In the cafe this afternoon, a misbehaving Polaroid SX-70 in front of me. Failed, bad exposures, $3.50 apiece worth of them, strewn on the table. The next table over from me—two women sitting with two young children, boy and girl. I'd hoped to maybe catch a photo or two with the Polaroid but my film pack had jammed on the first exposure, requiring me to fuss with it and lose four frames of eight. The remaining film was taking too long in process to see whether the camera was working properly yet.
"Oh, my mom had one of those!" the younger of the two women spoke in my direction. "I love old Polaroids! Can you still get film?" A conversation ensued. Instagram, her iPhone, my Polaroid images on the iPad ... I never did get the photo, or read my magazine. I did manage to finish my coffee. But another connection made, another neat person who I will remember next time I'm there, who will remember me that next time too. The ways we come together in this environment.
I've been working on a book. A book drawn from the series of photos I've been posting to various venues the past couple of years with the title "Communicating" ... This is what it's about. The book is now done.
Announcing
Ways Together
Studies in Distance and Closeness
by Godfrey DiGiorgi
With a foreword by Brooks Jensen, Editor LensWork Publishing
A full preview is available on my Blurb.com bookstore:
Godfrey DiGiorgi on Blurb.com - blurb.com/user/GDGPhoto
Invitation
I invite you to join me for a reception and book signing. We'll celebrate Ways Together along with eleven other new photo books at
ModernBook Gallery
49 Geary Ave
San Francisco, Ca
August 2 from 5:30 to 7:30 pm
Wine will be served. Copies of "Ways Together" in hardback and paperback will be available for purchase. To reserve a signed and numbered book at the event, or for delivery by postal service, please send an email to godfreydigiorgi@me.com for details.
A photo book is bigger than the photos it contains. The photos speak together, in a larger voice, playing with each other and speaking together as one thing. The feeling I have experienced from doing the book, from seeing the work in print, is different from what I saw as each photograph formed in my viewfinder and on my computer screen. The concept, the intent expanded in the becoming to a book.
The journey from being a photographer to becoming an author has been a challenge drawn out over years. This is my first published book, I can see a goal now. It draws me further.
