(quoted from the cover article ´David Bowen - sound n vision´,
The British Journal of Photography - 6th march 2002)
i first photographed a party on my own 16th birthday, while my parents cowered upstairs.
it started in earnest though, after i photographed a protest gig in the u.k... after which a single photo was used in a cd booklet and i visited a magazine in london.
this booklet and photos from my first long term project, (photos which were utterly irrelevant to music culture), were all i took to show the magazine and they seemed to like them all.. i remember michelle the picture editor saying "we'll see you again, i am sure".. and the phone started ringing.
this is no where near grand enough to call a ´multimedia-piece´, and is more about saving you time on reading and photo viewing by blending the two.
enjoy.
The British Journal of Photography - 6th march 2002)
i first photographed a party on my own 16th birthday, while my parents cowered upstairs.
it started in earnest though, after i photographed a protest gig in the u.k... after which a single photo was used in a cd booklet and i visited a magazine in london.
this booklet and photos from my first long term project, (photos which were utterly irrelevant to music culture), were all i took to show the magazine and they seemed to like them all.. i remember michelle the picture editor saying "we'll see you again, i am sure".. and the phone started ringing.
this is no where near grand enough to call a ´multimedia-piece´, and is more about saving you time on reading and photo viewing by blending the two.
enjoy.
17 comments:
the two girls sitting in the green grass while a cruise liner sails past on the sea behind them.
now that is a good photograph.
I agree. The timing of that shot in the slide show. Good job Dave enjoyed it very much. Let me know if I can contribute in any way.
What a brilliant idea to involve us like this. I will be watching your progress if you continue to update here.
I too am beginning to feel my way into a substantial book from material gathered since 1994 on New York streets now that I've left there and settled in London.
It's all rather daunting.
Best wishes to you in your massive endeavor. Looking forward to seeing the finished piece.
thanks all - i will carry on making posts over the next month as it nears completion..
paul - it is daunting and i guess i am trying to make it look easy.. negative editing is probably the most challangeing i think.. contact sheets would be better.
unfortunately because of various states i was in after each commission i can sometimes find it difficult to remember the context of some photos.. my archiving has been poor..
getting there and thanks again.
dan - great to talk to you last night mate.. will certainly bear your kind offer in mind..
Hi David, one thing that struck me is how many of these photos i have seen before. Maybe that is just because I know the 'narrative' as you all it better than others.
You spoke about the book having a couple of aims / themes. Might it be a good idea to break and compile the photos loosely around those aims and present them in your blog? You can then ask specific questions of the viewer to see if it teases out the themes which you want and choose to use or discard as appropriate?
haha - well spotted darragh.. i am trying to hold back as much of the unseen work as possible.. this work has either been on my blog since 2005 or 6, or is on my website.
the main reason is wanting to keep the real juice in store for closer to publisher meetings.. i thought if i publish online too much of what migth be in the book, why would people want to buy the book? rest assured there are some corkers.
i get your idea on themes and that's kind of how it is working out. i have been building short stories out of the photos which will blend into the whole.. some metaphors to take care of some ideas, other more literal photos to tell it like it is..
it's funny you know - i have just thought that when we met in 2004 i had already been going for 6 or more years.. more time than we have now known each other..
so.. the other thing i am doing is working in sets of pairs aesthetically.. finding photos which belong together purely for formal reasons..
thanks for the comment mate - will reply to yer facebook also..
d
i've been involved in producing a book with Zed Nelson - www.zednelson.com - for the last 3 years - from shooting, right the way through research, production and design decisions - it's been a long and arduous process, with the final book coming out via a respected publisher later this year.
i think your best bet is to get your initial sequencing sorted out with the small pictures (looks like you're doing that anyway) and then show it to a couple of people you trust. set aside a day or two to really go through the pictures and try different combinations, facing pages etc. take a photographic record of the final layout with digi snaps.
i'm not sure how you would present a finished project to a potential publisher; zed got his publisher on board with a project that was 2/3 finished; I went to a conference with Dewi Lewis and Chris Boot, and the impression I got was that they liked to oversee bodies of work in progress; I guess it will be a case of adapting your pitch for different publishers, or researching to find a publisher whose aims and output match your work... or alternatively to self publish (and i'm not talking blurb..)
whatever - one thing that we did discover is that if you want to get a photography book published these days, you have to "bring money". - this either means you find a sponsor or benefactor, or you sink personal funds into the production. there's not many photography books these days that are funded entirely by the publisher.
