PDN - March 2012

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

PHOTO DISTRICT NEWS
www.pdnonline.com
Volume XXXII Issue 3 March 2012

ONE OF THE MOST NAGGING PROBLEMS FOR PROFESSIONAL photographers is the perception that new camera technologies make photography so easy anyone can do it. In our DIY Issue we interview photographers who defy this conventional wisdom by making things very, very difficult for themselves.

We talk to photographers who are creating unusual, even one-of-a-kind images using cameras they constructed from scratch. Photographer Lauren Henkin, who has produced two limited-edition artist’s books of her images, talks to other photographers who crafted their own handmade photo books, involving themselves in every step of the process, and in some cases even doing their own binding by hand.

Some of the photographers we interviewed took the DIY approach as a way to solve a problem. Wish there were a magazine that showed the kind of photography you like? Start one yourself. Want to show your images in a new way, or bring them to a new audience, but don’t have a gallery? Find a location and make your own show. The latest camera technology can’t help you create the kind of images you want to make? Find some parts, and build a camera yourself.

The pride and excitement that these do-it-yourself photographers express, however, is about more than a job well done. They enjoyed a deep engagement in their craft. Chris McCaw, for example, says that when he works with a camera he has constructed himself, he is “more physically involved in the process” of taking a picture than he would be if he were simply looking and snapping the shutter. Book artist Laura Russell talks to Henkin about “the feeling of accomplishment that comes from working with my hands” to make a book that becomes an art object unlike any machine-made book. The objects they create also demand something of us, the viewer. In an age when photographs are endlessly copied and disseminated instantly, Henkin chooses to reproduce her images in books printed in editions as small as 20 copies. At a time when we are used to seeing a flood of images on screens, she has turned to the old craft of letterpress to add to her book’s touch and feel, and to remind everyone who picks up a copy that it is the product of considerable care and craftsmanship.

The photographers we interviewed in this issue are finding creative outlets not only through photography but through their work as inventors, craftsmen, curators, designers and publishers. Seeing a project through from conception to execution can be satisfying, I know. Still, I was surprised when Lori Vrba said that conceiving and installing her own exhibition in a historic house in New Orleans was a “life changing” experience. Turning an unrenovated home into an exhibition space was difficult: The lighting was poor, the plaster was crumbling and any guest who went upstairs to use the bathroom would be able to see the kitchen through a hole in the floor. But when she was done mounting each piece, she saw that the space worked with her prints and her prints worked with the space. “It was the first show where I wasn’t nervous or intimidated,” she says. In the end, she had made an exhibit that was not just a grouping of photos, but a complete installation that delighted visitors and helped her to see her work in a new way. That’s a satisfaction that goes beyond a job well done.

EDITOR HOLLY STUART HUGHES

Executive Editor David Walker Senior Editor Conor Risch

Managing Editor Meghan Ahearn

Photo Editor Amber Terranova Technology Specialist Dan Havlik

Creative Director Darren Ching Art Director Frank Webster

Regular Contributors Edgar Allen Beem, Kristina Feliciano, Jay Mallin, Theano Nikitas

SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, NIELSEN EXPOSITIONS CHRISTOPHER MCCABE

VICE PRESIDENT, PUBLISHER THE PHOTO GROUP

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Graphic Production Artist Jessica Farley Circulation Lori Golczewski

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