a photographer based in Sheffield, I have been taking photos since I was at school, I chose photography as an A level and subsequently went on to study a degree in photography at Sheffield Hallam University. Since leaving education I became a photography assistant as a way to get a foot in the commercial world, and now work as a freelance photographer up and down the UK. Alongside studying and working I've always been obsessed with documenting my surroundings, from the last day of school (which i still have on a hard drive somewhere) to when I was assisting and lucky enough to travel, it felt like a great way to keep a diary of all the things I'd seen and places I'd visited. Alongside a passion for photography I've always been drawn to classic cars having owned 5 and helped build and restore countless others with my twin brother and our friends. So naturally as time went by I found myself wanting to try and find a way to combine my two biggest passions, cars and photography.

ADM: We're talking about your new book Parked - what's your premise for the book, and where does the title come from?

FH: So Parked actually started about 3 years ago although I didn't know it at the time, whenever I was out and about with my camera taking pictures I'd always be on the lookout for cool cars or interesting scenes with Parked or abandoned cars. As we all know Lockdown came to the uk and changed all of our lives, so without access to photographing cars through work and with extra time to take walks I started to notice cars that I once had overlooked. I saw abandoned cars, once left to the mercy of a front garden to rot amongst the trees and grass. I saw long term projects being uncovered and worked on for the first time in years. I saw the prized cars, washed off and taken for a drive in order to keep them well maintained during the long layoff that lockdown brought. As for the title, my girlfriend came up with it, i'm rubbish at thinking of titles for my work and we were sitting talking about the project in the living room, she just looked up and said call it Parked. So naturally the name stuck and here we are.

ADM: I'm not much of a gear/petrolhead myself, but I've known a few car enthusiasts over the years - to you what's the big draw? and is there a crossover with photography that might exist, but might not be immediately apparent to someone who isn't huge into about cars?

FH: I think for most enthusiasts it starts with the social side, it definitely was for me. When I was 17/18 years old a lot of my friends got into cars and modifying them and because the budgets are always quite low it makes sense to spend the money on an older one. They're also cheaper to maintain (in most cases!) I guess after that I always liked the idea that you can express yourself through driving a classic or modified car, the fact that you can change it and make it individual to you is exciting and makes it something that not everyone has. The last thing is that these cars all have a story, I remember buying a 1992 Volkswagen Jetta and finding a colouring sheet scrunched up under the rear seats with some loose crayons, at some point that car had been used to take the kids to school or for days trip and i think that's really cool that its been used and loved and passed on to the next person for them to enjoy.

ADM: In terms of general working process - what's a typical shoot like - what're you doing/what're you thinking about?

FH: Because there's always tons to think about on a commercial shoot, from early call times, to lots of kit and working alongside a big team of other creatives, I like to keep my personal work very separate. So my personal and documentary work just involves me, a small fuji camera and one lens. The whole project (and 99%) of my other personal work is shot this way. I think because you can get so caught up in the pragmatic choices that surround photography it's good to strip things back and just be mindful with a camera, and that's what I try to do when I go out on my photowalks. In terms of what I'm doing I usually just go out and pick a cool area of Sheffield that I have not explored yet, find a place to park and start walking. That way whatever you find seems much more exciting.

ADM: Is this your first Photobook or Zine? If so what got you to make parked? And if not what's been your book/zine making experience this far, and how have you applied it to the new book?

FH: This is my first proper photobook but my second go at self publishing. During Lockdown I made a small A5 zine called Light of the north with a selection of images I had taken since I started assisting about 7 years ago. This experience really pushed me to want to make a photobook. It felt great to sit down and look back at past photos, to try to find little threads that link the images or juxtapositions between two shots. This time though I wanted to make something that had a more cohesive theme and felt like a proper project. So when I noticed back in early lockdown I had a couple of images of Parked cars I really liked, I started getting my head down and looking harder for them when I was out and about. My first zine was designed by me and this time round I really wanted to make the most of the images I had and get a designer involved in the project who had the expertise that I definitely lacked! Luckily I share space with an amazing designer in the studio I rent in Sheffield - Paul Ward of Evergreen Agency - so naturally we worked together on the book to make it what you see today.

ADM: I find a lot of photography of cars a little boring, it's become kind of a dead meme in analog photography - but what you're doing here is really fascinating and compelling - what is it that you look for in your photographs of cars, and what is it that you're looking at when photographing the cars? - is it largely the same mindset or shot selection that you'd go for in broader photowalks/your personal work?

FH: I think it's more about how the whole scene works together, the car is the focus but it's also equally important how it interacts with its environment. There have been quite a few occasions whilst photographing for Parked that i've seen an amazing cars parked on a drive or on a road, but just because of access or surroundings i've had to leave the shot out, or sometimes just couldn't make it work in the viewfinder so not snapped it all together. I think my mindset stayed the same with Parked as it would have when shooting my broader personal work, and I think that helped to keep a consistent style and overall look to the images even though some are shot 3 years apart. I was always trying to say as much as I could about the car in frame without it becoming cluttered or a mess, is there a broken window that's been taped up, a posh house number behind an abandoned car, a little trinket on dash that helps you imagine what the owner might be like, I always wanted there to be something else in the frame with the car that helped us imagine the life it might've lived up to me discovering it parked up.

ADM: - That's really awesome, to get to work with a designer - I think a lot of photogs and zinemakers would really benefit from that. Do you have any big takeaways from working with your designer (Paul), and do you think this experience will shape how you approach your next book?

FH: The main thing for me is that you're bringing somebody else's expertise and creativity into the mix and that counts for so much. Especially if they mirror your enthusiasm for the project and can help elevate it beyond what you hoped it might be, like I feel Paul did with my book. I think the biggest takeaway is that you've got someone else taking care of a really critical part of the book making process and that helps you as the photographer focus on things like shot selection and ordering instead of being overwhelmed with the whole project (design, ordering, type, copy, layout etc). I think it will shape how I approach my next book definitely, I always want my work to keep a sense of authenticity but knowing it can be moulded into something more cohesive and be elevated with design, type and copy will make me consider shooting projects that, in the past, I might have found too mundane or quirky.

ADM: Were there any photobooks you had in mind while assembling this one, or are there any books that you think about a lot while approaching your personal work in general?

FH: Not specifically in terms of the subject matter, although I'm definitely not the first person to make a book on Parked cars so I'm sure there are a lot out there. I was really inspired by the books that Centre Centre makes in London, I was lucky enough to do the photography in one called Magic Papers a while back. The reason being the whole ethos of the publishers is that the books have really unique subject matter but are beautifully made and a joy to flick through, so that inspired me to make a book about something maybe more niche than usual.

ADM: What have you learned in the process of shooting Parked, is there a big core takeaway you've found?

FH: I think one of the biggest takeaways is being more patient with the process of taking photos. I'm fairly impatient and if I've made an image or a group of images I'm excited about I like to share them and get feedback from my peers or upload them to my commercial portfolio on my website. But with Parked, because initially it wasn't necessarily a project at all, and then when it did turn into an ongoing project I knew I wanted to make a book, I had to keep the images away on my computer and only look at them from time to time. It helped me realise that I could take a step back from my photography and take my time with developing the work and that I didn't have to put pressure on myself to keep churning out shots for Instagram or my portfolio (which sometimes it felt like I was doing).

ADM: From Al Palmer (of Brown Owl Press): What was the biggest single turning point for you as an artist?

FH: I think to be honest it was when I just started consistently going outside with my little camera and my 40mm lens and just deciding "I'm going to photograph whatever catches my eye today whether it's a rubbish bag on the floor or a shop window that looks interesting" and genuinely sticking to it. I used to over analyse a lot of what I was doing and try to figure out how other people whose work I loved were making magic in their images. I'd get caught up wondering why somebody else's work was amazing and mine wasn't. The best bit of advice I've ever been given is from a photographer I assisted for years in Sheffield and he said to me "You just have to start, take some pictures and see what happens" and even though it sounds so simple I think a lot of people really struggle with just making a start. When I started thinking like that things just seemed to click into place a lot more, I seemed to find a groove and start to carve out a style in my work and because I was enjoying what I was doing, my motivation to shoot as much as I could went through the roof.

ADM: What question do you have for the next photographer?

What keeps you motivated on the days when everything feels more difficult than it should?

ADM: Where can we pick up a copy of the book? Any final thoughts/words/shoutouts?

