Hello James and all pinhole swappers ! When I started my PC this morning, I wanted to post a message about launching a new print swap since the last one was some months ago now... What a surprise when, reading the posts arrived during the night, I discovered James' mailing and his intention of organizing a new print swap ! Coincidence or overseas telepathy ? I've been lucky participating in the 2 previous Pinhole print swaps : the first one already organised by James in 1999 (14 swappers) and the Zero 2000 Print Swap which i myself coordinated in the spring of this year (18 swappers, several among us were already present in the 1st print swap). The 2 swaps have been wonderful experiences for me; the pleasure of opening your mail-box and finding envelopes coming from various countries , the surprise of opening these envelopes and discovering pictures and words from people you don't know... Pleasure of sending one of of my own pictures to everybody ! And after, pleasure of finding a way of keeping and enjoying this collection of pictures and letters ( I manufactured large albums for each of the swaps) ! Now, James, you ask us some ideas... So, I would like to express comments originated by my 2 first experiences.
- 1 - The first Print Swap was a " no imposed subject" swap and the second one was a "imposed camera" (Zero 2000) print swap. I personnaly think that, if we are going to repeat swaps on a regular basis (i.e. 2 or 3 by year) it would be better to define a "subject", which gives some coherence ; of course, this "subject" has to be broad enough to respect every swapper's freedom and also to obtain a collection showing the diversity of ways to express a subject by pinhole pictures ! - 2 - The other comment is maybe more personal and is about the number of prints : I must say that 1 only picture has been for me frustrating; I mean that I had difficulties to choose a single picture to send to the swappers. The prints I sent were always belonging to series and I felt frustrated to "reduce" my work to a one picture only ! I was not alone in this case since I noticed that some of the swappers did not send the same pictures to all swappers, which mean they did not want to make a single selection ! Of course this depends on the way everybody works and I would not allow myself to express any judgment; I only know that, for myself, pinhole pictures always belong to a kind of "continuous work" since for me pinhole photography is a slow process used to keep traces and to express duration and depht of vision upon apparences. It's why a single picture has just a little meaning for me. Is it possible to imagine a Print swap in which we would send a small serie of 3 pictures for example ? It is just a question about which I would like everybody to express; of course I am perfectly aware of the difficulties arised by such a proposition : a lot of time and of course the economical cost of 3 prints instead of 1 ( I am very sensible to these problems since I go on with traditional FB paper darkroom work, which is time consuming and costly). I just wanted to express my "frustration" about the "1- picture" swaps. All comments are welcome since I cannot make a clear opinion about that ... So, I am ready to sign for the next print swap and you can count on my participation. If I had been the first to express the intention of launching a new swap,I would probably have suggested a subject as self- portrait (I presume nearly each of us photographers keep a trace of ourselves from time to time on our pictures). self portraiture seems to be a "not-too-narrow" subject since there are so many ways to be "present" in a picture. All Comments about this idea are welcome ! Please apologize for my approximate use of English ! I'm eager to read your opinions and suggestions ! Thanks you, James, for organizing the next swap and tell us if we can help you. All pinholers, have a nice Christmas and a great new pinholing century !!! Kisses from France Jean ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- Jean Daubas, auteur-photographe Rue de Bourg-Sec 25440 LIESLE France tél. 03 81 57 50 13 / 06 81 53 12 89 jean.dau...@freesbee.fr ----- Original Message ----- From: "James Kellar" <ja...@kellar.com> To: <pinhole-discussion@p at ???????> Sent: Tuesday, December 19, 2000 12:51 AM Subject: [pinhole-discussion] December Mailing > I would also like to announce that I will be organizing a print swap in the > up coming year. If your interested in participating start sending me your > ideas. > > Go out a take a pinhole photo. > > James >
