As they say, every picture tells a story, but sometimes it takes more than one image to tell the complete story. Which is why I signed up for a workshop at Maine Media College, “Bookmaking for Visual Artists”, taught by Cig Harvey. A wonderful opportunity to combine my two loves, photography and books. I begin my travel up the Maine coast this coming Sunday.

I have so many images and projects sitting on my laptop (ashamedly, I’ve printed very few because I was never sure what to do with them all). I’m hoping this class will help me put them to use in a beautiful way.

Just preparing for this workshop has been a learning process in itself. The culling, the printing, the gathering of materials. Since these will be handmade books, I decided to completely make them my own by printing my photos myself, which may or may not have been a good idea given that I don’t own a top of the line printer. But I do love having complete control and ownership of my work.

For the past year or so, I’ve been building a library of photo books from some of my favorite photographers – Clarice Barbato Dunn, Heather Evans Smith, Kate Miller Wilson and of course, Cig Harvey, to name just a few. They are all an inspiration to me. I find there’s something intimate about viewing photos in book form. You can sit and hold it in your hands and take all the time you want with each page.

I’ll admit, there have been moments leading up to this workshop when I’ve wondered if maybe I’m getting in over my head. There are some amazing photographers in this group. But I’ve since managed to rid myself of some of that self-doubt (flashback to my preschool teaching days when I constantly had to remind parents that it is ALL ABOUT THE PROCESS).

I now look forward to a fantastic opportunity to spend a week with 7 talented women, learning, creating, making and sharing with one of the best teachers I could ever imagine. And I hope to be able to share some highlights with you in a future post.

*note- As I write this post, the state of the world is rapidly changing (damn virus!). As far as I know, this workshop is still a go, however, I know this could change at any moment. If it’s postponed, I will be prepared and ready for the next scheduled date.