Friday, 4:10pm
22 October 2010
Catch them before they vanish
Taking a close look at Ken Garland’s little photo books
After the success of his previous set of books, writes Alison Bakker, Ken Garland (see Reputations in Eye 66) has released three more: A close look at landscape sequences, A close look at street graphics of Brighton and A close look at the buddy bears of Berlin. Although he didn’t plan it this way, Garland seems to be making a photographic record of things that are transitory.
His photos capture the places and object that are slowly disappearing from the world – images of which he wishes to remind us.
Above: Spread showing the eastern limit of Brighton beach, facing the Marina, where there is a 100-metre wall completely devoted to graffiti.
‘The street graphics are thriving, but one day Brighton will paint it all out, and the Buddy Bears will eventually disappear, too,’ says Garland. ‘I’m making a record of things I know will not be here forever.’
The paperback books are compact and small enough to fit in your back pocket, and that’s exactly how Garland wanted it. ‘I realised I could make a lot of things in a small format. Every photo works big, but does it work small?’ he asks. ‘It’s about selecting photos that resonate. I just wanted to retreat from big things.’
Above: Spread showing a close-up of a piece of metal on the beach at Crowe Point, North Devon.
The digitally printed books also feature pages with folded fore-edges, which, Garland says, ‘invite you to flip through.’
If you live in the UK, you can buy one of these books by sending a cheque for £10 (made payable to Ken and Wanda Garland), together with your address, to Pudkin Books, 71 Albert Street, London NW1 7LX. The price of each book is £8.50 plus £1.50 p&p. If you wish to order more than one, the p&p for additional copies is a further £1 each. The books can also be ordered online from the Pudkin bookshop. The photo books are limited edition, so order soon before this set sells out. Having sold out the first three books (A close look at tall windows of Mexico, A close look at rickshas of Bangledesh, and A close look at fire hydrants), Garland has printed 50 more, which are also available right now at the same price.
Ken Garland’s website.
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