Love my dummy

4-8-13 update:  Well as sands shift and people's words in poem and song (not released or sung and told on back porches) move from story to story, my work morphs from shape to shape in my woodshed. What is a woodshed (used in jazz circles as wood-shedding) to me?  The woodshed is a place (a very magic place I experienced as a child) that my grandfather worked in.  Out of it came wonderful things made of wood, not high craftsmanship but oh-so soulfully made with love and creativity.

I was blessed enough to have crossed the Atlantic with him and my family when I was 14 yrs old. He had fought in the US Marines in WWI and wanted to see Germany as a civilian in peace time. His last name Elsasser (German) came from Alsace (French) or "Elsass" (German).  He had told my aunt years before, the last thing he wanted to do before passing was to see Germany again.  As life can be, he died (right next to me) on a plane going from Germany to England. I am amazed as life plays so much like fiction.  I love the line in "Jungleland" that Springsteen wrote "The poets down here don't write nothing at all, they just stand back and let it all be."  Indeed, I thought I heard Philip Glass on American Masters say to the effect "there is a river underground where the music is and I just have to listen."  I have been thinking about doing a book about my grandfather for a while now,so maybe that river is more clear to me now. It will be interesting for me to balance a plan with my intuition as I tend to work best in non premeditated ways.

I finally got to cross the Atlantic again in March 2013 to visit Matisse and one of many other artists' favorite places to visit. There will be a quiz.

So what about "Tips and Tales" did I digress (lose discipline) or just claim "a stream of confusion" writing style?  I will just have to shoot from the hip if there will be anything here to read, real writing is not my job at this time.  Well "Tips & Tales" has morphed into something called "Break, Enter, Hunt, Gather".  I really wish I had a dummy to bring to Photolucida done, but I do not. I am very pleased with it thus far.  This does not mean as a title, book or body of work I have tossed "Tips & Tales" to the hounds, I have not.

8-15-12 update:  Join me on the back-stretch of a hair pulling, mentally taxing, spiritually rewarding August sweatshop. If you like me are still tweaking your first book this is an excellent opportunity. I have been continuing work on mine but here is a perfect reason to bring it to its next stage of finalization. 9-10-12 Deadline (I will have to check to see if I can send in my Dummy book's updated version or will have to send the first dummy).

Either way, a great chance for people to get their work under important eye balls.  "First books eligible for entry include those produced via print-on-demand." See all details here- Aperture

I thought it might be fun to loosely document my progress and changes on the book, above is a roughed in copy of the front cover I am playing with. Also if you missed the post LOOK3 (editors & my dummy book) . Here are more recent notes and photos for the book. 

The book will be longer and hardbound, here is the current dummy showing all pages.

LOOK3  is what has pushed me harder on this project, I am hoping to get a real publisher interested and there is a ton of good work out there, so I want to bring my design to a more innovative place that engages the viewer in a different way than photo books have in the past.

LOOK3 (editors & my dummy book)

After my visit to LOOK3 I want to push the design of my book "Tips and Tales" farther. I am mostly pleased with its edit and sequencing but after LOOK3 things have changed a little.  Here is a complete look at the book: "Tips & Tales"

After meeting with some incredible editors National Geographic Magazine senior editor Pamela Chen ,  independent Michael Davis,  and from VII Photo Donald Weber I feel encouraged to push the overall design. I needed to take it to the event and give people in the know a look. I am happy with the images and the flow of the sequencing as they were for the most part. Which is a very good thing.

Donald Weber opened my head up to new possibilities in photo book design, and said my book was like "A demented (American) fairytale".  Yes I agree.

Homer is not in the book but I certainly enjoy tipping my hat to the strange things I find, sometimes the ironies astound me. This is certainly part of my aesthetic at times.

Pam Chen mentioned working in locational notes to help show the implied underlying narrative is nationwide not localized.

Finally Michael Davis was extremely helpful in identifying some tendencies in my work I am some what obliquely aware of, that I need pay attention to. It is hard to describe Michael other than extremely supportive, sensitive and generous. I highly recommend people consider working with him. Thanks Michael also for mentioning PhotoLucida to me, people if you are of the fine art ilk for lack of a better term it should not be missed.

All three person's integrity came right to the forefront in my brief time with them. Each were very supportive and helpful, each enjoyed the images and felt most of them had a strong voice. I will try to add more later when I check my notes, so remember these are my recollections.


Being a fine art photographer I did not know what to expect, (but what I received was excellent insight into what my work was about) because the editors backgrounds are mostly focused on journalistic photography.  I am glad I kept an open mind and showed them my work.  One of the greatest things in photography in the last I guess 10-15 yrs. is all the lines are blurred and cross fertilization is ram-pit.  Labels can keep people from looking at different work that is not in their specific arena, which is narrow minded and elitist.


I am grateful I got to meet specifically each of you cause I had no idea who to show the work to and just let the univern.  Thanks so much!
I have been a little out of touch with the photo book as I have been studying mostly painters since 1996 or so.  After LOOK3 and a good look at the many Aperture books (all on view at LOOK3) I have missed, not to mention the 25+ books at the event published in all manors and displayed. I have been brought up to speed.  Editing for me fortunately is not time dependent as it is in journalism so my images have plenty of time to sit still and I can see if they still have a strong voice very much later.  This is very important in editing my work so that the romance of lots of effort can fade well into the past and not effect my choices.  Being to too emotionally close to images can be problematic.

LOOK3 incidentally is a fantastic photography festival be there in 2013 or wait for 2015. It is three years on one year off.  It does have a fine art focus in addition to it's journalistic roots, its first year guest was none other than shadowy figure Joel-Peter Witkin

This year they had Camille Seaman
(a very sensitive and spiritual woman I had the great pleasure to speak with at length) among others.  More on LOOK3 later, this is keeping me from my camera work. No wonder I posted nothing in 2011.