Handmade Books

My primary photographic interest has always been in the real 3-dimensional world. The exploration and depiction of ‘landscape’ has been my most important pursuit. The concept of ‘place’ has played a vital role in this pursuit. Since it is often difficult to evoke a sense of ‘place’ or present a complete ‘landscape’ in a single photographic print, I have frequently worked with groups of images often in book format. Books have provided me with a simple way to expand images and to better present the 3-dimensional world as a whole.

For me, bookmaking is an extension of the photographic process: taking the picture, making the print, and finally... editing and assembling a book. Having had little access to inexpensive commercial printing, I’ve instead used traditional photographic prints to construct small editions of books.

I consider some of the many books I have made over the years to be finished works of art. Others are exercises, experiments, or possible steps toward something else. All of the books, however, are, for me, just one aspect of the total photographic process.