When I was in college I remember reading a review of a photography book called “Evidence.” I vaguely recall seeing an image or two from the book that made an impression on me. At that time I didn’t photograph, didn’t own a camera that I can recall and certainly wasn’t particularly interested in the art of photography. It was a few years later that I started taking images, using my graduate lab’s darkroom for developing and printing and learning exposure techniques. But I never “Evidence” in a book store. To this day, when in a large used book store, looking through the photography selection, at some level I hope to see that elusive volume.I was suprised then when on the 2point8 weblog, I found a reference to it, complete with authors and a link to Amazon. The book apparently was almost impossible to find, having been a limited edition, but has now been reprinted.
2point8 » Sultan Does Landis, Matter of Factly:Two great things about Sultan’s work. First, his collaborative book “Evidence†of found gov’t photos was the first book that showed me how art might be developed through editing and selection, and that great pictures are everywhere, it just depends on who’s looking (both at the moment of capture, and later on, with a new frame of reference, perhaps).
Will it turn out that my artwork has also been chasing this conceptual work of art this past year? The internet may not be changing much of our lives, but it certainly is providing connections we would otherwise miss.