So my book dummy arrived last week. yay :-)
It’s kind of funny to notice the different “feels” a particular image has, depending on which medium, or in which circumstance, you view it. Heck even my mood makes me thoroughly dislike an image I’ve loved five minutes before. And vice versa. And this goes on all the time… Being able to delete at the touch of a button is NOT a good thing at these moments :-/
I guess it’s kind of logical that the above is true. but the thing that sometimes floats around in my mind is: is my mood “right”? So will “the” edit be “correct”? What is “correct”? What if i make the “wrong” edit? Is there even such a thing as “the” edit?
Oh my god. Too much parentheses.
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Actually I’m sure that the “definitive” edit is a myth… Every project I do, has at least half a dozen, and sometimes many more edits. All these edits come together in a story: that one, all-encompassing mega-edit that is the sum of all potential useful images. And there’s more: every project has potentially many stories. And to complicate things even further: as a person you develop different visions over time… Imagine keeping all this in mind while you’re making that one edit.
And all you can look at is one image at a time.
Basically I guess it boils down to this:
Know thyself very well, what you stand for, who you are as a person.
What you can, and more importantly, what you cannot do.
Knowing this, is your greatest strength.
As time progresses, definitely in long term, documentary-like photography projects, your vision, your story, your edits, continually adjust themselves and multiply or outright influence each other. Being able to keep track of all these things, is imho a good base to tell stories in a solid way (through different edits/projects) and develop a strong artistic vision (over time, over different projects, as a photographer, as a person, as a storyteller).
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OK sorry… Enough over-analyzing… Basically I just started out writing this because when I held the book dummy in my hands earlier this week, it reminded me of how much pure fun it is to edit and edit and edit again and to foster and see it all grow and come together… I take months to do it, the slower the better. It’s like getting into a brand new relationship with the same images, completely different than the relationship you already have because of making them in the first place… And not at all mutually exclusive… Powerful stuff.
Being able to distinguish between these two “modes” is the key: being able to “divorce” yourself from re-living the moment you took the picture, so you can make that good edit, tell that story.
Of course i’m not forgetting about the major importance of being able to build that initial relationship with your subject(s) in the first place… Because this is where it all starts… If no relationship here, then no chance of ever being able to tell a story, develop a vision… Your own CONNECTION to the subject at the time of photographing… It is the CORE of being able to make a unique story… To be able to feel the story developing in front of you… See your growing vision… To be able to let go of all worldly things and simply get in “the zone” while shooting….
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So it’s crucial to have both. Go figure. Hard thing to do. As if having one of the two wasn’t hard enough to begin with. how on earth can i divorce myself from those “moments”, and look at the picture in a solely media/edit-biased way without instantly being transported back to the moment? and switch back and forth between modes in an instant?
“Hi, i’m anton, picture editor.”
“Hi, i’m anton, photographer.”
What i do to solve this is basically the following: i let time go over the edits. i let places go over the edits. i let people go over the edits.
For example: small prints are hanging up on the wall in my studio in Belgium, natural light, almost clinical, moving around constantly as my mood changes, like an ever-growing edit;
opposed to that,
yesterday night, Taka-san, dear friend and fixer for this project, held this first book dummy in his hands in his tiny smoky four-person-max-occupancy bar in the red light district in Tokyo at 1 a.m., leafing through it over beers in a steady pace, in low light, sometimes pausing, sometimes asking a question. Nodding affirmatively, sometimes even emotional. Then my brother Malik, Taka-san and i light a cigarette, have a beer, and fall silent.
Which situation would you prefer?
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Jeez that was elaborate… Basically only to say that it feels different to see someone literally hold your images in their hands in a book in a far away place in the middle of the night, making their own unique story while leafing through….
We need to talk :-)
gorgeous, rich and interesting work anton.. luxurious looking book as well..
Great work. What else can you say?
When will the book be available?
mhmmmm.. a turmoil of feelings to go through, eh?!
carlo
the book is just in a test stage… i will be looking for a publisher soon… i’ll keep you informed!
cheers
a
eva,
oh yes my dear… i’m always a turmoil of feelings… but that’s what keeps me sane!
:-)
hugs
a
great stuff (both words and pictures). also, i especially like the tattoo shot you sent in your email update.
anxiously awaiting the book.
No matter what you will photograph
No matter how you will edit
it will be made with the eyes, the hands and the heart of Anton
so, it’ll be “rich”
happy and proud to know you :-)
Beautiful Anton. Love the double page bleeds. definitely feel like something that i want to see more of!
beautiful and inspiring words as well. thanks!
Jordan
Anton , Hot shit, Sunshine!
It looks great and I would prefer the bar room edit, you only need the opinion of 3 other people on any given subject after all!
Hi Anton..
