UNBOUND: My Dakota

Today we’re happy to announce that we’ve received the first varnished, unbound copy of Rebecca’s “My Dakota” book in the mail from the printer in Singapore.  Here’s a rough, home made video of Rebecca reading the first text piece in the book, “Lost & Loss.”  By mid April, we hope to have the first advanced copies of the book.––Alex Webb

SPRING  EVENTS 

––THURSDAY, MAY 24TH, 6-7:30 PM: “My Dakota” book launch, party and signing at ICP, 1133 Ave. of the Americas at 43d St.  Come join us to celebrate Rebecca’s new book.  I’m bringing the champagne!–Alex Webb

David Chickey, Rebecca, & Alex @ National Museum of Singapore, Q&A after slide talk, from the Invisible Photographer Asia blog

UPCOMING WORKSHOPS WITH ALEX AND REBEBECCA

“This leads me to another very, very important aspect of photobook making: You’re almost always better off involving other people. Maybe you’re a genius, maybe you can do it all on your own. Chances are you are not. Actually, it’s very likely you’re not. And even if you are a genius, then you’re genius enough to know that you need to involve other people.”––Joerg Colberg, March 13, 2012,  Conscientious Extended

“Teaching taught me how little I knew and it forced me to think.  I had to teach to get an education.” –––Harry Callahan, from “Harry Callahan @ 100” at the National Gallery of Art

––WEEKEND WORKSHOP @ APERTURE, NY, Friday evening, March 23, thru Sat., March 25, 2012. Do you know where you’re going next with your photography –– or where it’s taking you?   An intensive weekend workshop with Alex and Rebecca. You can reserve a spot in the workshop at the Aperture Foundation website.  THIS WORKSHOP IS NOW SOLD OUT. 

––WEEKEND WORKSHOP IN MILANO @ FORMA; Friday evening, May 4, thru Sunday, May 6th, 2012.  An intensive weekend workshop @ Forma with the Webbs during Alex’s upcoming spring exhibition there, “The Suffering of Light.” Included in the workshop will be a gallery talk by Alex as well as a copy of Alex’s recent survey book of 30 years of his color photographs, “La Sofferenza della Luce,” (Contrasto).  The workshop will be taught in English with Italian translation.  For more information here’s the link.

––FINDING YOUR VISION WORKSHOP @ CAPTION GALLERY, BROOKLYN, NY.  Sunday May 20 thru Friday May 25, 2012.* A week-long photographing and editing workshop where each photographers begins to explore his or her own way of photographing and how to edit intuitively.  Will include exercises, light room tutorials, and a presentation by a noted book editor.  Check the workshop page of the webbnorriswebb website for fees, application process and further details.  Apply to this email: webbnorriswebb@gmail.com

MARCH LINKS

––Review of the new book,” Photographs Not Taken,”  in the Guardian, March 15, 2012

––Q&A with Alex and Rebecca Webb in the Invisible Photographer Asia blog

––“How to Make a Photobook,” JM Colberg, Conscientious Extended, March 13

––Alex and Rebecca on Aperture’s Exposures blog, March 21

©Rocel Ann Junio, Singapore Masterclass, 2012

ON PRESS: My Dakota 7

©Alex Webb, "Dust Jacket of Rebecca's My Dakota"

ON PRESS: My Dakota 6

©Alex Webb, "Rebecca signing one of the My Dakota signatures"

On press, one of the biggest challenges was trying to capture the luminosity of Esteban Mauchi’s match prints. I kept thinking of  the wonderful quote by the poet Paul Valery: “One should be light like a bird, and not like a feather.”––Rebecca Norris Webb

ON PRESS: My Dakota 5

©Alex Webb, Rebecca's Ghost Mountain press check

ON PRESS: My Dakota 4

©Alex Webb, "End Papers: My Dakota"

One of the things that Rebecca and I like about David Chickey is his ability as a designer to get inside a project and create a design that enhances its essence.  Just as with Violet Isle and The Suffering of Light, he has come up with a truly special design for My Dakota.  For the end papers, shown here on press (above), David took details of a few of Rebecca’s photographs, turned them into black and white, and screened them back to make them somewhat ghost-like, reflecting the sense of disappearance that recurs throughout the book.––Alex Webb

©Alex Webb, "Badlands"

On Press: My Dakota 3

David Chickey, "My Dakota: Signing the Jacket"

Nice that the first day of the press check in Singapore for Rebecca’s “My Dakota” book started with the dust jacket (see above).  Another bit of luck: Like with the press check for “Violet Isle,” we have the master pressman again, Simon (see below), who has managed to capture the luminosity of Rebecca’s elegiac prints.  So far, the press check is going well.––Alex Webb

©Alex Webb: On Press with Simon, David Chickey and Rebecca for "My Dakota"

©Alex Webb, "On Press with My Dakota: Crazy Horse photo"

On Press: My Dakota 2

As I am preparing emotionally and mentally to be on press tomorrow, I can’t help but think of the metaphor of childbirth with regards to bringing a new book into the world.  Perhaps it’s because I come from a long line of doctors –– my father is fifth generation doctor, my younger sister, sixth generation — but I don’t see myself as the mother, but as the midwife or the doctor, attending to the work, helping to deliver the work into the world,  Perhaps that’s also because this new book, as personal as it is for me, isn’t me.  It’s wiser than I am.  It’s more than I am.  It’s more important than I am.  