FH: Firstly i'd like to say thank you for the interview. It's been great to think about the project and be asked some really great questions. I would like to shout out my girlfriend Charlie for helping me keep it real when looking at my work. Also I'd like to shout out David for mentoring me and giving me the confidence to be a photographer, Justin for letting me chew his ear off on the phone about making photo books and how it all works, Phil for all his advice and weekly chats, and to Stefan and Ant for keeping me going in the group chat. The book is available through my website for pre-order, The first 50 copies bought come with a free 10x8 print.

https://www.fraserhavenhand.co.uk/parked-photobook

Lost Angels: Andrei Amodia

June 19, 2021 in interview

Lost Angels: Andrei Amodia

Andrew D. McClees (ADM): For those who aren't familiar with you, or your work - could you introduce yourself?

Andrei Amodia (AA): My name is Andrei Amodia, I was born in the Philippines, and my family moved to LA in 1994; Since then, I go back and forth from LA and the Philippines. I was first introduced to photography in 2004, when a coworker of mine at Kip’s Toyland brought his camera with him to work, and my love for photography was ignited [by that interaction].

ADM: We're talking about Lost Angels - which is a book/zine of street photographs set in Los Angeles - is there a particular focus to the book (in your own words), and did you come up with the title or concept, before the photographs?

AA: The focus for this book is very simple - I just want to show my families and friends in the Philippines what America looks like from my point of view. At first I [shot] black and white but I thought color would show more detail and information for my family and friends to see - so I switched to color around 2014. I shot bnw from 2006-2010, though I did not do any photography 2011 - to early 2014. I came up with the title after the photographs - I am sure other people have used "Lost Angels" but I can’t think of any better title. The reason why I titled it Lost Angels is because I imagine people living in the city of angels (Los Angeles) are angels but none of us are doing any angelic stuff; so we are all “lost angels.”

ADM: What is the inspiration for the project, or this particular body of work?

AA: I can't really say I have an inspiration for this project because I was not really doing a project. Over the years as I have collected more photos I started to see something that could be put together into a book; but what really pushed me to make one is that I am in a situation that I don’t want to photograph anymore, unless I make a book/zine. In order for me to move forward and photograph the book/zine has to be done.

ADM: So looking forward, what do you think your next project will be, or will be about, now that you're committing to making books/zines as the core of your practice?

AA: There is a part 2 to My Lost Angels project - maybe 3 even, but I am planning to make a Photobook/zine for my Philippines photographs that I made late 2008- late 2010 before proceeding to the 2nd part of my Lost Angels photobook/zine project. There are other projects I want to put out such as the Black Queen project (portraits of black women) which is almost ready. [Another project in progress is] the torn faces project - these are posters of politicians that they posted during the election but did not take them down after, so the posters have deteriorated and made the faces look deformed - somehow this represents how corrupt they are in our country. These are just some [projects] that I have in my plans.

ADM: Oh fascinating - what makes the (potential) part 2 + 3 different from part one, or what did you get out of part one that you're using/approaching your subsequent projects with?

AA: It is not going to be totally different. It is most likely going to be a continuation of the first one - In part 1 it has 5 chapters and I had people write on a yellow paper what they can say about LA and added that to the book as a beginning to each chapter and, next to it photos of police doing their thing - Maybe I am going to do more of this in part 2 -- having people write. In each chapter I sequenced the photographs in a way so it will tell a short story, at least to me. So I think sequencing photographs to tell a short story in each chapter is what I learned or got from part 1. After reviewing some of the photographs that I didn’t use in part 1, that can stand on their own, I realized that they can be put together and make more short stories and put into a book/zine -- Short stories probably only I can understand. But it gives me guidance on how to arrange the photos.

ADM: What was your image selection process like for Lost Angels? And how did you sequence your book?

AA: I am not a very technical photographer - same goes when I am selecting images. I just select the ones that really stand out at the time of selection until I get to 60 images - then I group the ones that are kind of similar and sequence them in a way to make a really short story. This way, the sequencing of the images looks organized.

ADM: When you're out shooting (for this book, or otherwise) is there anything you think about, or focus on? A process?

AA: When I go out I don’t really think about making photographs - I have my camera with me all the time - even during those years I didn't really take any photographs (2010-2014.) I just go out and let the world happen and if I react to something that is the only time I think about really photographing until I am done with it. It could be street portraits, cityscapes, or landscapes, - even cars.

There are times I need motivation or a little push; that is when I tell myself I am focusing on portraits or landscape etc etc just to get me going. And I will tackle whatever I am planning to do that day, but I never say today I will do street photography for some reason - I guess that is my focus and process at the same time.

ADM: What specifically is it about the book form that you find suits your work?

AA: I did not really put a lot of thought [into] the book form - I just wanted something that is larger than a 5x7, and affordable to me and to whoever is interested.

ADM: If there were one image, or maybe even five images that were absolutely essential to understanding the book, or in this case that you'd show your family and friends in the Philippines to explain, which one would it be, and why?

AA: In the Philippines we think of America as this Glitz and Glamour world and it is as we see it through Hollywood movies. So I moved close to DTLA to capture the opposite of that and that is what I want to show them. If I were to pick an image or two, it would be the first image of the book, where two men giving the finger to the police and the police are waving back at them and the image on page 41 - a photographer taking a picture of a model while they are both on the ground and to the side there is a man digging in the trash and in the background there is a movie set a group of police cars on a car carrier.

AA: this image here [below] would probably explain a lot about Cebu, Philippines. We are a very Catholic country, and I believe the only country that doesn’t have a divorce law besides the Vatican City, because of our religion.

ADM: In terms of influence, are there any photographers or other artists who have influenced or shaped your work, either in your process or the photos you like to make?

AA: Yes, Henri Cartier Bresson has had a huge impact in how I work and so has Garry Winogrand. Richard Avedon and Diane Arbus also are a big part of my growth as a photographer. The most recent is Martin Parr -- Their photographs don’t really influence me (maybe a little) but their words, and how they work, influence me the most.

ADM: Do you have any specific favorite or influential Photobooks? Or have you mostly been working from your own template?

AA: There is a HCB book, and Garry Winogrand book (I do not remember the titles -- I have them in the Philippines and have not checked them since 2010.) I think these are very influential to how I photograph, and how I selected photos for the book - but the way I arranged the book I copied what Robert Frank said when he was doing the Americans.

ADM: What advice would you give to someone just starting out in street photography, or looking to document their surroundings? Is there any stand out piece of advice you've gotten or have found in your practice?

AA: I have not gotten any advice from anyone - photography has always been a solo thing for me. I mostly learned what I know from what I read about other well known photographers of the past. All I can say is if you want to do street photography, or any type of photography, is to just do it. Immerse [yourself] in all of the information [you] can gather and apply it. Eventually [you’ll] find [your] own way of photographing. But you got to have passion and obsession to actually grow as a photographer - without it you will not go anywhere.

ADM: From Al Palmer (of Brown Owl Press): What was the biggest single turning point for you as an artist?

AA: When I decided to leave black and white and just do color - it took some time for the transition to happen. That was the biggest turning point for me. I believe my thinking process changed when I switched to color - it is more open to more possibilities. Although I do just color now, color is not a deciding factor for me to take a photograph.

ADM: Where can we pick up copies of Lost Angels? and do you have any other parting words/shoutouts?

AA: Lost Angels is a self-published book of mine - I am not looking for anything big to come out from it. Right now direct messaging me in my instagram (@andreiamodia) or facebook is the only way to get a copy.

Sixteen Horses 'round The Bay

May 29, 2021 in Introductions

Sixteen Horses 'round the Bay

Sixteen Horses ‘round the Bay is the first (to the best of my knowledge as of writing this) NFT based photo book project (though the fact that it’s the first of it’s kind is secondary to the main goal outlined below). The token is Available here (rarible) for purchase, so that you or anyone who purchases the book can create their own sequence of images and add to it, becoming a co-author.

For those not familiar I’ll drop the project goal/procedure here (directly from the book):

“Google (apparently) used to use this problem to interview programmers:

“you have 25 horses, you need to find the three fastest horses, you can only race five horses at a time, and have no watch to time the horses. How many races does it take to select the horses.”

The math says that given these constraints, it only takes 7 races to determine the three fastest horses.

I have no math skills, but I do find the idea interesting - so I’ve decided to take the concept, and apply it to photo selection/bookmaking.

I ran batches or “races” of 20 photos from my “composition studies” here in my instagram stories, over a couple weeks to determine what the most “successful” photos or “horses” from each “race” is by using the “yes/no” poll function here, then running them against each other when it comes time to figure out where to cut off the project.

