In my organizational system, these images go in the “Intimate Landscape” folder. It’s a term I first saw describing Eliot Porter’s work. As I walk through the landscape, whehter its surburban, a city, or a trial in the forest or park, I look for these little assemblages that remind me of still lives. An arrangement of shop and gesture is all, created by the light.
In his book, How I Make Photographs, Joel Meyerowitz describes how creating a group of representative photos for a project help keep the project alive and on track by providing a prompt to think about what’s working and what’s not as well as where the project can go. A photographer doesn’t have a book manuscript generally, they have a big body of work with developed themes and projects. Shows and publications are the product of the work, very unlike the act of sitting at a keyboard and typing out the product.
These intimate images are a constant theme of mine, an endless source of motivation to see potential photographs out in the world. Better to see and have a camera ready, I’ve found.