Now that is looking like Japan..looking forward to seeing more..
ilse…
i’m proud to know you too, dear….
when do we meet again? i am in belgium till end of march, so we have a month to pick a day :-)
x
jordan, david, peter, all…
i’ll also thoroughly document my search for a publisher for this story… so you will all be kept in the loop.
but because i’m laying out an approach to publish in multiple channels simultaneously, it’s going to be a bit harder to talk to a “traditional” book publisher…. we’ll see. i hope it’ll work out.
cheers and thanks for the comments,
a
glenn my aussie mate :-)
you’ll definitely be one of “the three others” if you want!
:-D
cheers mate, thanks for the reply
a
Anton,
This absolutely looks very promising!
Love the idea of using all of the page without margins, borders, comments,…
And those matching dark and mysterious tones are so fitting the subject!
Seriously impressive work!!
Dominiek
hey dominiek,
thanks… from my side, i’m seriously hoping you’ll at one time document all the travels you’ve done… ‘cos the stories you write about them are incredible!
cheers,
a
Anton, like the dummy, looking forward to the book. I’m usually not a fan of the full bleed: I always say that respect should be shown to a photograph by giving it its own space. Full bleed photographs usually look unfinished to me; as if some of it has somehow dripped over the edge of the page somehow. Having said that, your dummy looks good to me: partly, I suspect, because the vignette gives the photographs a border and partly because I have been looking at photography from japan recently (in particular Daido Moriyama) and the photographs have tended to be full bleed.
Do you find yourself influenced by Japanese photography? Your style is quite loose, almost dream-like: are you using digi or film? O.k. I’m a gearhead.
Mike.
Looking rather sumptuous. How do you feel about the gutter? I’m remain unsure about the gutter warping the images. The gutter issue has held me back in the past on prepping my own book projects. Would like very much to hear your opinion on the gutter.
Some saddle stitched books work with full bleed where every spread opens like a centerfold but not many publishers bind this way, unfortunately.
Cheers,
Paul Treacy
http://paultreacy.com
anton, appreciate you allowing this amazing ‘journey’ to be accessible to all! loving the little sneak-peeks into the work- i think it helps add to the mystery of your subject.
the dummy looks amazing too!!
hey mike!
thanks for your reply…. i don’t know if i am influenced by japanese photographers… simply because i have not seen or studied very many. but on several occasions i have been told that i have a japanese “eye” (whatever that means) by japanese and non-japanese people… so in some way, the culture must be rubbing off into my vision as a whole… and i hope that will be a good thing in the long run :-)
cheers
a
ps i use digital only at this point (used to use an old contaxt + tri-X + agfa developer and ilford papers)
hey jonathan,
my aim is surely to keep documenting my journey…. you will defintely be kept informed…
cheers,a
Paul,
yes i am aware that the gutter has an influence on the center part of the image: i edit accordingly… so i make my edit specifically knowing that my images will lose detail in the centre, and might get minimally cut off at the edges.
I hold Luc Delahaye’s book “Winterreise” as an example, there you also have to “open” the book very far sometimes and “bend the binding” and such, but i like the feel and the “character” of a worn out book a lot more than a book that tries to “stay new” (you know what i mean). so i guess i’ll try to find a way to ecourage people to not be afraid and wear out the book :-)))
i’ll still be looking for good binding nonetheless of course… japan of course has a wealth of expertise in paper & binding, i’ll first go look there i think
cheers,
anton
Anton,
A very compelling series and one I can’t wait to see in a completed form.
Was curious about the visual style you have brought to this piece- a dark,moody,vignetted, and desaturated recipe (seems there is no blue in Japanese outdoors ) that
just seems to nail it.
Did you actively set out with a visual style in mind or did it just evolve ?
I look at another series of yours, ” Sugar”, which is one that has stayed with me since you released it and note that the color palette is quite saturated and
the compositions/subject benefit from an appropriate splash of color.
Again, are you actively setting out with something in mind or are you reacting to a subject and letting that ‘dictate’ the visual language you adopt
for a given project.
Best,
Mark
hey mark,
after the first few months into the project, i started noticing patterns in the color and visual style, that i found suited the story… once i saw those, i guess it all started to evolve in that way. obviously there also custom raw processing, specifically for this project.
even though this project is very much the “picture by appointment” type, i never know what is actually going to happen, so i always set out with a completely open mind… so nothing in my mind…
the subject/situation dictates what i shoot, and in a later stage my vision dictates how/what i edit
obviously my vision will “seep into” the times that i am shooting, but i try to steer clear of consciously “only shooting what fits my vision” because i fear that would limit my growth and experience as a photographer… there is so much to learn
so yes… i think i try to make my mind empty as much as possible so i can react as purely as possible to the subject…
hope that answers your question, ‘t was a hard one :-)
cheers,
anton
I said it the first time I saw a picture of this project in Burn “Anton, absolutely amazing. This essay is the one that I´ve always dreamed of doing…”. Not much more I can say a year later….
Love the topic, the images, the post-pro,….can’t wait to get my hands on that book!
Congratulations again.
thanks ramon…. working hard not to let you down!
take care,
a