It should take 9 races to determine the “best” 16 images - given these constraints. - given that in the final round or race, I was able to monitor the races more closely.

Prior to running the experiment, I’ve selected my personal 16 favorite images, as a point of comparison. Furthermore, anyone who purchases this NFT will (or should) receive the Raw Files,and the Afpub File so that they can create their own sequence and add it to the book, as a continuation on that experiment of “what I like, you like, and everyone likes.”

This whole project could only be accomplished by NFT - which allows me (or anyone) to track the provenance of ownership and modification of the book from user to user, artist to artist, collector to collector. Ideally, everyone who owns the book at some point would leave their own mark on it, either by adding a signature, stamp, sequencing their own set of sixteen images, from the pool provided, or even going off the rails with it and doing their own thing, hopefully keeping “16” in mind, as it is a title number.I hope the project is able to explore how different people both interpret a prompt, choose photos - infinitely, given mostly the same source material.

To commemorate the book, I’ll be releasing batches of 4 photos from my own sequence, in editions of 16 (natch) - each token is redeemable for one print at the maximum size I can print the file. The first four tokens are up, alongside the book now. You can buy them here.

So without further ado, the world’s first infinitely collaborative/NFT photobook (also placed in the galleries for extra ease of use):

Sixteen Horses ‘round the Bay (MINE)

Sixteen Horses ‘round the Bay (YOURS)

If you feel like buying good old fashioned, honest hardgoods - hit up the normal physical shop.

Thanks for your continued patience -- Andrew

The Seven Essential American Photobooks: February, 2021

February 01, 2021

The Seven Essential American Photobooks:

Andrew D. McClees / @andrewdmcclees

Editorial Assistance from: V. Bird

I came to photography from the outside - I didn’t go to undergrad for photography, nor was I raised around a lot of art. Most of my schooling and career was based in film and television - not fine art or photography. After exiting the film and television industry I found out about bookfairs and the photobook medium, which has become the sole driving force in my life. While the community is friendly enough, I have found that there is a lack of a definitive, widely accessible list on what the most essential photobooks is, for someone looking to get into the art and history of photography and photobooks; not just recent releases (there are plenty of year end lists from the last few years for that).

I’m not terribly well versed in European (though it strikes me that the UK (and it’s photography) is a world separate from Europe (- look out for a possible UK version of this list) or Japanese photography (again, would love to make another list for that) - which seem to be the other “great” photographic canons from my (relative) layman’s perspective. So I decided to focus on what I know most and put together a list of single-photographer books, or monographs, covering most of American photography over the last 90~100 years. That should (hopefully) serve as a friendly entry point to any absolute beginner or outsider.

A Quick Disclaimer: I picked these books because of their widespread availability (ie you can still purchase them without searching much, if at all — also most of these books typically hovered around the $40-50 dollar mark, and can be found cheaper if used, or on sale) and the general consensus around them as widely influential works. There may well have been better books from each era/style but only few books have really stood the test of time, and made as big an impact at the time of their first release as the ones I’ve listed here (or get name-checked as frequently). Another factor was the consensus around a book being the singular “best” or “most important” by an individual photographer. For example: there are twenty plus Ansel Adams books but no clear consensus on which of his books is best, or even if one of those books made an impact at the time of release. I also run into similar problems with Winogrand, Friedlander, and even Dorothea Lange. By the time you hit Weegee’s “Naked City” you’re off the beaten starter path (though all of those photogs probably deserve a dedicated followup in some sort of crime/street/midcentury primer).

So, here we go:

American Photographs - Walker Evans, 1938 (MoMA)

For my money American Photographs is “The Granddaddy” of all American photobooks: it was the first big name book that received a large printing and a lot of widespread fanfare. American Photographs is notable for being the first solo photography show ever at MoMA (The Museum of Modern Art). Photographs is a comprehensive collection of Evans’s work from 1929 through the 30s and 30’s documenting America growing, changing, suffering through, and recovering from the Great Depression. Evans became so renowned for his approach as an individual that he was asked to go document the USA for the Farm Security Administration. This is where modern American photography begins. His approach, known as “straight photography,” applies “maximum detail, definition, and brilliance” - Beaumont Newhall) has been the de-facto mode for most American documentary photographers who came after him. Evans’ approach to the urban landscape specifically is a clearly visible influence on later entrants on this list. If you’re interested in learning more about American Photographs, I wrote an “idiot guide” to the book here.

Buy the book from MoMA.

Photographers influenced by Evans: Literally everyone. William Eggleston, Stephen Shore, Fred Herzog, Robert Adams, Alec Soth.

The Americans - Robert Frank, 1959 (Steidl)

I suppose it should be unsurprising that an article centering on American photography would end up with multiple books with “America'' in the title. Whereas American Photographs documents the Depression, The Americans is the first great work of post-war photography. Robert Frank’s masterpiece takes the form of a long, brutal, road-trip travelling coast-to-coast documenting all of America with an unflinching eye. Frank was uncompromising and he took square aim at life in the US, along with many of the hypocrises he saw on his trip. Frank set the standard for modern street photography with this book - and it still holds up today as a definitive moment in American photography. Multiple (differing) editions have been released subsequently, but Frank himself has made the changes in each one; and his final edit, the current Steidl edition - is excellent.

Buy the current Steidl edition here.

Photographers influenced by Frank: Lee Friedlander, Garry Winogrand, W. Eugene Richards

Willam Eggleston’s Guide - William Eggleston/John Szarkowski - 1976 (MoMA)

While it wasn’t the first exhibition of color photographs at MoMA, Eggleston's Guide was the first showing of color photographs by a solo photographer. Despite this honor, Eggleston himself did not curate, or seemingly seek to publish, The Guide. That herculean effort, and the acceptance of color photography in art, was spearheaded by MoMa director of photographs, John Szarkowski. Surprisingly, this exhibition was met with dismissive, even vitriolic, criticism from the photographic art establishment. However, because of the popularity of the exhibition with average museum-goers, the book (technically a gallery catalog for the exhibit) reached wide circulation. The Guide is an expressionistic document, there’s a clear sense of humor at work, and the book is just what it advertises: a “Guide” of sorts to Eggleston’s Southern locales (Memphis, TN + Mississippi - distinctly through his own eyes) and its inhabitants. The Guide is the first real step into photographic worldbuilding through the use of “broken” or “enigmatic” narrative structures. The “broken narrative” style is an approach heavily built on by many photographers who came after Eggleston. Definitely a book for fans of southern gothic style (whether you’re a photographer or not).

Buy direct from MoMA here.

Photographers influenced: Sally Mann, Alec Soth

Diane Arbus: An Aperture Monograph - Diane Arbus - 1979 (Aperture)

The monograph covers most of her portraiture work centering on so-called “misfits'' -- frequently the LGBTQ community, nudists, and the handicapped. That said, it’s worth pointing out that (while Arbus is the first to put many of her subjects on film) her approach is often indelicate. She treats her subjects as objects of interest, and/or perverse fascination, rather than as people. This is spoken about at length by Susan Sontag in On Photography (which, while not a photobook, I would recommend reading). Arbus plays with the square format -- off kilter compositions, wide angle lenses, and striking high contrast (amplified by a flash) create a distorted, almost grotesque, aesthetic objectification of her subjects. A quick warning: the terms used for LGBTQ and handicapped folk in the book are extremely dated (and possibly triggering). These terms were acceptable at the time of the book’s initial publication and have been preserved in successive editions. While problematic, the work in the book remains spectacular, groundbreaking even, and is 100% worth viewing or studying -- even if it ultimately does not meet our current standards of sensitivity in 2021.

Available from Aperture Directly (usually) or elswhere.

Photographers influenced: Nan Goldin, Sally Mann, Bruce Gilden

Uncommon Places - Stephen Shore - 1982 (Aperture)

Shore’s most famous quote about his approach is “... [he] takes photographs to explain, understand, and view the world around [him] ...”. In doing so Shore documents as a form of expressionism. He creates intricate, nuanced urban and vernacular landscapes with such clarity that it’s as if they were something you had seen yourself. Despite this electrifying compositional style, Shore’s eye for the banal is largely unprecedented (especially in color). Fine Art Photography had no real interest in the banal, before Shore appeared on the scene with Places (and it’s companion, American Surfaces). Places is the first major advancement of landscape photography in color that’s not strictly about traditional rule of thirds compositions, loud “expressive” tonalities, and impressing upon folks the majesty of nature.