David, thank-you for inviting my opinion on John's blog. I'm sure you're in good hands with DAH, such a generous guy! I had the pleasure of attending Magnum Workshop New York in '08 with Costa Manos. He's another generous and gifted teacher. One day he pulled out this little plastic box. It turns out he is re-editing his book American Color and he had the whole book in that little box on business card size inkjet prints. He said he carried it around with him when he travelled so he could contemplate the order, pacing, and page spread combinations (he doesn't spread photos over the fold). I thought this was an interesting technique. It betrayed the consideration and craft that goes into a book. I guess it's like dancers, eh, they always want to look effortless and light on the stage?
I'll give you my personal opinion about your photos and it probably reflects more where I'm at in my life and photography. You have a lot of lovely images (I enjoyed hearing how your career developed too). Really, I like your idea of photographing around the event rather than the event itself. I often question when I see party photos what they are trying to leave to history. Music appreciation is one thing but it also seems to capture a lot people just yearning for ecstasy and escape. It leaves a sour taste in my mouth, the inevitable end of the party and the let-down. I don't mean that as a condemnation, more that I expect more from many party photos than that story. I hope they tell more about people and their search for meaning in life. I do see this in many of your photos, sub-stories of togetherness, joy, connecting with others, enjoying beauty, personal freedom, humor...I thought it might be useful to to point this out. You know...what do you want people to keep from reading your book, what will they get out of it?
Ian
IAN
yes - i know what you mean about party photos.. ordinarily the ones i have seen published are for fans of the scene.. happy clappy photos which leave little in the way of explaination.. my hope is to fill in gaps with words.. i have an excellent writer on board and although it´s a little way of i believe there are combinations of photographs which will work out well.. one thing i have read which david said about his hip-hop project which was a help is that he did not use his best phtoos.. rather he used the best photos to tell the story. right now i am dreaming about this project many nights and hopefully that is a good thing.. it is certainly allowing me to order-in-my-sleep.. a less confusing way than during waking life :ΓΈ)
many thanks for the comment.
BEN
yes - a close friend is back from a new york meeting with publishers and they loved his work - they also wanted 40 000usd from him to publish it.. by way of explaination they gave the credit-crunch, although i guess in an ideal publishing world it would always be the phtoographer who is taking the risk.
the sequencing is turning out to be good fun now.. as i mentioned above.. new ideas spring to mind once the 6by4´s are on the table and discussions are helping a great deal.. all i am hoping for with david AH´s help is an overseeing act.. a respected opinion and harsh critique is possible.. and the ordering.. even presentation on page, size, facing or following page.. i want to try and nail all that myself.
with approaching the publisher i am aiming to first gain some publicity from somewhere.. an exhibit.. some pre press.. something which will be suitable to stick under the publishers nose.. i´m also doing a great deal of research to prove the market for my book.. by way of example - in the u.k. electronic music is the 3rd highest selling, yet it is under represented everywhere.. from calanders to books.. i´m trying to climb into my all-to-uncomfortable business head for the PR and approaches, since i guess selling a book is a business move just as much as an artistic venture..
pragmatism is perhaps the name of the game in the current climate..
thanks again for dropping in ben.. looking forward to june in the smog..
david
IAN
also - thanks for the DAH story.. great.
so far i have ´got my prints out´ for my photography class in collage, friends at home and the like.. it is a constant consideration right now.. there are some lopvely little sequences building up.. tieing three or four photos together and then finding a thread to stich them to another short run.. i´m finding there are any number of ways to approach this ..
cheers
Blurb should always be a consideration, I think. The quality is there. It's less expensive than fronting some money to do it with at traditional publisher.
