of books and procrastination

there is a good conversation being started over at too much chocolate between Shawn Records and Jason Fulford, Alec, and (next week) Richard Renaldi. as always, the talk of books gets my head swimming. i've been telling myself for the past four years - start making books! its always been an issue of the cart and horse i guess. still, books are the thing that excites me most. always has.

i've had a tremendous amount of outside stimulation lately - outside my own head and off line. there were the John Gossage and William Eggleston shows two weeks ago - both liberating and eye opening. Gossage's exhibition catalog/newspaper alone was worth the trip. also, Jen Davis has been in town for the past few days. she is positively lovely, and we have been having a hell of a time, her Adam and I, carousing, sharing many laughs, and talking about photography. i will give her a full treatment in this space later, as her lecture and critique meant a great deal to me, and i think will help me resolve some problems i am having with portraiture.

it has become apparent the past couple weeks though, and thinking about the wide spectrum of the medium and what is possible, what is really important to me. when i take all of this in, and think about my own work and where we are headed, it all still comes back to books. and, to a large extent, community. i've been experimenting with one-off diy books lately, and am more satisfied by the process than i have anything in a while. of course, it all comes down to content. in time.

now, a few single diy and blurb books later as reference i'm seeing the light. yesterday, i met with a local printer, and was encouraged by his excitement. sometimes, i'm frustratingly slow to react. last year i built a website for these phantom books. it sits empty. again, the cart and the horse. as an old bike racing friend of mine was fond of saying - all talk and no cock.

expect the launch of a modest book effort of a new body of work here this summer.