Places breaks the mold of landscape photography in that it resets what it means to be a landscape photographer: you don’t just have to have slabs of landscape (traditional or vernacular), heaped on top of each other. You can actually be a human being, interacting with the world and people around you (this is why documenting banal moments and scenes is important),while noticing those vistas. For example: the portraits in Places are highlights in the book just as often as the landscapes are ( even though that’s not typically first and foremost when people talk about the book). If you’re going to buy an edition of the book, the 2005 Aperture “Complete Works” is considered the ‘canon’ version, currently.

Buy Directly from Aperture (well, currently out of stock, but you can find it elsewhere - though I’m Aperture’ll reprint again it soon enough.)

Photographers Influenced: Todd Hido, Joel Sternfeld, Tim Carpenter, Andrew D. McClees

The Ballad Of Sexual Dependency - Nan Goldin - 1986 (Aperture)

Nan Goldin breaks down many of the walls of journalistic objectivity set up by her forebears and blends expressionistic diarism with brutal, uncut slabs of realness from her life. Ballad dwells in the early 80’s queer and hard drug scenes in New York’s East Village and frequently features Goldin as a subject in her own photographs (in a way completely new to the documentary format). Originally Ballad was a slideshow set to music for her and her friends’ private consumption but the show gained notoriety and was masterfully adapted to a photobook shortly after. This allowed the body of work to be seen and appreciated by an international audience. As a result Ballad ended up as a huge influence on the American/Western “snapshot” style, disaffected fashion photographers, and the many “gritty” color photographers who came of age after its publication. Nan herself has continued to be extremely active as a photographer, and in the art world as a whole, to this day.

Available here directly from Aperture.

Photographers influenced: Alec Soth, Stacy Kranitz

Sleeping by the Mississippi - Alec Soth - 2004 (MACK Books)

Sleeping by the Mississippi is almost the perfect natural follow-up, and counterpoint, to Ballad. Soth spent years driving up and down the Mississippi River living out of his car documenting the people and places he found (primarily in rural America) in a similarly diaristic fashion to Ballad. Whereas Goldin is loose and fluid, Soth takes a much more formal tone (both in terms of composition and approach) because much of, if not all of, Sleeping was shot on 8x10. This slowed down the process of photographing-- forcing the photographs to be much more staid and reserved. However, much like Arbus and Goldin, Soth achieved a high degree of intimacy with his subjects for a relative outsider. He was often able to photograph people who would not normally allow themselves to be vulnerable for the camera in their own interiors. Sleeping by the Mississippi had a huge impact, and has largely set the tone of photography for the mid ‘00s up until today, both in approach and in visual style. There have been two prior printings on Steidl, but the current edition on MACK books has two additional photographs.

Available directly from Mack Books - Signed, even.

Photographers influenced by Alec Soth: I can’t think of specific examples, but I’ve heard it namechecked enough to put it here. Would welcome specific descendents.

Bonus Round: Compilations and History Books

The Photographer’s Eye + Looking At Photographs - John Szarkowski - 1966 +1973 (MoMA)

The Photographer’s Eye is a great comprehensive photo essay. It’s a large compilation of different photographers’ work (which was originally based on a gallery show at MOMA Szarkowski curated) with a wonderfully written opening essay. As a result it’s a great pictographic survey of both early and mid-century photography. Photographer’s Eye is an easy, casual way to consume a lot of photography without digging too far into history, or text, as well as a great study in the power of curation.

Looking at Photographs fills a similar function to Newhall’s History of Photography (but does it better). Rather than inundate the reader with academic text, Szarkowski pairs photos with a brief writeup on why the photograph is important and the relevant technical advances made with it. If you wanted a reference guide, I’d recommend Looking at Photographs over The Photographer’s Eye (even if it’s less touted).

Grab Photographer’s Eye here, and Looking at Photographs here.

So that brings to a close the seven essential , or most influential, photobooks, in the American canon currently (all of them largely documentary works). Each of them has had a profound impact on photographers that came after it and their influence will likely continue to be felt for years to come. Looking forward I expect more books to populate the list -- partially because I missed spots (like fashion and portraiture) but also because photography is a living, breathing art form. There will inevitably be more photographers whose books and influence is felt and seen widely and I want to make sure to be able to include them on this list

If you have questions/comments/better suggestions for a more accurate fleshed out list, drop me a line at McClees@frozenwaste.land - I’m more than happy to take suggestions and contributions.

If you’ve found this helpful, or think it’s useful, share it! - if you feel like helping the website stay running - pick up a zine from the shop!

The Edge Of Industry: Al Palmer

December 29, 2020 in interview

The Edge Of Industry: Al Palmer

Andrew D. McClees (ADM): For those who may not be familiar with you or your work, would you mind introducing yourself and your work?

Al Palmer (AP): I'm a photographer and book designer/publisher based in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, in the United Kingdom. I've been taking photographs for 14 years now and have exhibited my work worldwide. The past few years have seen a shift from focusing on exhibitions to releasing my work in zine and book form. The majority of my work deals with world building, creating fictitious imaginary places from photographs of very real places. On the surface it may look like documentary work, it's very much not. Recently I've been creating work that deals with the fidelity of information: how much detail can an image lose before it can't communicate the intended message across.

ADM: We're talking about "The Edge Of Industry" - would you mind explaining the concept behind the series for the audience?

AP: The Edge of Industry is a cycle of photographs taken at the site of a derelict magnesium works near Hartlepool in the North of England where heavy industry has died off over the past thirty years. These images indirectly reference the death of shipbuilding and metal works, the lack of government action to prevent the North and South of England dividing both economically and socially, creating a generation of workers with no future; directly they show the land has yet to be redeveloped; it remains in a perpetual state of ruin. With an increasing amount of closures among factories in England these photographs are both a record of the end of a specific industrial area and also a quiet farewell to the past of the North of England.

ADM: What was the inspiration for the series? How did you settle on the concept and what is your personal relationship to it?

AP: I'm not a documentary photographer but this is the closest I've ever been to producing 'straight' documentary work. As with all of my work, it's more about me than the place I'm photographing. The magnesium works is visually attractive because it's so weird looking, people from differing backgrounds see sci-fi movies, dystopian novels... I saw the recently history of my area and my people. I'm from here and it was the future of my people that was impacted by the government of the Thatcher years.

ADM: Digging in a little more to your nod to worldbuilding vs. documentarianism - would you say that you've built an imagined or extrapolated narrative on top of the magnesium works for Edge of Industry?

AP: There's less world building in The Edge of Industry then, say, my work in “I Believe (In None of This)” but I am of the generation whose parents lost their jobs in heavy industry so there's a degree of distance. The ruins in the photographs are clearly a metaphor for the problems in society caused by these places of work shutting.

ADM: Taking it a step further, will you work on a project on what you believe the future (bleak or not) to be? Thinking future-forward in photography is always an odd topic.

AP: By nature each photography can only be a document of the past. I tend not to think about the future too heavily, certainly not to the point of making work regarding it. You could say my work is about the present, using snapshots of the past. Giving this some thought I cannot figure HOW I would make work about the future. That'd probably involve actual world building, making my own utopian model city and photographing it. Which does actually sound quite appealing...

ADM: You also run Brown Owl Press - what was the impetus behind starting your own zine printing company, and how would you say the self publishing process has affected your photographic and artistic process?

AP: I'm certainly more ruthless with regards to the photographic edit! I'm very conscious of how a series flows now, rather than just picturing the photographs on a gallery wall. I think this has probably meant that I focus less on taking interesting individual photographs and more on serving the narrative.I started Brown Owl Press mostly just because it felt like I should. Why wait for someone else to do it when I can? I like being able to publish photographic stories by photographers that deserve a bigger audience but possibly haven't received one yet.

ADM: Zooming the scope out a little bit - would you say that your work, Edge of Industry included, tends to center on implied or "broken" narratives? why or why not, and could you give an example of how you think about or process that narrative?

AP: Without a doubt. I think that's the crux of what I find interesting about photography: it's not very good at showing a linear narrative, especially in comparison to film making and prose. I suspect that's why a lot of photographers like to imagine they are working in a similar way to a poet. It's a nice idea, it's romantic, but I feel comics are a close visual medium to photography - sequential media leaving out much of the detail. The Edge of Industry is the outlier in my work in that I'm not really trying to suggest much, more show it. Primarily I think of photography as something closer to collage than to painting. Roughly tearing off this bit, a tiny sliver of this.

