Being bored in the house over the past few weeks has led me to cleaning out the closets and browsing thru old hard drives of photos from years past. It took a bit of digging but I found my copy of a book I was a part of back in 2008. I also found a book I was featured in here in Cincinnati a few years later. Its not that I have forgotten about them, its just, when you work and fall into the daily grind you sometimes leave old works in the dust.
The first book I was asked to shoot in was made for the Maysville, KY Hospice of Hope. It was just a stroke of luck that I was even considered. The writer worked with the designer and the designer was a good friend who I had played in many bands with in that era. If I didn't know him I would never have been considered. It is just the cold hard truth. Timing, luck, and then skill are usually the order in which these kinds of opportunities manifest unless you are a working pro already. I was happy to just be using my camera for a great cause. Its one thing to shoot for you, its another to be shooting for others.
I got the cover and 30 or so shots inside. The cover shot seen above was on top of a hill overlooking the Ohio river. It is a place I used to go just to overlook part of Maysville and adjacent town across the river in Ohio. I feel like it was private property but there were never signs posted back then and no one ever asked me to leave. As you can see in this photo, it is an area where you can forget about whatever is on your mind for a few minutes and just breath in that Kentucky air.
The three seen above are all parts of downtown Maysville. The town has a lot of history to it and I would suggest you do some research on it. Once life is back to normal I would suggest you visit as well. It is a town that can't really be fully described by reading alone. You kind of have to immerse yourself there. It has a small town charm mixed with quite a bit of history that is both good and bad. The slower pace of small towns are something that I miss quite a bit now days.
The few above were fun from what I remember. I've never had access onto and inside of a fully operational plant before until this day. Documentary style photography was not a thing for me back then and it still isn't honestly. I like the end results and the fact that you are preserving a moment in time tho. I am slowly understanding the need for it. It can be hard to understand it coming from a more artistic style mindset because you are always wanting to slow down, find a composition, and create something that will catch the eye of the viewer.
So here we are..........this is the part where I look back in time and realize I played frogger just to get a shot that I thought would look nice. Laying in the middle of a bridge isn't exactly on my current list of things to do but apparently it was back in 2008. I vaguely remember walking to the middle of the bridge and just waiting for that moment when there were no cars coming from either side. I remember putting my hearing as a priority sensory function since we haven't evolved to a time where we have eyes in the backs of our heads yet.
I still believe in the power of unique angles and planned out compositions to this day. I feel like this moment may have solidified my wants to create a photo that no one else has done yet. This is where an artistic mind meets a documentary photograph in my opinion.
A few years later I entered a contest for a book that has always showcased some of the best photographers in and around Cincinnati. I am always kind of insecure about my abilities and as a photographer.....most of us unintentionally look at others work and try to compare ourselves to that. I don't know why this happens but it does. I figured, lets give it a shot and see what happens. I didn't win any awards or accolades but I did get the honor of having a photo selected for the book.
This is always a big deal for any photographer. Our ultimate goal is to get eyes other than our own eyes on our work. It doesn't matter if it is a pamphlet that 2 or 3 people see or a book that 1000's will see. Its just the act of putting it out there and knowing someone might get something out of it that keeps a lot of us motivated.
The photo I entered is the one on the top. Something about that old garage door caused me to stop. You can see the years of use it has worn on it. I'm not sure if that building is operational or not but by the looks of it I would assume it isn't.
For the book I named it "went to lunch, be back......never".
Thanks for taking the time to look over and read this blog. I'm in the final stages of my first ever zine printing and I'm hoping I can get a little traction with it. I'm going to donate all of the income off of it to a local business or charity of my choice. Once the funds reach an acceptable amount I will announce who or what that is.
Stay healthy,
Kevin
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