Spain Up Close
Photographs, hand-made paper, oak
2019
Anything looked at closely becomes wonderful. — A.R. Ammons
Before a recent trip to Spain I decided I wanted to make a different kind of trip photo album. Instead of the typical photographs one takes on vacation I decided I would take more intimate shots; I'd close the distance between the viewer and the subject matter. The photo album would have no text; the images would do all the narrating. With these close-up photographs I assumed that context would often be ambiguous, or even missing entirely, possibly making "place" unrecognizable. But would the intimacy of close-up photographs make up for this deficiency? Would someone viewing the album still get a taste of the Spain we saw on our trip, or would this shortened viewpoint give them a dratically altered or distorted view? And if so, was this necessarily a bad thing?
Production notes: This project consists of photographs mounted on hand-made paper. The sheets were gathered together and bound with two oak dowel pins. The two pins fit into two corresponding holes in an oak case. The hand-made paper was purchased but I constructed the oak case. Tools for the case construction included a drill press, table saw, sanders, and basic carpentry hand tools. The case has a tung oil finish.
The Spain book in its hand-made "bookcase."
The back of the case. 
The book is secured to the case with two dowel pins.
The Spain book removed from the case for viewing. 
A typical page.Below are some of the images from the book.
