More and more, I am convinced that photography is not about shooting but about thinking.
Daniel Blaufuks
I recently picked up a couple of books from photographer/writer David Campany, namely his books “On Photographs” and “So Present, So Invisible. Conversations On Photography.” the latter is where I took that Balufuks quote from.
In my last newsletter, I hinted that I might take stock of five years of photography, where I am now, and what I have learned about this craft. However, I also alluded to the idea that I didn’t want to pigeonhole myself with this month’s entry, and alas, I don’t feel I have much to say on that topic or that it is interesting or relevant to anyone other than myself.
June has been; nonetheless, a month spent with the camera tucked away on the shelf while I pondered, read interviews/essays/conversations on photography, watched video lectures on photo books, sat down with some new photo books that I recently added to my collection, attended a photo book launch here in Montreal, made new friends and have begun to work towards releasing some printed matter of my own in the coming months while also applying to contests and grants and touching base with the Cornwall Community Museum on my 2025 exhibition that now seems to be fast approaching.
However, I want to share some new work with you all, which you will see scattered throughout today’s newsletter. The images, I believe, are successful test pictures from specific ideas floating around my head that serve as visual aids for the real work to come once I figure out what that is.
Suppose I reflect upon any self-discovery here with you today about my realizations (artistic and personal) after five years of using a camera as a tool of self-expression. In that case, it is that I am a conceptual artist. Finding more conceptual work that inspires me and isn’t convoluted or full of artsy pretensions has been a joy, as the medium can sometimes be challenging to digest or take seriously.
As someone with ADHD, I require frameworks from which to make works; even musically, I always needed to round things cohesively and have become aware of my love for concept albums, so the fact that this carries over into my photography shouldn’t surprise me. Still, now that I know this pattern, things have been a little easier for me.
Surfaces and flatness have been on my mind lately, especially road and water surfaces.
I have been making video clips of the surface of the St. Lawrence River since the spring, and this fascination crept into some images (in fact, many, many images, of which you are only seeing the two above). I started making multiple exposures in-camera of the water’s surface at different times of day and atmospheric conditions, producing many results I will continue working on and refining. So far, I am happy with my results, thanks to an ND filter.
I have a deep love for water even though I can’t swim and seemingly don’t know how to float no matter how many times I’ve tried (I wasn’t taught as a child, and most of my experiences with deep water have been full of peer pressure and near-drowing experiences). So, I find it fascinating that I am obsessed and in love with deep water and return to the water’s edge so often. Lately, I have been overwhelmed with the burning desire to move to eastern Canada to live by the Atlantic Ocean (something I plan to do one day).
Aside from fanboying over David Campany this past month or two, I have been immensely enjoying “The Photo Book Show With Stefan Frank” over on YouTube, and I highly recommend checking it out; it is very informative, and Stefan Frank, like David Camapny, has been some illuminating voices for me lately in the world of photography.
I also had the chance to meet the incredible couple behind the publishing house “Deadbeat Club” in Montreal last week for the launch of local photographer Maude Arsenault’s latest book with Deadbeat entitled “Resurfacing,” which was a fantastic experience to see a publisher like Deadbeat in Montreal and getting to buy one of their titles I had been eyeing but couldn’t afford due to the shipping since they had brought a bunch of books with them to sell (it is was “The Lizard” by Gabriele Rossi for those who are curious).
I have new work up on my website that covers two of the smaller projects/series (“Missouri, I Hardly Knew You” and “Holden, Missouri”) I made while living in Holden, Missouri, during the second half of 2023 before finding myself back in Canada and then back in Montreal again unexpectedly (four moves within a year have left me utterly confused, to say the least, as I move into my new apartment with my wife on July 1st).
If you follow me on Instagram, you’ll have noticed I have been posting images from the series I made around my wife’s parents’ house and garden; that series is going to take some time to unwrap, but it is work I am incredibly proud of and happy with that I want to find the right way to piece it all together eventually (I think this work may be book worthy) to share in a physical form.
Speaking of physical forms, my work from the Decarie Highway series has been reimagined into its final printed form, and I received my zine from the printers a couple of weeks ago. Still, I won’t share any information about it until July or August, but until then, you can see the revised work and title on my website if you wish.
The reason for the slow rollout of the zine is that I plan on releasing a series of four zines over the rest of the year, so I want things to coincide with each other (and I am also in no rush either; the work has waited this long to tell me how it wanted to be shared, it can wait a little bit longer to be appropriately shared).
As usual, I have rambled on long enough, so I will end things here for this month. I won’t bother speculating on what next month’s edition could be about because my mind will surely change by then, and I will be off chasing thought butterflies in the meadow of endless ideas.
I wish you all a good day, and I will see you back here in July for a ride along whatever train of thought I happened to board at that time. Take care, and as always, thank you for reading my words and supporting my images; I appreciate it immensely.
Dude, your work is getting even better?! I am floored with the images in this issue, man. Holy shit! They are next level for sure..and that’s not to downplay the projects you’ve accumulated over the past few years.
Our next photo/life-chat will be about 12 hours long so get ready 😉
Wow, four moves in a year sounds exhausting! I hope you will settle now for a bit longer. Can’t wait to see your zines. I am sure they will be amazing. All the best to you and your future endeavors. And I totally agree with the quote at the beginning. Photographs is a lot about thinking! Thank you for sharing. I started watching Stefan Frank a few months ago and really enjoyed the few videos I watched.