ADM: In terms of understanding “Edge of Industry: as outsiders - both an audience and, in my case (along with a fair chunk of our readers) as an American, what would you say the most essential photos are to understanding the project are, and what context they provide for the rest of the series?

AP: I'm not sure any one photograph carries more weight than another in this series, there are only 16 photographs and they all combine to give a good sense of the location. There are two photos that show the horizon, one shows this flat, unspectacular landscape and then other shows the North Sea. I suppose they give the magnesium works some physical reference point. There are definitely parallels with, say, Detroit in this story. It'll be interesting to know how an American sees this work. It'd previously been shown in New York but I can't imagine anyone from NYC looking at this work in the same way someone from the mid-West would, for instance.

ADM: The photobook/zine has (seemingly, to me) really come into vogue over the last ten to twenty years, and there's starting to be quite a bit of discussion of the photobook as an art object - as a publisher and book designer - what do you think the key elements of the art book or photobook/zine are, and what makes them so compelling, rather than say a folio, or a hanging exhibition?

AP: There are definitely economic aspects to this - digital printing increasingly being both cheap and high quality, so a decent photo zine costs a lot less than it would've in the past. The flipside of that is gallery/exhibition space has never been as expensive. Everyone has a camera in their pocket and the rise of Instagram has definitely helped photographers never switch off, so this off-hand photography definitely seems at odds with a formal gallery space. Also, an exhibition is temporary and photographs are permanent. Prints are hard to sell multiples of (finite wall space for most customers) while zines and books are an easier item to sell - especially with so many sales avenues online. It's not just economics though, photography works best on a small scale in my mind. I can do it at my own pace, and I'm in control of every single thing. And I like having full creative control of my work.

ADM: How has your approach to narrative driven photography changed over the years - did you learn anything new while making Edge of Industry that you'll take forward with you to the next project?

AP: The biggest lesson learned from The Edge of Industry is to work more efficiently. It was shot in a single day, the entire series consists of of just 16 photos. Some projects require a huge sprawling inventory of images, some require very few. How you say it matters almost as much as what you say. The Edge of Industry is quite literal work, both the photographs and the title. I'm unlikely to work in such a straight forward manner again, at least in the foreseeable future.

ADM: What are your major influences, photographic or not, and can you tie them back to Edge of Industry, or have you diverged from outside influence or touchstones, as you've matured as a practitioner?

AP: My biggest influence visually is Gerhard Richter. Carving into the space between reproduction and expression is at the heart of everything I do. I also admire the fact that he doesn't work in the same manner consistently, my big fear artistically is to just repeat myself. Alec Soth and Joel Sternfeld were huge influences on me photographing, and I can definitely see the influence of Sternfeld's Walking the High Line on this, just photographing a relatively small area in an expansive way with a fairly uniform view. I tend not to take direct inspiration from single photographers now, my inspiration tends to be more abstract and on a larger scale: ideas, music, technology.

ADM: Dipping into that - can you speak on some of the Music, Tech, and Ideas that you've been thinking about and inspired by lately?

AP: I'm hugely influenced by the German music scene surrounding the Termina/Beat Bude/Ava/Tax Free labels. It's most producers and DJs from the house and techno scene (Glenn Astro, Max Graef, Am Kinem etc) moving beyond rigid genre and begin deconstructing various types of music. A lot of it's quite experimental but it's also very musical, which keeps me interested. Photographically, the work of Clara de Tezanos is influencing me a lot currently. Her work is so rich and alien to me, I'm really enjoying trying to 'solve' it. It hints at a lot of things and I'm really trying to suggest more than I'm trying to explain in my own work of late. The idea I'm focusing on of late is how much detail can be taken from a photograph before it no longer communicates efficiently. I'm wrapping up a two year project on this topic currently as well as the layout of a book on the subject.

ADM: What advice would you give to someone looking to create photographs, or sets of photographs that lean into both a narrative form (both implied or explicit), and one that seeks to do "worldbuilding?"

AP: Take photographs impulsively, edit with intent. Or, the opposite. I tend to think in terms of batches of photographs being a 'chapter' or a 'verse'. Pacing is really important to a photo essay and I think that's especially important when putting your voice to something. Lots of experimenting in the editing phase is where the narrative will flourish, figuring out which photographs are essential to the story, and also which are not.

ADM: From Andy Pham: Do you think there is any value in the “hierarchy” of the photo world, or art world in general, in terms of the division between “gallery artists”, big publishers, etc. and the rest of us trying to just make work that means something personally? In other words, do you think there are pros and cons to both, or do you think there is anything lacking on either side of this divide?

For better and for worse I'm quite a self-driven person so, I've never had any fear of the hierarchy of photoworld. I'm not daunted by people or institutions. I can see why some would be useful, and openly want to be involved with some of them but that's because of what they can do for me/what I can bring to them rather than any need to be accepted.

If a recognised gallery wanted to show my work I'd be very conscious of using that (probably finite) time to harvest connections, grow my audience and put that back towards my usual DIY practice as it would probably not be a long-term arrangement. That possibly sounds a little mercenary but the larger the institution, the less concern it'll have for you so get what you can out of the situation. And hopefully make some money.

There are no heroes.

ADM: What question do you have for the next photographer? (you can answer the question yourself, if you'd like.)

AP: What was the biggest single turning point for you as an artist? My answer possibly links to the previous question: when I realised that I could do things myself rather than wait of galleries and publishers doing it for me. That was when I really put faith in myself as an artist rather than just someone who takes good photos. Keeping that moment in mind is important.

ADM: Thanks so much for the interview - do you have any parting words, or advice? I know we can purchase your zines and books at Brown Owl Press - but is there anywhere else that we can see or purchase more of your work? -- Thanks again for the interview!

AP: My advice can be applied to almost anything: consistency is the most important thing for progress.

The Brown Owl Press website has a list of our stockists but we do 90% of our trade via the webstore. Anything I publish that isn't under the Brown Owl Press umbrella is available via my website, the first of a series of zines I plan on publishing came out a couple of months ago called Crawling the Walls and is still available.

Thank you for interviewing me! If anyone has any further questions or would like to reach out, feel free to send me an email.

Brackish River Valley: Eric Kaczmarczyk

December 20, 2020 in interview

Brackish River Valley: Eric Kaczmarczyk

Andrew D. McClees (ADM): For those who aren't familiar with you and your work, would you mind introducing yourself?

Eric Kaczmarczyk (EK): Hi, my name is Eric Kaczmarczyk, I'm an artist-photographer living and working in the Lower Hudson Valley region of New York State. My artwork is primarily made within the environment in which I live; whether it be a landscape, a cityscape, a still life, an abstraction, or the occasional portrait. Photography for me is a way to connect with my surroundings and ultimately, a way to process my own psychology. As I continue to explore, film photography has been my medium of choice, in part due to its slowness - developing, scanning, editing, printing -gives me time to sleep on it all.

ADM: We're talking about Brackish River Valley - you open with the words that make the title being defined, and have a brief afterword - could you expound on the concept and impetus for the project?

EK: The photographs I've made over the past several years were without a specific intention or end goal in mind. Before coming up with the final name for the book, I had the word "river" stuck in my head... and I kept thinking, what about river, why river. As I learned more about the area, I came to understand that the Hudson River is brackish; a mixture of salt and freshwater. When the ocean tide rises, the river flows northward; when the ocean tide falls it flows southward - at least in the lower part of the river. In the afterword, I mention that the "mayor was covering everything in concrete" as a way to acknowledge that there were several large scale construction projects going on around this time, erecting residential towers and complexes. Not everything was being covered, in fact, there was some uncovering. There used to be a large parking lot in the center of town which they removed and re-exposed part of the Saw Mill River that was buried underneath years ago. There was still little-to-no grass in the nearby parks, most everything was concrete with a few trees and some flowers.

ADM: I find the photos in Brackish River Valley to be very formally pleasing - is there a particular meaning or throughline in the photos? What was your process for image-making - and following that - you handmade/bound the project - is there extra significance to that handmade approach?

EK: Symbolically - the mixture of salty and fresh water, flowing two different directions, the struggle between concrete and nature and the conflict of old and new - were all on my mind while making this work. Not only did this help me understand the environment that I stepped into, but also helped me understand my internal dialogue. I used to be a very rigid creator, thinking of a concept then illustrating that concept. For me, this left me stuck behind the emotional walls that I've unintentionally built. Through making this work specifically, while undergoing a life transition of my own, I felt the impact of covering things in concrete. I think making this book by hand is relatable back to why I shoot film - it was a slow, intimate process, giving me a lot of time to gain clarity.

