55
B+WINSPIRATION
ALL ABOUT PRINTINGSometimes a photography idea can lurk at the back of our minds for years
before suddenly sparking into life. But how should the pictures be printed?
All images © Eddie Ephraums We need to ask ourselves the right questions, says Eddie Ephraums.O
ne of the
key things
I’ve learned
through the
photobook
mentoring
and workshops I do with
photographers is this: if we are
unclear about anything to do
with our photography, it’s not
that we don’t have the answers
(typically we do), it’s that we
don’t know the right questions
to ask ourselves.
This is where outside input
can really help. I’ve witnessed
it time and time again. So what
are the questions I need to be
asked to kick-start a project I’ve
been sitting on for 13 years?
The project involves
photographing then printing
all my daughter’s shoes I’ve kept
since she was born. You may
remember I introduced
the idea back in B+W 158,
but since then the project has
remained dormant as work
and other commitments have
taken priority.
This all changed recently
when a friend showed me a set
of four exquisite prints he’d
bought. They were from Mike
Perry’s wonderful Môr Plastig
Welsh series of barnacle-
encrusted, washed-up flip-flops
and shoes. The prints got me
thinking (as good prints do),
posing all sorts of questions
about my own shoe project.
For a start, as a catalogue
of Perry’s work says: ‘[His]
approach leads to a paradox in
that the shoes have become
both aesthetically appealing
objects and yet pollutants at
the same time. Perry uses this
ambiguity to make us think
about what’s going on.’
So, I ask myself, what exactly
is going on with my shoe project?
Specifically, do I want to makea historical record of the shoes,
photographing them in a factual
manner, delighting in theircolour and every worn detail –
to let the shoes do the talking?
Or should I adopt a morepersonal approach – a parent’s
view of my daughter’s formative
years? For example, how would
it look (and what would it mean)
if I photographed the shoes in
black & white, adding emotion
through the print treatment?
But then I ask myself: in this
digital screen age, is printing
the right approach to make
a series of shoe images for
a teenager wedded to her
smartphone? I’m going to ask
fellow workshop leader friends
to quiz me on the project.F
or the moment I like
the idea of hanging
the shoe prints in the
stairwell of our home,
both as a timeline of
my daughter’s life
and as a metaphorical reminder
to the family of the journey
she’s been on as she grows up.
I also like the idea the prints
might inspire visitors to think
about working on a print project
themselves, just as seeing the
Mike Perry prints in a friend’s
house inspired me.
But is the idea of hanging
the shoes in the stairwell
really such a good idea?
I suspect my daughter will see
this as the perfect opportunity
to buy yet more shoes, to drive
the picture collection upwards
towards the loft and the new
bedroom she hopes her parents
will build there for her. It’s a
good job her feet have
stopped growing.Opposite HOW TO PHOTOGRAPH THE SHOES?
After 13 years of keeping all my daughter’s shoes it’s time to start
photographing them. The question is how to begin? Here I decided to use
what was to hand, creating a simple still life set-up with a 36x24in black
print box to shade and sculpt the natural light and act as the backdrop.
Subsequently I placed a piece of card on top of the box to reduce the
amount of light coming from overhead.ONE OF SEVERAL BAGS OF SHOES
I’ve yet to count how many pairs of shoes my daughter, like any child,
has got through in 13 years. I’m wondering what style I want to shoot
them all, if indeed there should be a single style – perhaps not. And what
about those shoes where colour is their standout feature? What more
can I discover in them through black & white?‘I like the
idea of hanging
the shoe prints
in the stairwell
of our home.’
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