Zines : Long Version
Long photographing on the streets of Tel Aviv and publishing on the Internet made me wonder whether substances made of pixels and uploaded into a blog or Facebook were proper presentation for something as substantial as photograph. Virtual media may facilitate access to broader audience, but it also inevitably shortens the photograph life - scrolling the timeline of facebook or flikr down causes posts to disappear and most of the people will not ever see them again. There are ways to organize favorite work, however how many of us get back and re-browse photographs? Virtual publishing makes photographs virtual as well. They aren’t truly there. They are nowhere. Not even in the photographer’s archive, as there they are as inaccessible as a pile of negatives.
Photographs used to be objects in the past. They were saved as souvenirs, put in albums, hung on walls. They could be touched, lost, found, given to others. Each image was as unique, as a piece of paper it was printed on and it also shared its life and fate.
Book publishing endues photographs with another dimension, which is absolutely impossible to achieve in any other format - photographs may have a narrative if organized and looked at in proper sequence and sets. Not a narrative illustrations present, illustrating articles, but rather as two photographs juxtaposed together on a spread may have some basic bond between them, some narrative derived from their placement, which isn’t related to the actual events depicted. Just a visual echoing of one another. There is also the sequence of spreads - books are paged through in a particular order, resulting in visual ups and downs like in a movies. Though to me, main difference is that photographs don’t have to have a plot. At least not in a way we are used to the plot in movies. They are more like a classical music - a sequence of symphonic sensations, only that the sensations are visual. This can’t be achieved on the Internet, nor at an exhibition, where pictures are looked at much more randomly and people are tired and distracted.
Around August 2013 I decided that my photographs are to become physical and that books would be the best format of that physical appearance. I ventured into print-publishing, totally ceasing any electronic publication. Two books summarizing the pre-print period were published and are now available on Blurb and in select bookstores of Tel Aviv.
Having done that, I decided to preserve two important aspects of electronic publishing - accessibility of the ongoing work and timeliness of its presentation. Books can’t be published too frequently and usually summarize long period of work, thus falling short of dynamics and interactivity. Seems like the author is asleep for a year and then wakes up to publish a well-thought and fundamental body of work and then goes back to sleep for another year or two. Thus, along with the books I set off to publish a monthly photozine featuring my ongoing photography. To facilitate accessibility I distribute a small run of twenty copies for free in bars and cafes of Tel Aviv. It may also be purchased from MagCloud POD store for a symbolic price, which helps me to continue this project.
As of September 2013 my books are also on sale at the Bauhaus Center Bookstore, Dizengoff 99, “Librairie du Foyer” bookstore at 14 Kikar Masaryk and the “Sipur Pashut” (Straight Story) bookstore in Neve Tzedek, Tel Aviv.
Photographs used to be objects in the past. They were saved as souvenirs, put in albums, hung on walls. They could be touched, lost, found, given to others. Each image was as unique, as a piece of paper it was printed on and it also shared its life and fate.
Book publishing endues photographs with another dimension, which is absolutely impossible to achieve in any other format - photographs may have a narrative if organized and looked at in proper sequence and sets. Not a narrative illustrations present, illustrating articles, but rather as two photographs juxtaposed together on a spread may have some basic bond between them, some narrative derived from their placement, which isn’t related to the actual events depicted. Just a visual echoing of one another. There is also the sequence of spreads - books are paged through in a particular order, resulting in visual ups and downs like in a movies. Though to me, main difference is that photographs don’t have to have a plot. At least not in a way we are used to the plot in movies. They are more like a classical music - a sequence of symphonic sensations, only that the sensations are visual. This can’t be achieved on the Internet, nor at an exhibition, where pictures are looked at much more randomly and people are tired and distracted.
Around August 2013 I decided that my photographs are to become physical and that books would be the best format of that physical appearance. I ventured into print-publishing, totally ceasing any electronic publication. Two books summarizing the pre-print period were published and are now available on Blurb and in select bookstores of Tel Aviv.
Having done that, I decided to preserve two important aspects of electronic publishing - accessibility of the ongoing work and timeliness of its presentation. Books can’t be published too frequently and usually summarize long period of work, thus falling short of dynamics and interactivity. Seems like the author is asleep for a year and then wakes up to publish a well-thought and fundamental body of work and then goes back to sleep for another year or two. Thus, along with the books I set off to publish a monthly photozine featuring my ongoing photography. To facilitate accessibility I distribute a small run of twenty copies for free in bars and cafes of Tel Aviv. It may also be purchased from MagCloud POD store for a symbolic price, which helps me to continue this project.
As of September 2013 my books are also on sale at the Bauhaus Center Bookstore, Dizengoff 99, “Librairie du Foyer” bookstore at 14 Kikar Masaryk and the “Sipur Pashut” (Straight Story) bookstore in Neve Tzedek, Tel Aviv.
Back to short description
Читать на русском языке
Previous issue announcements with the sample spreads and more.
All photozine issues at MagCloud POD service.
My books are available at the Blurb bookstore
Читать на русском языке
Previous issue announcements with the sample spreads and more.
All photozine issues at MagCloud POD service.
My books are available at the Blurb bookstore