The deserts of the south west is an inhospitable place. Hot. Dry. Desolate. Even the plants and animals most adapted to the climate seem to struggle just to survive. Edward Abbey warned us against venturing into those deserts. Only the foolhardy ignore his warnings. And yet some of us are unable to resist the siren […]
The latest issue of 52 arrived yesterday. They look great. I had them printed locally, at Fireball Printing in Philadelphia. They did an excellent job. The print quality is superb. The paper has a nice, rich, substantial feel, making it a pleasure to sit and look through while enjoying a cup of coffee. I’ve started […]
Friday evening around 8:00pm. Tired professionals should have been driving home or to meet friends at a local restaurant or bar. But instead the street was empty. I stood there in the middle of Lancaster through two cycles of green-yellow-red, green-yellow-red. On one side a Chevy van sat empty with its flashers blinking. On the […]
I just received the proof for the next issue of 52. This issue collects together black and white photographs documenting some effects of the current pandemic — the vacant streets and empty businesses — as well as some photographs of the city at night. As with the previous issues, I enjoy the way the printed […]
Scrolling through any social media platform presents you with a mind-numbing series of photos of the same scene from the same place in the same light and processed through the same filter. They seem to have been taken merely to post to the internet in the hopes of garnering likes, or whatever counts as social […]
For a number of years now I have each morning written down a single thought. I had assumed a thought a day would be easy. It has been at times, however, surprisingly difficult. Some mornings I stare at the blank page and struggle to produce a thought, one that is my own. I take drink […]
And all had, after long acquaintance, at last understood that familiarity with a place will not lead to absolute knowledge but only to ever further enquiry. R. Macfarlane, The Old Ways (2013), 111
… the photographer’s main problem, like that of the landscape architect, is to establish a point of view which directs the movement of the imagination. Caption to E. Atget’s photograph, “The Orangerie Staircase.”
I wonder why we have come to use “amateur” as a pejorative adjective when applied to photographers. People tend to elide the gap between the trite definition of an amateur — somebody who doesn’t earn a living or much money taking pictures — and the more condescending definition — somebody who is inept at taking […]
Every photographer knows that a photograph simplifies.… A photograph quotes from appearances but, in quoting, simplifies them. This simplification can increase legibility. John Berger, Understanding a Photograph (2013), 74