I am a big fan of Paul Graham’s “A Shimmer of Possibility”, which was published in 2007 by steidlMACK, 2007. It contains 12 individual books, each a visual short story, which capture the often overlooked poetry of everyday life in the United States. The second edition brings together the 12 books in one single volume at an accessible price.
About his approach Paul Graham said, “I am interested in more elusive and nebulous subject matter. The photography I most respect pulls something out of the ether of nothingness… you can’t sum up the results in a single line. In a way, ‘a shimmer of possibility’ is really about these nothing moments in life.”
“a shimmer of possibility”, single volume, steidlMACK, 2007 © Paul Graham
“I relaxed and recognized that it’s about the moment-before and the moment-after, as much as it’s about the ‘decisive moment’. In shimmer, there’s a series where I’m walking behind two people carrying some boxes of Pepsi on their shoulder, and then the attention flips to a couple waiting at a bus-stop. We just all happened to walk passed them, so I took a picture, then I went back to the walk and the guy carrying the Pepsi. A moment later we passed a little boy playing in his garden, trying to use a plastic bag as a kite. So I took a picture of that, and then returned to the guy with the Pepsi again.” - Paul Graham
“a shimmer of possibility”, 2007 © Paul Graham
“a shimmer of possibility”, 2007 © Paul Graham
“a shimmer of possibility”, 2007 © Paul Graham
“a shimmer of possibility”, 2007 © Paul Graham
“a shimmer of possibility”, 2007 © Paul Graham
“a shimmer of possibility”, 2007 © Paul Graham
“a shimmer of possibility”, 2007 © Paul Graham
“a shimmer of possibility”, 2007 © Paul Graham
“a shimmer of possibility”, 2007 © Paul Graham
To get more insight into ”A Shimmer of Possibility” I highly recommend the article on ASX and the really nicely written book review at 5b4.blogspot.com.
@1 year ago with 2 notes(± )
#Paul Graham #A Shimmer of Possibility
