Exploring the unlikely intersections of walking, photography and making
What can I say? How can I put together a compelling list of travel-related gifts in 2020? For Canadians, travel anywhere beyond the boundaries of our home province is a risky, if not entirely outlawed, activity. And it is possible that this will be the state of affairs until late 2021—at best. For 2020, I... Continue Reading →
Winnipegger’s new book explores self-isolation through the lens of a Polaroid camera. On December 10, 2020 at 7:00 PM CST, David Firman will hold a virtual book launch and reading via Zoom. The event is free but pre-registration is required. The registration form is here: https://www.firmangallery.com/BookLaunchRegistration. David Firman’s new photography book, From Our Windows, tells... Continue Reading →
Walks are sequential events. So, it seems to me that the comic book/manga/fumetti/graphic novel format would be an ideal means of presenting a photo walk. Here's a little experiment.
My Polaroid work of late has been entirely in colour, using the latest iteration of Polaroid SX-70 colour film. However, for some time I have coveted the opportunity to play with Polaroid's Black and White SX-70 film. After all, I was a black and white film photographer for twenty-plus years leading up to my introduction... Continue Reading →
"A group of five grain elevators in Inglis in the Rural Municipality of Riding Mountain West is one of the last remaining examples of a once-common prairie icon. Now preserved as a national historic site and a provincial historic site, the Inglis site represents an important period in the development of Canada’s grain industry from 1900 to 1930. The history of the... Continue Reading →
It was a warm summer afternoon, a good opportunity to walk along the shoreline of Lake Winnipeg. Just up the eroded slope, Gail and Styxx (our greyhound) lounged in the yurt we had rented for a few days at Camp Morton Provincial Park. Down here, the lake was calm, gently lapping on the smooth stones... Continue Reading →
While I work to get the planned book for my From Our Windows project completed—and you will be hearing more about that progress soon—I have ventured outside with my SX-70 Polaroid camera in-hand. To start, here is a selection of instant photos taken a mere 100 metres from my front door along the banks of... Continue Reading →
This is the final set of Polaroids in my From Our Windows project. I could continue of course. It's not as if the pandemic has suddenly vanished. But I am comfortable with what I have captured over the past three months. When I lay out my eighty-plus little framed images, I can see a complete... Continue Reading →
This is the third and final series of Polaroid SX-70 pictures altered with alcohol inks. It has been a curious exercise. Although I apply the inks as a single, tiny dot, how it spreads across the glossy surface of the photo is totally unpredictable and uncontrollable. How appropriate!
In 1977, when André Kertész began his Polaroid SX-70 series From My Window, he started with a glass figurine, a crystalline icon for his recently departed wife, Elizabeth. In 2020, the iconography of our times is not one of remembrance and reverence but of dread and an unknown future. Midway through my own From Our... Continue Reading →