COVID stopped a lot of things from happening for most people around the world. For us, fortunate as we have otherwise been, the only major stoppage has been travel (mainly to Japan).
In a way, this has actually been well timed (only in this circumstance, no other horrors of the year considered), as we had started both become habitual in our travel, rather than fresh and excited.
Seven trips in five years to the point of feeling almost like sharing ourselves between two homes finished with COVID, which coincided with the demise of my faithful EM5 mk1’s as reliable travel companions and changes for both of us in career and life style. Things already felt like they were coming to some kind of end point, COVID aside.
When we go again in the near or more distant future, things will be photographically (technically), possibly environmentally and certainly psychologically different.
“Sunset Men”
The distinctive look of the EM5 files, the open, intrusive naivety of our first trips and the softness of Japan and it’s people pre-COVID may all change.
Now is the time for me to look at my Japan work as a book project (tentatively titled “Japan; ### days”) with a print project used for “proofs” and a separate body of work.
This has been too long coming, but it needed an end point, as a starting point. The book will be the best I can afford, aiming to be a portfolio work in itself with a low number run and will be a turning point for me in how I see my images and how I want others to see them.
Content aside, the physical book will need to sit confidently in my collection.
Step 1.
All files (200+gb) will be exported from my beleaguered computer onto two hard drives. The originals will be re-imported into C1 from scratch. I know my favourites, but I am also aware I have been looking at them in their original processed form for too long. I need consistency and a fresh eye, applying what I have learned over the last few years. Nothing much has changed over those years except my processing, so that inconsistency needs to go and I am excited to see how C1 interprets some of the more troublesome images.
Step 2.
Get all of the contender into files organised by….not sure of the criteria yet, but that will come. It may be as simple as a chronological journey, subject or location based or more of a story form.
Step 3.
Reduce down to the absolute winners, the “best in class” and more powerful files, those that mix well with others, emphasising the images with the strongest emotional connection.
By far the toughest part, I will rely on the editing skills of others at many points of the process.
Step 4.
Print them as a body of work and as proof that my processing is print friendly and again consistent. This will also underline the emergence of a printer’s lifestyle choice I have been avoiding, helping to justify my ownership of two good printers.
Step 5.
The book.
Step 6.
Start again next trip with new gear, a new agenda and new dynamic.