Living Books

Michael Allan

My first camera was a half frame Leica with a fixed lens that I would take backpacking in the Sierra Nevada Mountains when I was in high school. I graduated to a Pentax K1000 and Kodachrome when my boys were old enough to backpack in Colorado with me, but when they were teens with a life of their own, the camera went into a drawer. Several years ago I picked up an all in one Sony and started backpacking again. One thing led to another and I bought a Sony A7r, then upgraded that, bought a printer, and I never looked back. I now mostly shoot black and white with a focus on printing.

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AI is coming to a town near you. Should you hop on the bandwagon? I have no idea, I can only say I do not feel connected to nature if I am not outdoors capturing images, I don’t feel expressive if I am writing scripts, and I find making things with my hands therapeutic. The art book making I will describe here is art driven craft from capture to sewing.

Artbook making: art, design, sequencing, writing, and craft. I hope that I can offer a back alley tour to show another side of town where expression is more intimate, intense, and dynamic.

I will begin by introducing my concept of a “Living Book,” which combines book making with a expressive photographic purpose. A Living Book is a book that is rooted in tradition with a dynamic twist: it commits to a theme, but it evolves.

What is a Living Book?

A Living Book has a stated set of limitations and evolves through changes made to each individual printing. Say I give one to my friend Alister, and then his friend Astrid asks for one; the one I give Alister is not exactly the same as Astrid’s: it is the same “book,” but it has changed.

I will use one of my books as an example because I find it easier to show and tell than explain.

You must define your own idea of a Living Book with your own constraints and variations.

The scope of my book is the concept and title “I Am,” and the subject matter are my local canyons on the Front Range of Colorado.

I begin by creating two copies of the initial book: one for me and one to give, trade, or sell. When one copy finds a home, I modify the book and make two more copies. And so forth.

Each person accepting the book has a unique version, a one of a kind. The amount of change ranges from a couple of images to the entire content. The goal is for the content to evolve as the local canyons evolve, along with my personal expressive development. If there is a fire or unusual weather, the content may reflect that. If I undergo personal tragedy or growth, it will influence my expression.

When I leave this life, my copies will form a collection that passes on to my children or a good friend.