Lost days, guilt and a bag to pass on.
My older boy turns 14 today.
And to my great delight (and much surprise) he has chosen to study Photography at school for the next 2 years at least.
Photography is a ‘career’ that at best will take you away from family multiple times a year, often for weeks at a time. At others of course it gives you time with your family that full time employment never could but kids don’t see that balance. They just remind you about the days away.
I travelled a lot to make work when my boy was younger. There is guilt embedded there that will never go away but it can not be avoided if photography that involves storytelling is your path. I’m learning and with my younger 4 year old we try to involve him in our work as much as possible, travelling together when we can, bringing him on shoots where possible.
With my older boy that time has gone but the future holds the promise of road trips together making work, him with his own camera now. With his new camera I am passing on one of my Domke bags for him to use. Bought just after he was born in 2012 it has been to over 30 countries, from Europe to the US to the islands of the South Pacific. From minus 24 and deep snow in Eastern Ukraine to a tropical paradise in the midst of the Ocean. It has held both film and memory cards, tools to reset lenses on the run and Opinel knives to make my lunch with. I have had it repaired with the holes in the corners all patched up and the strap replaced. It can only ever be a token gesture for those lost days, but it is something, I hope. And will carry him and his own cameras for at least another 14 years and beyond.
Meanwhile, whilst the research on my new body of work continues, this week I have been busy editing, sequencing and working on the layout and text for a new zine. My fifth made this year, with the working title ‘Fragments’. This new zine looks at the small moments that I pass by and interact with on my travels. The layout is nearly complete and I am currently choosing the images for the special edition prints and postcards and so I hope to go into production next week, with the zine then available in a few weeks time.
The months ahead will be full of research and the continuation of location photoshoots for new work, as well as 2 or 3 book fairs both North and South here in the UK and a panel discussion in London next month at Fuji Film House.
Thank you as ever for reading and I hope you have a good week ahead.
Best wishes,
Marc
