I took this photo on Friday on the way to work. I was trying to do something with the shadows on the wall, which were cool, but then a truck drove into the frame at the last second -- and I kind of like the results. Forbidding, sort of, don't you think?
I have had a crazy weekend. I spent Saturday morning cleaning out a tiny gardening shed attached to the exterior of our living room wall. When we moved in it was literally ankle-deep in dirt, old barbecue charcoal, old carpet and plastic bags. It's also been the storage place for a plethora of chemicals and fuels, and is redolent of gasoline. Rather than continue to wait for it to explode, I decided to get rid of all that stuff. I removed three trash bags of debris and will call the hazardous waste people to come for the insecticide. (When I moved one bottle I was dismayed to discover it had been gnawed by mice -- which I noticed only when the contents sloshed all over my hand.)
I also Skyped with my mom on Saturday -- she's got a real estate agent and plans to put the family home in Florida on the market next week. She still seems fine about the decision, as am I, though who knows how we'll feel when someone produces a contract.
I also worked on my new photo book. I haven't really explained this project. For a long time I've had a vague intention to put together a sort of retrospective travel book, with photos taken from my old film negatives as well as newer digital archives, encompassing trips with friends and family over more than 30 years. As you can imagine, it's a hell of a lot of material. I spent much of last weekend sorting through negatives, and I had 85 frames scanned this week. The results were mostly good, and I spent Saturday and Sunday compiling further digital images and uploading it all to produce a book through Blurb. I wound up with a 130-page tome -- and I was super-selective, if I do say so myself. (There's only one image on most pages.) I've ordered a draft copy, which is supposed to arrive by April 24.
Finally, I took Olga to Hampstead Heath yesterday. The weather has been spectacular -- sunny and cool and clear. Londoners are in the streets! I'd take more photos, but I am a bit photo-overloaded at the moment.
Oh, remember the hippie-ish poetry and art books I wrote about a few days ago? I looked online and found out what the collected set -- dubbed The Rainbow Box -- looked like in its original packaging. Here it is! (The wonders of the Web!)
Oh, I love the idea of your photo book. Will it be super expensive to produce/order?
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, that photo is so forbidding and not a little menacing. Fantastic, actually, too!
So funny- I never once in my life recall seeing that Peace Box or its books. I guess it WAS rare.
ReplyDeleteI so admire you for taking your work seriously. It is very much worth taking seriously.
And last but not least- good on you for taking on the job of cleaning out that shed.
I have all of your other books, but this one sounds really wonderful and I'll be excited to see it...You'll let people know when its available for order, please. I'm glad you cleaned out that toxic shed, too.
ReplyDeletethe shadow man looks like he's fixin' to get clobbered by the truck. 30 years of travel in one book?
ReplyDeleteInteresting photo today. It looks like that poor man is about engulfed.
ReplyDeleteI love your idea for the book. I've been chewing on the idea of making some type of book of photos from my years of photographing at the Desert Botanical Garden. You know, when Kodak was still in business, I used to order photo books from them all the time. I loved how they looked. I haven't done a single one since they went out of business and transferred all my stuff to Shutterfly. I've seen their photo books and was not impressed so I never ordered another one.
Ooh thanks for the link to the Rainbow Box - I actually meant to google it myself because it seemed interesting.
ReplyDeleteThat cleaning job does NOT sound like fun. Urgh. But the book sounds fabulous!