Blurb can provide the end product. You still need to edit, sequence and design the thing. There is no reason whatsoever that a Blurb manufactured book cannot sit alongside traditionally produced books on store shelves. It's all in the distribution.
Blurb is another tool that we all have access to. It can be sloppy or it can be gorgeous. It's up to the individual, ultimately. I'd consider it carefully. I certainly am for my projects.
Photohumourist.com
hey paul.
likewise i am and have been considering blurb for some projects.. it is a good resourse to have at hand for some projects..
the thing is that i want this book to serve certain purposes after the event, which means i would like it tied to a publisher and distribution deal.
blub does have it´s advantages for sure, although it does not hold up as the folio piece i am hoping to produce..
it is perhaps in part an ego thing, however i know it is also tied to my passion and the time, expense and trouble that has gone into producing the work.. i would like the reward of a publisher and a deal i will be proud of.
at some point i may use blurb for presentation purposes.. to test the layout and feel of the book..
i remember DAH once saying that books do not earn money - and if not earning money it´s important to at least gain the respect of an association with a proper publisher.
of course i have to yet see what is going to be possible - aiming high has always been in my game though and hopefully that approach will bring some rewards.
on the money side of things i have thought about approaching an old client, festival or publisher, to see if some kind of sponsorship might be possible..
there are always ways and means if the motivation and self-belief is there.
i´ve had a response from john vink who i asked an opinion of and he has kindly responded thus;
¨I found the story idea and its approach very interesting, but thought the pictures were a bit scattered all around, going many directions. They don’t seem to link to each other. Gathering a group of pictures, regardless of their individual qualities, under one title doesn’t make a story. There is no real visual thread here and it makes it hard to grasp the content.¨
which is fairly spot on i think...
here is my reply..
¨it is interesting, i hope.. and you are right.. the photos for now are scattered although it is getting there.. what i am finding is groups of pictures which really illustrate what i am trying to do.. separate groups of between 4 and 10 which tackle the individual points i need to cover.
so i am trying to edit with chapters in mind, although i want the book without chapters i think.. there will need to be some element of randomness i think - a subliminal indication of the utter madness therein perhaps.
bringing them together now, over the next month, is turning out to be a lot more fun than i had thought and also a lot more of a challenge than first guessed.. you are spot on.. scattered photos under one name remain scattered snaps.. it is getting there though..¨
any thoughts?
one more in from the esteemed ´stupid photographer´
¨I've been stupidly in love with your stuff from the moment I first saw it. I don't see anything in the slide show that I would cut from the book. I'd make it a nicely thick one, you have the material. I'm not a big fan of editors who believe photo book consumers are incapable of getting a grasp on books that cannot be absorbed in one sitting. My favorite photography books are huge in scope, impossible to comprehend in one pass. That is what I love about them. They establish a relationship with me. I must stupidly return to them, over and over again, extracting something new each time. Looks to me like you're on that exact track. Can't wait to get a signed copy!¨
blown away really.. stupid photographer is anything but.. and having expected a much tougher crit it´s left me a little .. well.. complimented.
find his stupid blog here.
