When I began the process of publishing Displaced, nearly 2 years ago, I learned of a world that I never knew existed, that of fine press and handmade artist books. Inge Bruggeman, who did the letterpress printing for that book, had shown me other projects that she completed herself or worked on for others. I was immediately engaged and inspired by what I saw—the most beautiful books I had ever seen, all made by hand.

I knew then that I wanted to explore that world, to delve and challenge myself to make something that was equally indicative of what fine craft could be. There weren’t many examples to see in the photography world. I knew of Ray Meeks’ beautiful handmade books, I also saw what Vicki Topaz had been able to accomplish with her book, Silent Nests, which started as a handmade publication which eventually led to a book deal with a European publisher.

I produced Displaced with the help of a grant, and without much planning, became more and more immersed in the fine press world.

This past week, I exhibited Displaced and Silence is an Orchard at the international Codex Book Fair, held in Berkeley, CA. It was a convention with about 125+ exhibitors from around the world. There were many artists from the United States, but also represented were Russia, France, Mexico, Germany, England, and other countries. I was truly blown away by what I saw—works made to look and act like books, but crafted to levels I never imagined.

It was a grueling event, a 10-12 hour investment everyday, standing, talking to people, networking, and learning. I had never been in a position of showing my work in that kind of setting before, a trade show for for printmakers. I was sharing a table and trying, in the 30 seconds or so that you have with buyers, to communicate who I was, why I do what I do, and why they should care. We should all have to go through that exercise.

I wanted to show you in some of the images below what I discovered there (please forgive the poor imagery) as well as my thoughts on what I ascertained, in case any of you would like to join me in trying to infiltrate this market. What I learned was vast, some of which left me optimistic, some of which didn’t.

I went to Codex for a few reasons: to learn from other artists, sell some books, expose my work to a completely new audience, and leave with some sense of how to move forward.

Who Exhibited
It seemed that the vast majority of artists exhibiting would classify themselves as ‘printmakers’ in some fashion. It felt mostly like traditional printmakers, artists producing etchings or woodcuts or simply working with typography. From what I could tell, there was only 1 other photographer there like myself, showing their own book of photographs. There were others using photography, but not as their primary medium.

Who Attended
Attendees were primarily other artists from printmakers to bookmakers to letterpress printers to binders to hobbyists to papermakers. Beyond that group, there were also university librarians, individual collectors, material suppliers, and educators. It was a diverse group, filled with people that I would not normally have been exposed to. I had many wonderful conversations with people interested in bookmaking and unique methods of storytelling.

What I Learned
There was an obvious lack of photography represented at this event. The people I presented my work to who were not photographers seemed to wonder what kind of prints they were, platinum? photogravure? etchings? When I explained that they were inkjet prints they seemed surprised. I don’t know if it’s because of the quality of the prints or that inkjet could live up to their expectation of what ‘fine printmaking’ was. I honestly felt, for the first time in my career, like my prints, because they were photographs were ‘less than.’ In fact at the end, someone said to me, “I heard the other photographer was ‘having a hard time too.’” Hmmm. My fear was that this was actual evidence of how a decline in our community’s commitment to the craft of printmaking will effect us in the long term—being further segregated.

I also learned that is indeed a difference between what photographers expect to see in their books compared to followers of fine press. In the photography community, I’ve made what is expected, a book with a series of images, without much text, that lulls the viewer into some other world which I’m sharing with them. In this fine press/book arts world, there was clearly an emphasis on the relationship in every spread between text and image. Simply put, I felt that I had lost a lot of interest simply because I didn’t have enough text in my book, especially poetry. It was a clear difference that I noticed. I was visited by Luis Delgado, an artist I met briefly last year in San Francisco. He looked through the book and said he thought it was great… He commented that it had just the right number of image and I could sense that the lack of text appealed to him and the other photographers I showed the book to… but in this market, it was a negative.

For those of you who might be thinking about simply inkjet printing text in your book, I would advise you against it. The letterpress printed text pages were definitely a must there, and in my own experience, it has really added to the quality of my books. The cost to add letterpress printing was about 10% of the total project, a minimal investment when you consider the number of buyers you will turn off with inkjet printed text.

I was extremely excited and inspired to see alternative printing techniques. I wished there had been more of it and that new printmaking techniques would be as accepted and embraced as the older methods. I do not feel it was the case, but still, there were examples that I felt certain would be new to the photography community. One in particular was employed by Peter Koch in a book titled The Lost Journals of Sacajewea. In this book about one of the most famous American Indian women, he employed the services of Magnolia Editions, a print shop out of Oakland, California. They chose to print using Magnolia’s UV Flatbed printer which, in the case of Koch’s book, printed beautifully onto Japanese kozo paper where the image bled through to the other side. Magnolia describes this type of printing as, “using a durable pigment/solvent ink cured with UV light, this printer prints on almost anything flat. The media is stationary, held down with a vacuum, and can be overprinted multiple times in perfect registration.” It was something I had not seen before and the bleeding through to the back of the kozo in this case was very effective.

In addition, I was finally able to see some 21st Edition publications. One of my favorite photographers, Masao Yamamoto, has just released a book with 21st along with some platinum prints. The printing was well done and while I think it’s difficult to reinterpret Yamamoto’s work in book form, I was definitely interested to see what would qualify a publication to enter the $9,000 price point. The book was housed in an elegant wood box that I really appreciated. It was delicate, like his work, and as a package, it seemed successful.

I took a number of images throughout the fair of books or presentations that I thought worthwhile to share. This is just a small sampling of what was there, truly inspiration objects.

I did not sell anything at Codex which was a disappointment. I felt, at times, that it just wasn’t the right audience. I did meet a dealer who seemed very interested in selling the book which could lead to multiple sales, so it may end up being a worthwhile investment. As I’ve said many times in the past, it is always hard to know what will come from these events, whether it’s a book fair, a portfolio review, an exhibition, or competition win. It can take years to truly know whether I will feel that attending this event had value. I know this—I was happy to come home to my community of photographers, I will continue to push ahead with my own work, and strive to learn from as many other artisans as I can. I hope seeing these images will also give you some inspiration in your journey…