Photo albums and memories.

Last Sunday was my birthday and one of my presents was this beautiful book called "Photographic Memory. The Album in the Age of Photography" by Verna Posevar Curtis (as recommended in Flak Photo Book). In my last blog I was talking about making a photo book and was looking at ways in which I could make one that was personal, unique and yet looked 'professional' for want of a better word. Anyway, reading through this book inspired my decision to stick to my original idea of presenting it in a style that resonates that of the photo album. Just reading the first page alone filled me with excitement about how beautiful, intimate and powerful these objects are. The following quotation in particular really brings this home to me.

When you hold a photo album, you sense that you are in possession of something unique, intimate, and meant to be saved for a long time. As you turn the pages and look at the images, you imbibe the maker's experience, invoking your imagination and prompting personal memories.

This literally sent chills down my spine. It was exactly the reason why I love photo albums. I love how they feel so personal, how we engage with them and react to them. We look at them we a sense of our mortality, of our time passing. They bring back memories, they engage us with our past. They actually feel like living, breathing objects .. they are so connected to us. I also feel this when looking at other peoples albums .. particularly old albums. I look at the person and engage and question them . I look and wonder. I wonder about the purpose of the image, or what the person was thinking or what they were like. Even with handwritten sub-text we can also impart a piece of our own thoughts and feelings. As Curtis suggests:

While they have authority in their representation of the real world, they are also subjective and open to interpretation, embodying thoughts in pictures. Looking at albums redoubles the storytelling impulse that photographs naturally trigger.

And it is for that reason why I want my book to have the feeling of the classic photograph album. As you can see from these photographs I have posted I love the photograph as an object. I have subconsciously chosen to work with instant film and wet plates, thus allowing an instant image which means I will always have a print of whatever I have taken. My house and studio are full of photographs. I have also posted images to show how I present my work in an album and a box (these are the photographs waiting to go into the album). I also keep a journal. So my objective for my book/album is to recreate feelings of the personal, of the object, of the story. I want you to hold it and share my world with an empathetic eye and heart. I will leave you with one more quote that again tells the story of why I love photo albums.

From the earliest days, albums have been made for the purpose of preserving impressions and launching memories.

It goes on:

Above all, they are personal and handcrafted. The maker or makers handled the album, affixing photographs and often writing captions. If it became a gift, it felt the touch of both the original maker and its recipients.