http://stupidphotographer.blogspot.com/
David :)))
First let me congratulate you on your velvety, amber voice. fuck yea man, fuck the book, you need to do a documentary with your lush voice-over! :))...No wonder youre beloved at the school! ;) Anyway, I enjoyed watching your piece and I've enjoyed looking at the pics here and elsewhere as they've begun to emerge. Let me first say, that I completely agree with Ben: the photograph of the two young girls in the grass with the ship in the background is a magical and real pic: ghosts of Koudelka's Irish Ferry, Bendiksen's leaping boys in soviet lost-land (in Bakul) and from Lynne Ramsey's films....just a miraculous and great pic, not the least of which is because of it's distance....just cinematically a keeper: fuck yea, I'll take it! :))
I also COMPLETELY agree with Stoop (Stupid photographer). I see this book, in contrast to Charles book Touch My I'm Sick, as a behmouth: long, dirty, memorial and memorable, thick and dusty and something that sure as shit cant be easily digested: it's about more than the music scene. I want large # of pics, the only way to begin to thread this kind of project. This aint the poetry of The Americans, its the sweat of 'Back in the Day" (you know the book?). I think that A Case History is a great recommendation (and one of my favorite books as well, fuck, I love all of Mikhailov). Great recommendation Stoop. If you were on this side of the Atlantic, i'd lend you my copies: of both A Case History and Unfinished Dissertation. I think books, as Stoop suggests, should be wrestled with, thumbed over, gnawed away, not swallowed quickly between the aisles and check out. Moreover, you spoke about this being as much biography as it is a meditation on the Music scene you covered. Music is always about loss of time, now truer than ever: think of the Goa raves...i mean, there ain no time at all but the NoW time, which is endless. Like listening to Coltrane or Sandinista or Shastokovich or Glass or DJ Dmitri after bud, there aint no time but the ur-time and that's what this book needs. I love the pic of the girl with the lunging tongue and i dig the pic of the guy on the swings, but i want to see pics that also reflect your exhaustion, your ennui, yur self-doubt....something that contains the a & o of what 10 years in the life of the inspired and demoralizing music world was like...never mind the bollacks, wack it out! I want to see the great stuff (like 2 girls on grass or the yellow fever dance dream) but also the outtakes...maybe it's my punk/surfer heart which hasnt left this 40 year old, but haiku aint just about the shortness of the breath but about the length of the resonance...something, to me at least, the photo world in all their clean/clear 25-pic essay, 80-=pic book still dont get....there will always be precise books...but how does one tell that to Sigur Ros.....
how does one begin to tell a story?....it's an impossibility, right...it took frickin' Proust 3000 pages to tell the story of the memory of a single moment....and still wasnt enough...and it took basho to tell the story of a life in a single line....so, for me, it all comes down to this....if u decide that this book aint about the music book, but is a Caroll-esque journey through the keyhole of your life before your young tiger, tell it large and fat and sloppy...the photo world may thing your full of shit, but your son will cherish it....and i know only this:
i feel bereaved that I dont have enough stories from my father and that I wont be able to tell my son enough of my own life....
im with stoop...sing it out, whatever that may be...
keep me updated
hugs
bob black
bobus.
emailed you already my friend and so for the benefit of those checking here - something has changed with the posts and thought provoked by your and stoops posts.. yep - bang on with mikhailov.. i think i have been trying too hard.. for certain..
so here is how it will go.. i have no inclination to the idea of yesterday and regardless of fears such as thoughts and projections of others it´s GOT to be an epic.. so right.. and if i can make some feel the tiredness, stress and mind-fuckness of some of the journey then it will succeed.
and so.. looking for more now and screw the numbers game.. photos of my living in the studio.. scruffy hotels.. some of the darkness might well have to be presented in words, howevere what i have on film in terms of outtakes will be considered for the edit now.
so moving on from this first post is a joy.. just as i had hoped there have been perceptional changes which will feed the idea.. yesyes.. fuck music and clean snaps.. lets see if i can weave subliminal wonders and take more into consideration..
the idea of a clean crisp look at what the scene is like gradually dissipates and now i´m thinking more about chemical induced madness.. freaking people out and generally bearing it all..
tucking back into the nmegatives with renewed vigour and eyes scanning for the whole story.. less about others and more about myself.
thanks so much again..
fresh wind blowing in the sails now..
david
Dave
I got onto this late but have finally watched it. I'm less qualified to comment on the finer points of the edit that most of the folks above but really enjoyed the presentation and being talked through it by you. proud of you chuck.
look forward to seeing it evolve :o)
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