I've been writing about photography on Substack for almost a year now, and I've realised that I haven't shown my own photos that much. I really had to look hard and found a photo here and there, mostly as visual padding or post thumbs.
So now it's time to show you some of my work. As you may have read in my posts I tend to work on long term projects exclusively. This is the most recent project I'd like to show you.
It's a project I've been working on since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. It was the time when everything stopped and when you walked outside all you could hear was silence. Like a blanket of silence falling over you. That was the inspiration for the title of the project. When I started the project, it was not my initial goal to complete it in this form. I wanted to discover what I was shooting. What caught my eye? Why did I press the shutter (or not)? Because of the restrictions during the pandemic, I had to work from home, so I started doing daily lunchtime walks, taking my camera with me. For two years, I photographed whatever caught my eye without thinking about it after the shot. Some days I would come home with a few pictures, some days without taking any.
I walked within a 5km (3.1mi) radius of my house and you'd be surprised how many different things you see, even if you've walked the same route several times. Different light, weather conditions or things happening in the streets change all the time, not to mention the things in your neighbourhood that you never noticed before, even though they were there all the time.
When the project was finished, well when I was done shooting more material for this project, I printed out all the photos, which were about 400, and grouped them into different themes. These themes could be if the photo was mainly based on composition, light or dark, or the subject of the photo. This analysis of my shots taught me a lot about what and how I take my photos. I would recommend any photographer to go through their archive and look for patterns in their photography.
Next to this analysis, I selected my favorite photos and started working on a photo book. I like to end my projects with a photo book in my library. To do this, I had to come up with a sequence of photos. In the video at the top of this newsletter you can see me turning the pages of the book, which is called 'Descended Silence'. The quality of the video detracts from the quality of the photos. The book was printed by Saal-digital and the printing standard is truly exceptional. The cover is made of acrylic glass.
It contains only the photos of the project and a little text on the first page:
”Descended Silence is a collection of photographs taken during the period when the earth stopped and silence descended.This collection is a unique period in recent history, unprecedented and sort of enduring.
A micro overview of a global pandemic.”
Do you turn your projects into photo books? Let me know in the comments and please include a link to your work.
That’s it for this week.
Till next time,
Turn you project into a photo book