Very cool, man! I'm now inspired to do more "short-term" printed projects. I feel like, as photographers, we only place high value on these long-form, long-term projects when we need to do more short-term work. There is power in feeling a sense of completion & in testing the waters to see which direction we are headed.
Oh man, yes, yes, and yes. Photobooks are awesome, but they are expensive, time consuming, and not necessarily what a lot of photographers do on a regular basis: the photobook has become almost the normalized standard within art photography even though it is inaccessible as medium (to produce) for most people, and a lot of photographers aren’t pursuing full-time projects funded by grants and what not, but the stigma is there that if you want to taken seriously you need to have a long-term project printed in a book. I don’t think that is the case, and while zines, and unique aesthetic objects like what I made here are definitely not what sells, and hold less “value” on the market, I think they are best tools we have to get something out of our heads and into the world. Short-term printed matter is incredibly valuable in my opinion for the artist themselves to have baby steps of completed projects and practice along their creative journey that can help inform a larger body of work if they choose to tackle one at some point in their creative lifespan.
Great piece of work, Matthew. I agree with you, 100%. Don't get me wrong, I had some great times in the profession I committed to for 43 years and the pay and conditions were decent. However, at 65, I wish I'd worked out what I really wanted to do, retrained (if I'd needed to) and gone for it. Best wishes for the future. Heal thoroughly and make the most of the all-too-brief time we have available to us.
Thank you, Paul! This injury put things into perspective for me, and I realized I was not on the right path. I’m excited to see where this new skill/trade will take me down the road.
That realisation speaks volumes, Matthew. You may find that your new path isn't perfect but it will, no doubt, open up and offer you yet more paths and opportunities. Very best wishes.
Very cool, man! I'm now inspired to do more "short-term" printed projects. I feel like, as photographers, we only place high value on these long-form, long-term projects when we need to do more short-term work. There is power in feeling a sense of completion & in testing the waters to see which direction we are headed.
Oh man, yes, yes, and yes. Photobooks are awesome, but they are expensive, time consuming, and not necessarily what a lot of photographers do on a regular basis: the photobook has become almost the normalized standard within art photography even though it is inaccessible as medium (to produce) for most people, and a lot of photographers aren’t pursuing full-time projects funded by grants and what not, but the stigma is there that if you want to taken seriously you need to have a long-term project printed in a book. I don’t think that is the case, and while zines, and unique aesthetic objects like what I made here are definitely not what sells, and hold less “value” on the market, I think they are best tools we have to get something out of our heads and into the world. Short-term printed matter is incredibly valuable in my opinion for the artist themselves to have baby steps of completed projects and practice along their creative journey that can help inform a larger body of work if they choose to tackle one at some point in their creative lifespan.
💯👌📷
Great piece of work, Matthew. I agree with you, 100%. Don't get me wrong, I had some great times in the profession I committed to for 43 years and the pay and conditions were decent. However, at 65, I wish I'd worked out what I really wanted to do, retrained (if I'd needed to) and gone for it. Best wishes for the future. Heal thoroughly and make the most of the all-too-brief time we have available to us.
Thank you, Paul! This injury put things into perspective for me, and I realized I was not on the right path. I’m excited to see where this new skill/trade will take me down the road.
That realisation speaks volumes, Matthew. You may find that your new path isn't perfect but it will, no doubt, open up and offer you yet more paths and opportunities. Very best wishes.
Very touching triptych.
p. s. I like the plan, Matthew. Library and Info technician will fit your strengths better than a warehouse job (and be less risky 😉) !
I agree, and managing inventory is definitely an added benefit to my CV as managing an archive is similar, just with different methods.