Multi-Frame Panoramic Assemblages - Urban Locations and Interiors
As with a previous group, the panoramic assemblages of parks, these are of mixed derivation. Those with thin black borders (the first six in the sequence) are reproductions of photo assemblages actually made from small enlargements (about 3 1/2" x 5"). The very last, of the Brooklyn Bridge at night (in color), also with thin borders, was made of prints enlarged to 6" x 9" each and then mounted together. The next to last was taken with a digital camera. The remainder, with thick black borders, are of contact sheets, of which I made extra sets at the time with the intention of making these miniatures, which are in fact mounted and matted for display. They make a very different kind of impact this way as opposed to enlarged. I didn't mind that it was less work than making enlargements, but I don't exclude the possibility.
Photography is a medium that tends to multiply: the more primary work you do - the taking of photographs - the more secondary (and tertiary, etc.) work you create for yourself. Therefore every photographer has to decide, given limited resources of time, materials, and storage space, which exposures to carry forward and produce for eventual display, and which to leave in the semi-oblivion of the photographer's personal archive. Read, for example, about the thousands of rolls of film left behind by Garry Winogrand at his death, many never contact-printed, many not even developed. Many worthy photographs, as good as the ones that make the cut, have to be left behind.
© 2014 Allen Schill. All rights reserved. No part of this document may be reproduced or used without prior written permission from the author. Anyone is welcome to link to it, or to quote brief passages, but I would like to be notified.