THE DICTIONARY OF LIGHT & SHADE
Context: Most publications I've made have been bound by someone, or something, else. Sewn binding is something I would like to incorporate in future publications – fancier than staples, more natural than glue.
Aim: To test an unfamiliar, hand sewn bookbinding technique.
Method: Deciding to use a list of words I had already compiled, I consulted a 1978 edition of The Thames and Hudson Manual of Bookbinding, looking for a section sewn method — I settled on French sewing, also known as “sewing without tapes, the sections are linked together by passing thread under the loop of the preceding section.”
I used a bone folder to fold eight pieces of card in half, which would yield thirty-two pages to work with. The page count could easily be increased if each piece of card was substituted for four pieces of paper, or more than eight sections added.
After folding, I clamped the pages, folded edges together, and marked with a pencil (my current favourite tool) where the holes should be. While I could have used a four hole configuration (on such a small book), I thought six holes would be more aestheti...
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Context: The alternative to preserving photographs, is to lose them. What does a book of lost photographs look like?
Aim: To visually represent the absence of lost photographs.
Precedent: Will Steacy's Photographs Not Taken (book cover pictured above), perhaps the only photography book I’ve bought that is entirely devoid of photographs, is "a collection of photographers' essays about failed attempts to make a picture…These mental negatives depict the unedited world and the moments of life that do not exist in a single frame." In a different vein, I have also previously created a photobook devoid of photographs, 2nd’s, after I discovering a dusty box of slides marked 2nd’s. Inside this box I found empty slide mounts along with what appeared to be accidentally mounted frames from the end of rolls of film, partially exposed, partly blank, yet curiously interesting.
Method: I began by thinking about my own experiences with lost photographs, in particul...
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THIS PHOTOGRAPH HAS BEEN DELETED
Yes, you read that right — I uploaded this photograph privately to Pinterest, then I deleted it.
When I hit delete I was told “you won’t be able to get it back,” before confirming my intention, again hitting delete. The fact you can see this file at all means, theoretically, that all private uploads to Pinterest are public (if you can find them). While I don’t know how long this photograph will last on a server somewhere in the world, I thought I’ll leave it here (as a linked image), and together we shall see!
Post Script — the words in this photograph are by the inspirational picture book maker Oliver Jeffers and Austin Kleon, from whose blog you too can download Read a Book Instead for your screen.
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