My task these next few days on press –– along with the book’s designer and Radius”s creative director, David Chickey, and Alex, who helped me sequence the photographs –– will be to try to deliver the work into the world, and to deliver it alive, as the poet Ezra Pound once said about poetry.  Isn’t that always the task:  To keep enough of the flaws and the contradictions and the cracks and the complexity and the tensions in a book, which are a book’s life’s blood?  Or perhaps I just like the irony of using the metaphor of childbirth in a book that deals with death…––Rebecca Norris Webb

Alex Webb, "Rebecca writing, 2012"

ON PRESS: My Dakota

We’re leaving tomorrow, March 6th, for the press check of Rebecca’s upcoming “My Dakota” book in Singapore.  Today we’re looking at a set of third proofs for the book (above), and will confer with David Chickey –– the book’s designer and Radius Books’ creative director –– later this afternoon to collaborate on what corrections make the most sense at this point.  We may have one more round of pre-press work later this week, before we head to press early next week.  If all goes according to plan, we hope to blog on press next Monday and Tuesday (March 12th and 13).––Alex Webb

MARCH EVENTS

––FRIDAY, MARCH, 9th, 7-8:30: “Together and Apart: Photographs of Alex Webb and Rebecca Norris Webb,” National Museum of Singapore, Singapore.  National Museum of Singapore is a venue sponsor of this free public event.

––MONDAY & TUESDAY, MARCH 12 -13, 2012: BLOGGING ON PRESS FOR THE “MY DAKOTA” BOOK IN SINGAPORE (with Rebecca, author, Alex, editor, and David Chickey, designer and Radius creative director).  Check the blog for updates.  If you’d like to submit a question ahead of time about being on press, please email your question to Alex and Rebecca: webbnorriswebb@gmail.com

––FRIDAY, MARCH 23, 7-8:30 pm, “Together & Apart: Photographs of Alex Webb and Rebecca Norris Webb,” Aperture Foundation, 547 W. 27th St., 4th Floor, New York, NY.  Free Event.

––LAST WEEK IN MARCH: Alex Webb booksigning at AIPAD. Details to come soon.

UPCOMING WORKSHOPS WITH ALEX AND REBEBECCA

“Teaching taught me how little I knew and it forced me to think.  I had to teach to get an education.” –––Harry Callahan, from “Harry Callahan @ 100” at the National Gallery of Art

“Sell your cleverness and buy bewilderment.” ––Rumi

–WEEKEND WORKSHOP @ APERTURE, NY, Friday evening, March 23, thru Sat., March 25, 2012. Do you know where you’re going next with your photography –– or where it’s taking you?   An intensive weekend workshop with Alex and Rebecca. You can reserve a spot in the workshop at the Aperture Foundation website.  AS OF MARCH 5TH, THERE WERE ONLY TWO SPOTS LEFT IN THE WORKSHOP. Additionally, there is a discount for students and Aperture patrons, which you can arrange by emailing Anne Lewis at Aperture at this email: alewis@aperture.org   

––WEEKEND WORKSHOP IN MILANO @ FORMA; Friday evening, May 4, thru Sunday, May 6th, 2012.  An intensive weekend workshop @ Forma with the Webbs during Alex’s upcoming spring exhibition there, “The Suffering of Light.” Included in the workshop will be a gallery talk by Alex as well as a copy of Alex’s recent survey book of 30 years of his color photographs, “La Sofferenza della Luce,” (Contrasto).  The workshop will be taught in English with Italian translation.  For more information here’s the link.

–FINDING YOUR VISION WORKSHOP @ CAPTION GALLERY, BROOKLYN, NY.  Sunday May 20 thru Friday May 25, 2012.* A week-long photographing and editing workshop where each photographers begins to explore his or her own way of photographing and how to edit intuitively.  Will include exercises, light room tutorials, and a presentation by a noted book editor. APPLICATIONS ARE NOW OPEN.  Early acceptance notification will start early March.  Check the workshop page of the webbnorriswebb website for fees, application process and further details.  Apply to this email: webbnorriswebb@gmail.com

*If there is enough interest, we will explore offering a second session of the Finding Your Vision Workshop @ Caption Gallery the week before —  Sunday May 13 thru Friday May 18, 2012.