ADM: Are there any images that you would point to explain the project to an outsider, or that encapsulate the project best (from your perspective), and why or why not?

EK: I’d say, look at the pair of images where on the left is a light fixture and on the right is a building without a roof. This is one of my favorite uses of metaphor in the book where the light appears to illuminate the roofless building as a symbol for searching and introspection. Additionally, note the presence of a large shadow cast on the hillside, obscuring the view. Also, take a look at both the black-and-white image of the busy road and the color image of the parking garage with water in the foreground. Both of these images depict two examples of where the Saw Mill River was uncovered and parks lacking nature were built.

ADM: Recently, I saw you mention on IG that "Brackish River Valley has two more sequels coming next year, what are they about, and how does the book fit into that larger cycle?

EK: Yes! I have two more books planned, with different titles yet to be determined. This first book contains photographs from 2017 and 2018, all made within Yonkers which borders New York City to the north. The next book will contain photographs from 2019, all made between Yonkers and Sleepy Hollow, New York. During this time, I've transitioned to a new location further up the river. And finally, the third book will be photographs from 2020, all made within Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow. Generally, the further north you go from New York City, the greener the landscape becomes. This may sound obvious to some, but for me, as I break down my emotional barriers, nature has played a major role.

ADM: Do you have a greater overall goal for the cycle of photobooks? does it have a name?

EK: Ever since I relocated to the Lower Hudson Valley several years ago, I’ve been fascinated by the river and the rivertowns. Not pictured in this first book, another geographic feature that caught my attention is the Old Croton Aqueduct which is now a hiking trail spanning 26 miles, running parallel to the river. Previously, the aqueduct provided fresh upstate water to New York City. Aside from the river being a mode of transportation for water and boats, it felt like a place to meditate, transporting thoughts. My overall goal is to document this transportation of thoughts while connecting with the physical environment. There is no name for the overall project yet.

ADM: In terms of influence, what were the major influences on Brackish River Valley, and the cycle at large? they can be photographic, or non-photographic.

EK: Several artists that come to mind are Sophie Calle, Laurie Anderson, Pipilloti Rist and Sol LeWitt. Aside from artist inspiration, one major influence on Brackish River Valley has been weekly talk therapy with a psychologist. I’ve always been an intuitive artist but, through depression and anxiety, this has helped me connect with my photographs in a more direct and conscious way. Another major influence goes back about 10 years, a college professor of mine who encouraged me to go out and make photographs without thinking or planning beforehand. This helped me ward off overthinking and make more room for reflection.

ADM: You've mentioned therapy and mental health - lately I've found a lot of photographers (myself included) use the medium as an outlet for their personal struggles - in your own words, or opinion, what is it about the medium that makes it so intuitive to the topic of mental health or illness?

EK: For me, one thing about photography that makes it such an intuitive medium is within the ephemeral nature of pressing the shutter button. Personally, in regards to my mental health, my ability to process emotions in the moment can be quite difficult, it takes me a while. If I make work with this in mind, and relinquish some control, this leaves a lot of room for the subconscious to do its work. Letting my mind wander and letting my intuition tell me what to make a picture of. In this state of mind, I feel that it's easier to simultaneously experience the moment and also make the picture, processing the emotions later on.

ADM: What does the Photobook format mean to you, and do you find it to be substantially different from the zine?

EK: I always found photobooks to be a great way to hold art in your hands and feel what the artist might’ve been feeling. Truthfully, I wasn’t fully certain whether to call this project a photobook, a zine or a chapbook… to me, it’s a type of hybrid between a photobook and a zine. I did want an intimate smaller book, and in a several book series, like a zine. I don’t find the various formats to be substantially different; they are all books and serve the same purpose of communicating artistic expression.

ADM: What advice or insight would you give to someone looking to contextualize their mental health or findings in therapy through photography?

EK: My best advice would be to not restrict yourself into one style, one theme, one type of photography. Having gone to art school, often, I felt that you can be pushed into overly developing a style in order to fit into a niche within the industry. In regards to mental health, and art, this can be quite suppressive. If you’re only photographing one subject matter, in one way, it will not be possible to access the far reaching complexities of one’s psychology. My second piece of advice would be to never stop asking questions to yourself; reflect, analyze the symbols, analyze the colors. Unrelated to my book, in college, I made gross food combinations, placed them on the sidewalk, asked four people to stand around, then photograph the scene from the knees down. About 10 years later, I realized it was a sort of rebellion to the superficial environment I was raised in, where food and appearance were the most important thing, more important than feelings.

ADM: From Al Palmer: What was the biggest single turning point for you as an artist?

EK: At first thought, I began to scan my recent achievements, my technical upgrades, my emotional freedom… even with some of this feeling like they’re big steps, it still feels more like a long term progression. Therefore, I’d have to say, the biggest turning point for me is not recent; it was as a teenager, the purchase of my first camera. It was my first major coping tool. I was able to navigate my world, soothing anxieties, the usual “hiding behind the camera” perspective. I tried expressing myself through drawing and painting but, I felt more clarity while looking through a lens. Personally, this is the most important to me because I discovered that I could communicate in ways that I could not with words.

ADM: What question do you have for the next photographer? You can answer it yourself if you'd like.

EK: What does a day in the life as a photographer, as an artist, as a person, look like for you? What time do you wake up, go to sleep? Outside of photography, what are some of your favorite hobbies?

ADM: Where can people purchase a copy of Brackish River Valley? I saw that you'd sold through your initial batch (congratulations!) will you have another pressing for sale alongside the next books in the cycle? Do you have any other parting words? -- Thanks again for the interview!

EK: Fortunately and unfortunately, the book is sold out! The next books in the cycle will be a continuation of similar subject and format and a good chance to pick up a copy. At the end of the cycle, I am hoping to put the several books together into one larger, hardcover book… but we will see! In the future, I may consider a second edition, but will not be handmade like the first edition. Lastly, for those who liked the book, or who missed the book, I am releasing a batch of images from the book as special edition prints that will be going up for sale soon. My only other parting words are a big thank you to frozenwaste.land for offering to interview me and to all my friends and colleagues who’ve shown invaluable support throughout this process.

Weaknesses: Andy Pham

December 13, 2020 in interview

Weaknesses : Andy Pham

Andrew D. McClees (ADM): For those who are not familiar, could you introduce yourself and your work?

Andy Pham (AP): I’m a photographer and writer. I’ve spent most of my life in the New Orleans area, but also lived in Europe (Czech Republic) for three years, which was a really formative experience for me and kind of changed my life in many ways. I’ve been back in America for the past few years, and have been making work that on one hand, is constantly changing, perhaps stylistically, but on the other, is more or less rooted in the same general themes, personal emotions and instincts.

ADM: We're talking about your series in progress, “Weaknesses” - which, per your description on your webpage is a "long-term, ongoing work in progress examines human weakness and fragility, particularly in the form of mental illness, and the various ways in which it can be represented through the perception of our surroundings." Could you share what the inspiration was for the project, and what the end goal for it would be?

AP: The project “Weaknesses” is the most personal work I’ve been making. It’s mainly a response to my own experience with mental illness, as well as that of some of the people close to me. It’s been a years-long endeavor, in part because as I learn more about my own mental and psychological conditions and attempt to piece together who I am, who I’ve been, who I want to be, etc. and to process my own journey through mental illnesses, I find that the photography I make changes subtly as well.

The end goal would likely be a print publication of some kind, but I don’t have a set timeline in mind. I think it depends on finding the right time and opportunity whenever I’d feel like the work feels like a final product, or at least at a natural stopping point, to work on making and releasing something in print.

ADM: Print is fascinating - Do you think there's a specific character or value that print or a photobook would imbue or enhance "Weaknesses" with - and can you speak on how that format would work with the photographs, or the narrative around “Weaknesses?”

AP: I’ve always seen print/books as the end game for photographs and specifically series of photos or larger projects. As mentioned before, I just really enjoy the tangibility and tactility of these physical objects as opposed to looking at something on a screen. Also I think editing/sequencing and just having the final product in print form adds to the element of spending (more) time with the images in a book versus the more fast paced consumption of images that I think many people are used to with digital consumption.

ADM: So, from that - what final form do you have in mind for “Weaknesses”? a book, or zine - or perhaps an installation of a print series? Are there any particular considerations that you've taken into account while making the images for the project?

