Been enjoying my break from the photography side of social media. I’ll pop onto my photo account every few days just to check my messages but other than that it’s been out of my daily routine.

Despite checking out of social media and not really shooting much film, I’ve still been connected to the photography world, by way of ordering photobooks and zines! Just a few of the many publications I’ve received lately:

– Death Metal Summer, Ed and Deanna Templeton
– Night Timin’, Domino Film Press
– Learning to See Square, James Holland
– America and Other Myths, Robert Frank and Todd Webb
– William Eggleston’s Guide
– 1949 Days, Leo Robledo
– Diane Arbus: An Aperture Monograph
– The Unseen Saul Leiter

As you can see, a big mix of different styles and eras. Hard to pick a favorite, but I’m always partial to Ed Templeton’s work. The Unseen Saul Leiter was one I purchased without being familiar with his work and it truly impressed me with how simple yet wonderful his photographs were. On the other hand, I was severely underwhelmed by William Eggleston’s book.

Since I’m not actually out photographing anything nor am I posting anything on Instagram, I’ve turned some attention to creating a new zine of my own. The title came to me first and I’ve been building a narrative around the concept. Those 3 rolls of film I mentioned earlier? A lot of those images were gonna be in this zine… *sigh*

One thing I am learning by looking through the publications above is that oftentimes that old adage is true – “less is more”. My previous two zines clocked in at 32 and 36 pages each, but I started thinking of really expanding the page count and switching to “perfect” binding. Well, one day I was able to hold a physical copy of a zine that fit the description of what I envisioned and what I realized is that it didn’t actually quite work for me. Sometimes what you think is best turns out to be something different in reality.

So back to the drawing board (in this case, culling lots of pics I would have otherwise used). Still having fun with the creative process though!