The Story of "On My Stand"
How this publication came to be
It started with, what I thought, was a really good idea. And like many of my ideas, it was somewhat selfish in nature: I wanted to get more “use” out of my many photography books besides an occasional turn on the “coffee table circuit”
Like many people, I have quite a few of these “coffee table books” and because I’m a fine-art photographer, my interests tend to skew towards art-photo books. After pondering how to appreciate the works in these books beyond a cursory viewing after I purchased them, I decided getting a book display stand - think dictionary stand - would be the way to go. I could put a book on the stand, turn the pages to a new image every few days as I walked by, and could then enjoy the books at a deeper level than leaving them hidden away on my bookshelves.
While I could have purchased a book stand via the large online retailer, I wanted to honor the artists whose books I owned. I reached out to a local artisan - Robert Berganza - with my ideas, and after a bit of back and forth, he created a wonderful piece that featured beautiful wood and a Japanese-inspired design - no metal connector pieces. You can see more of Robert’s work here.
For the past couple of years, I’ve used the stand to showcase fantastic books of photography and other visual arts. Now, I’d like to share the works “on my stand” with all of you. A few important things to note:
Thus far, all of the books have been either purchased by me or given to me as gifts. The ones I purchased, I chose because something about the work appealed to me. I have not been compensated for featuring any of these books.
Each monthly edition of “On My Stand” will feature some photos from the book’s contents and brief commentary. I am not a professional art critic and will simply extol what excites me about the work.
If appropriate, I will occasionally insert some of my own photography that was inspired by the selected works on my stand. It will be duly noted that the photos are my photos and not those of the book’s author/artist.
This Substack will remain free - I have no desire to profit off of the work of the artists that I will feature. I will, however, be sure to insert links (where appropriate) to the artists’ websites and/or where to purchase the books.
Well, that’s the basic story of how this Substack came to be. I hope you’re willing to join me in viewing some really great artbooks over the course of this publication. To get notified of any new posts, sign up below.
Until next month,
What’s Up Next: What’s On My Stand for January 2024