AP: I don’t want to tie myself to anything super concrete, as anything can happen really. At this point I’d like to keep it open, but I definitely think something in print and substantial feeling would be a final product I can be proud of.

ADM: Depression and mental illness look different to everyone - what are you looking for when you make your photographs on the topic for this project? Are there any motifs that you find are particularly idiosyncratic to you?

AP: Sure, I respect and certainly understand that mental illness assumes different forms in each unique individual; no two minds are the same. For example, I’ve tried psychotherapy but realized it just wasn’t for me. I tend to work through things more independently, and photography helps me to do that in almost therapeutic ways. You can say that photography is one of my forms of self-therapy. As far as subjects or motifs, I don’t think that I tend to look for specific things that reflect my psychological states. It’s more so the other way around; how I’m feeling or what I’m trying to sort out at any particular moment might dictate or affect what I end up photographing. Sometimes this means that I don’t photograph at all, given the nature of mental illness and how it can really be paralyzing to one’s ability to do anything at all.

I guess if anything, I tend to be drawn more to photograph in places that are perhaps more desolate, or that don’t include a lot of people or any people at all. I don’t ever make portraits at all. I find that the subjects I am drawn to are usually objects or scenes. I probably do have one repeating motif in particular: discarded objects that are left on the ground by people. I find that there is so much mystery in these things that are left behind by someone you’ll probably never know or meet.

ADM: That Definitely tracks with me, and my own experiences. Did you have any particular influence to or on your photographic approach for the project - both on the portrayal of mental illness and your own imagemaking process? These influences can be non-photographic, if that broadens the question for you?

AP: No particular influences really. I think more generally speaking I am probably influenced by photographers who have a very keen eye for detail – smaller, minute things that would go completely unnoticed to the average eye. One photographer in particular who embodies this for me is Phoebe Kiely, whose work was a major influence on me in shifting to primarily black and white, as well as just inspiring me to continue to train my eye to look for those things.

ADM: In addition to your photography, you're also a writer. Do you find there's a natural connection between writing, or words, and photography? If so, how, and if not, why not?

AP: Definitely. At least for me personally, I think there is a connection. I keep multiple notebooks at any given time where I’m constantly writing things down, usually nothing serious or long form, but just kind of a way to keep my mind organized and compartmentalize different things and ideas on paper. The tactility of writing with a pen and paper is always something I’ve enjoyed and even find comfort in. I find the same tactility exists in having a camera in your hands, looking through a viewfinder, pressing the shutter, etc.

Also, I’ve realized that the way I photograph is very instinctive in that I’m almost never having a premeditated idea of what kind of pictures I want to make. When I see a subject I want to capture or a photo that I feel I “need” to make, it’s usually instinctive and instant. With my writing, I think I also write very instinctively and then take a lot more time to edit the text afterward. Having an opportunity to write about photography and photobooks and contribute to a platform (C4 Journal) is great because it’s something I am passionate about anyway, which makes the ideas and words come out a lot more easily.

ADM: When analyzing or writing on photobooks, you mention an instinctual approach - what do you find yourself drawn to writing on in the book format, and does it mirror your approach or focus in the images themselves? Or, do you find that as a writer or critic your concerns are much different than your focuses are in your photographs?

AP: There is definitely an overlap, at least for me. I’ve found that the books I write about, or work that I am interested in writing about, often deal with human emotions in some way. In this sense I feel like my interests naturally gravitate more to that general area. I’m interested in work that is influenced by or speaks on the emotional, psychological, and sociological aspects of existence, I suppose.

ADM: In "Weaknesses" - is there a particular image or sequence within the project that you'd present alone to explain it to someone else? Why that specific image - I know you've mentioned the discarded random items and abandoned places - but is there anything hyperspecific?

AP: It might be, as of now, one particular image which was a result of a lot of manipulation, both accidental and intentional. It started with a color film photograph that I messed up the processing for and couldn’t get the colors right with, so I made it black & white and then through some printing errors, the image became sort of split and cropped; in the end I ended up with a final image that I really like. I think the balance of mishaps and intention are a good reflection of mental and emotional states, where as humans we’re always in this state of flux between our past, present and future selves, and trying to figure out how to deal with trauma, triggers, etc. There is some symbolic imagery within the picture itself as well: the shape of a cross, a sign with the inside missing, a hanging wire, which can be interpreted by the viewer in different or more personal ways.

(Ed Note: The second image presented in the article)

ADM: As someone who writes about, and likely thinks a lot about photobooks - what do you think the key, defining features are of the medium or art object, and do you find yourself seeking them out in your work?

AP: I think editing and sequencing is crucial. Having an edit and sequence that fits whatever you’re trying to communicate with the pictures. This might not be explicit or obvious to anyone viewing the book, but it should at least make sense and feel right to the maker, I’ve definitely tried forcing pictures together into a sequence in the past that just didn’t feel right (to me), and that’s when I knew I had to scrap the work or at least come back to it much later. Also, design is important in that many books nowadays have a very copy and paste kind of aesthetic – essentially just pictures in the middle of paper with white space around them. I like books that feel special in some kind of way I guess. Finally, I think the work should be thought provoking and lead the viewer to think about, question, or at least spend some more time outside of simply looking at the pictures; the best photobooks to me catalyze some form of questioning of perspectives or a wider discussion of a topic, viewpoint, etc.

ADM: What advice would you give to someone working on a project about mental health or mental illness? Is there anything that you've learned while working or continuing to work on "Weakness" that you'd like to share?

AP: I guess I’d say that one’s personal mental health always comes first, and shouldn’t be compromised for the sake of creative work or output. Like I mentioned before, some days are just brutal and the last thing I feel able to do is pick up a camera or think about anything related to photography. I think it’s healthy to just listen to your mind and body first and foremost, and don’t force anything.

ADM: From Erin Cross: If there is a single photo story that you can work on in your lifetime, what would that be and how would you create your images for it?

AP: This is a tough one, I’ve never really thought about it before. I think maybe I’d like to document Vietnam, where my parents are from, in a way that is unique or meaningful to me, whatever that might be. I’ve only been there once when younger and didn’t have a full fledged interest in photography, so I’d probably like to go back and spend time photographing there.

ADM: What question do you have for the next photographer? (You can answer it yourself if you'd like.)

AP: Do you think there is any value in the “hierarchy” of the photo world, or art world in general, in terms of the division between “gallery artists”, big publishers, etc. and the rest of us trying to just make work that means something personally? In other words, do you think there are pros and cons to both, or do you think there is anything lacking on either side of this divide?

ADM: Thanks so much for the interview! Where can we see more of your work? both photographic and written. Do you have any other parting words or notes?

AP: Thank you for having me! My work can be viewed on my website: subtropicaltrash.biz, or Instagram: @subtropical_trash. Some of my recent writing can be found on c4journal.com with more to come, or follow them @c4journal on Instagram.

Take care of yourselves and others and just do the best you can; it’s all any of us can strive for.

Cruel Summer: Dan Bassini

December 06, 2020 in interview

Dan Bassini talks to Will Hopkins about his latest book, Cruel Summer.

“Film Photography” - a critical misnomer.

November 21, 2020 in Thinkpiece

“Film Photography” - a critical misnomer.

Andrew D. McClees, Edited by Maxime Lester and Billy Gomberg

“Film Photography” - a critical misnomer.

PC: Andrew D. McClees (2015) Typical Casual Formalist work.

Film or Analogue photography has enjoyed a bit of a renaissance over the last five to ten years. Kodak was reporting steady growth each year, over a three year period back in 2019. This growth can largely attributed to the growing niche or subculture of The Film Community on platforms like Flickr, and Instagram. The medium (rather than the subculture itself) hit a new level of notoriety in the modern era through support from and from celebrities like Kylie Jenner, Jason Momoa, and Jeff Bridges. For those not aware, the Film Community is a nebulous subculture within photography, mostly based entirely around shooting film as a hobby, largely in opposition to digital photography - a distinction largely pushed by companies including, but not limited to: The Darkroom, Film Photography Project, and Lomographic Corp - as a method of identity or lifestyle branding.

