Something really exciting arrived today. Back in January I decided to order a specialized photo printer and after several delays it arrived this morning. I will have my own in-house access to photo printing now, an investment I hope will make me able to make more photo books in the future, as well as fine art prints.
During the first lockdown in England last year I made my first handbound photo book, a project I would have done again, had I not lost my printing access after. In the meantime I have worked on the new design for the website and on a zine to be industrially printed, so it seems like the right time to get back into bookbinding again.
I love the tactile experience of using film cameras and handling prints, and to me bookbinding feels like an extension of that. As much as I like showing my own work or view others on a screen and as much as this digital era of online and social media is allowing us to do that, something happens when an image exists as a physical object in the world, especially when much of my work is already about recording things for the future.
I am looking forward to the creative freedom I will now have and can’t wait to get started on the many ideas and projects that have lived in my head until now.
- Lea