The Film Community has generated miniature social media (read +/- 100k followers, but no real presence outside social) celebrities (EX: Matt Day, Willem Verbeek, and Corey Wolfenberger) within it, notable for working on film and/or making content about analogue photography. These photographers of note, alongside their many disciples and imitators have dubbed themselves “film photographers.” At first glance, the term “film photographer” is applicable, it describes the medium that the practitioners work off of. However “Film Photographer” has largely come to denote an additional set of shared aesthetic criteria or commonalities which has very little to do with the fact that the work is shot on film - making the label at best colloquial, and at worst invalid. The term “Film Photography” has become a failure as a literal descriptor, and is primarily a colloquialism for a specific kind of formalist photography that happens to be shot on film while not commenting on film as a medium, and is secondarily used to denote a hobbyist who shoots film with no particular focus.

PC: Andrew D. McClees (2017) Casual Formalist Photography - with growing intent.

Every genre of photography can be defined by a set of criteria based on how the photograph is used (“Fine-Art” being a qualifier, rather than a genre or subgenre unto itself) and the subject matter contained in it. To pose some quick and simple examples: Landscape photography is about nature and the shape of the land, Portrait photography is about taking portrait photographs of people, Fashion is about showcasing different articles of clothing; the list goes on. So that poses the question: “What is “film photography” about?” Are the practitioners of so-called “film photography” doing photographic artwork about the film that they shoot on? Is the subject matter of their art directly relevant to the fact that they’re using film? Most often not. While there are artists who work in lens based mediums, alternative processes, and in photo-chemistry making art about the material that they use, they rarely call themselves “Film Photographers.”

The majority of the subject matter in “Film Photography” has nothing to do with the fact that it was shot on film. While much of the base aesthetic criteria associated with “film photography” is attributable to the medium and not the content; Grain, and Tonality being the most commonly cited positive features of film. Urban landscapes and diaristic slices of life are common topics and subjects in “Film Photography” but have little if anything to do with the fact that it was shot on film, and the tone and grain of film might add to the photo but they’re ultimately superficial features. There’s nothing about the subject matter that has to do with film — one could shoot the same photo on a digital camera and add all those touches (grain, tones, etc.) and for the most part nobody would know the difference unless you made them aware of it.

To invoke the bête noire of the film community: when was the last time a photographer who uses digital gear described themselves as a “digital photographer?” They don’t because it doesn’t actually matter to their work. If you want to describe yourself as someone who shoots or uses analog processes, that’s fine, but just as a use of language, consider using the term “film shooter” or at the very least if you’d consider adding a tag of “analog” or “film-based” onto your self description — ie “analog landscape photographer” that way I know you’re (rhetorical) a landscape photographer who shoots film. To offer up another angle there’s also the debate about hybrid vs. totally analogue processes, and the fact that every “film” or “analogue” image you see on the net had to be digitized in some format to get it on to the standard platforms of digital consumption. On top of that most of these images that are consumed via social media platforms were and are digitally edited - making it a debate on how “analogue” most of these images ultimately are.

Andrew D. McClees — Outtake From “DUSK” 2019 (Formalism as Expressionism)

“Film Photographer” in broad strokes has come to denote a casual or hobbyist photographer who takes snaps on film, usually in a moody style. That expression doesn’t adequately describe what the photographers in question are taking photos of - making the term colloquial at best. If one takes photos of one’s friends and family, why not call oneself a social photographer or a portrait photographer, or even a documentary photographer (personal gripes aside about passing off otherwise unremarkable family/friend photos off as art). If you shoot mostly to document your daily life, why not call yourself a documentary photographer, or a diaristic photographer, or something that speaks to what you do? There’s nothing wrong about being descriptive and specific about what you do or what you photograph. The term “Film Photographer” has created a ghettoized environment separate from the rest of photography. I’m not saying that we should abolish the film community or the tags associated with them, merely to point out that “film photographer” is meaningless and often has little to do with the medium itself, and fails to adequately describe most work under its umbrella.

So, now that I’ve gone to great length to describe why I think “Film Photography” has become bad terminology, let me offer up a potential academic term for it and an explanation of where I believe the movement’s artistic lineage stems from:

Casual Formalist Photography or “Casual Formalism.”

On its surface to the layman - Casual Formalism might sound like cognitive dissonance - it’s not so let me break down formalism first (in a broad definition), then I’ll circle back to the casual:

Formalism (in photography) is the part of photography that focuses on images that center on the “formal” elements - elements deriving from the “form” - Lighting, Composition, Tonality, and Medium (Film V. Digital etc). As opposed to realism (pure documentation - no perspective or decisions made) or expressionism (pure emotiveness or expression.) You can find a quick cheat sheet here.

Casual, at least in the manner I’m using it - refers to the broad assumption that most of the photographers doing this kind of work (ie Photos of conventionally attractive women, abandoned houses, “quirky suburbs,” old cars, or general nostalgia based photography) are not doing this as a serious artistic practice, nor are they aiming for a deeper purpose or commentary in their art. However, the photos being made are intentionally artistic enough to escape the label “vernacular” (going off of MOMA’s definition) in that they are created to be art, rather than truly commercial or documentary in nature.

I would offer up that most “film photographers” (or from here out “casual formalists,”) work very much in this formal scope - they aim to take aesthetically pleasing pictures that may or may not have some emotional or documentary (ie actively documenting a place or phenomena) perspective but tend to dwell mostly at surface level; e.g. a picture of a landscape or abandoned house that’s well lit and #shotonfilm might evoke a strong emotion, but ultimately it typically ends up being mostly about that composition and the lighting that gives it emotion - with a tertiary concern (from an outside perspective) being that it was shot on film - largely nothing about the photo actually matters that it was shot on the film except for the insider community knowledge.

Likewise, these photos rarely push the bounds of composition or structure in the formal sphere. The photos are often well composed, but they rarely push beyond standard practice enough to be notable for their composition, or a commentary on composition. On the topic of film itself, most of the photographers rarely actively consider or comment on the medium upon which their work is made, except for the superficial “Film is nostalgic, therefore this nostalgia based image (old cars, abandoned houses, vintage dress), is nostalgic,” making the fact that most of the images in the “film community” are shot on film almost entirely irrelevant to the images they shoot on that film. However, for whatever reason (perhaps it is that one singular superficial point, of film nostalgia) a lot of similar minded work ends up getting done on film, even though there’s absolutely nothing about it that necessitates being done on film.

“I hope those last four generations don’t look too far down on me” - Andrew D. McClees, 2019 from HARDLY LOCAL. (Documentary Photography with strong Formalist Elements as Expressionism)

This sort of lack of depth either in formalist concerns, or using those formal elements to pursue a deeper truth via expressionism or through documentarian studies is why I’ve deemed “casual” most of the art being made is by hobbyists - not professionals, or career artists. There’s largely nothing wrong with that - getting out and making art for personal fulfilment, as a hobby is a great thing in fact and largely beneficial to most who pursue it. My misgivings about it stem from a subset of photographers and creators riding their way to social media fame while offering up nothing in terms of critical or philosophical depth in their work.

In terms of stylistic origins I’d give equal credit to the Instagram algorithm (the propensity for the website’s algorithm to show people work or images that is relatively alike in nature), Stephen Shore, William Eggleston (along with Christenberry) and Todd Hido (though I’d argue all four are expressionist or documentary photographers who have strong understanding of formal elements). I realize there’s a whole subset of portrait and fashion photographers in The Film Community, but at the risk of getting meanspirited, most of them don’t have a whole lot of artistic lineage beyond “make a reasonable portrait of an attractive person,” though on the fashion tip there can be some legitimate artistic direction. There are many street photographers who still shoot film, but (in my experience) they tend to nest themselves more within the street photography community rather than say the film community even if there is some crossover.

Moving the scope in part I’ve derived the term from the trend of “zombie formalism” in painting. Though as a fellow photographer who started my current artistic career (not that on the whole I’d call it any great shakes as of now) in much the same spot, I don’t particularly hold the level of disdain for the movement the way Saltz seems to hold for it. Zombie Formalism lines up well with Casual Formalism in that both are superficial and relatively bland movements, but the comparison ends there - Zombie Formalism is a fine art movement and is typically only used to refer to a particular kind of abstract oil or mixed media painting, where Casual Formalism is a popular movement or practitioner base - though both have served as significant stumbling blocks for many practitioners in both movements, in that they can’t seem to move beyond or individuate themselves from the movement.

If you feel okay using “film photographer” after all this as a colloquium - that’s cool, as long as you’re aware. Likewise, please keep photographing, and keep shooting film. As long as you’re creating art, and getting something out of it, that’s the most important part. However as an actual definition of the whole artistic movement or the phenomena, or art itself, I believe it should be called Casual Formalism from here out - rather than “Film Photography.