Wednesday Edition: Scott Eiden
Brisk Wednesday greetings from downtown NYC, my stylish and sophisticated collector pals. I am still recovering from my travels, trying to settle in and am valiantly fighting what appears to be a losing battle with pet hair. (Ollie's coat seems to have gone forth and multiplied in my absence.)
With today's dispatch I am absolutely tickled to digitally present to you Opp, Alabama, an especially special analog edition from Brooklyn-based, Northwest-bred gentleman photographer Scott Eiden, who makes his pictures the old-fashioned way: with a Deardorff Field Camera and a whole mess of chemicals.
As I said during my presentation on Monday night at the The Minnesota Center for Photography, technology is a key component in making 20x200 go, go, go. We'd be hard pressed to develop such a far-flung and enthusiastic collector crowd without the website or the newsletter, the 20x200 dream team would be lost without IM and, to date, all of our prints have been produced digitally.
So, yes, I am a lover of the digital technology, but that doesn't mean that I don't mourn the diminishing presence of our analog past, photographic and otherwise. That's why today's edition is such a treat.
Opp, Alabama is editioned in 3 sizes, all of which are traditional Chromogenic prints on Kodak Supra N paper, created from an 8"x10" negative. The edition of 200 are 8.5"x11" contact prints with black borders. (The medium and large sizes, 20"x24" and 30"x40" respectively, have white borders.)
The traditional process of the actual prints is a fitting echo to the bricks-and-mortar solidity of the building depicted. Dean's Pharmacy is a sturdy, yet beleaguered, artifact of our small-town heritage, buffeted by the relentless encroachment of service-road, strip mall America.
I am a thoroughly modern Millie (and a city-slicker and that) but still and all, I have a lot of affection for old-fashioned manners and small town U.S.A. I might fight to pick up the check when we're out at dinner, but I'll always be impressed by a fella who helps me on with my coat or waits for me to step off the elevator ahead of him. I am not immune to Target's siren song, but I also crave the friendly hellos and quirky individuality of small town Main Streets. I much prefer the creak of a heavy wooden door accompanied by the thin jangle of brass bells announcing my arrival over the swoosh-swoosh of automatic doors which open to envelop my shopping cart (and me.)
Sentimentality aside, I remain a steadfast lover of the modern world. I'd surely be cranky for a million and one reasons were I instantaneously time-warped back to mid-century America. My Pollyanna-ish optimism keeps me believing that there's ample room for both the past and the future in our present, and today's edition is a perfect example of how that can play out.
Speaking of out... I need to get myself out of the house and down to 20x200 HQ. The crew has been patiently awaiting my all-too-brief return before my next departure. On Friday I'm off to the thin-aired altitudes of Santa Fe, NM for more photographic fun at Center, where I'll be jurying this year's Singular Image prize for color photography.
I won't be far from my beloved city for long - I touch down at LGA on Monday and will return to your Inbox on Tuesday with tales to tell and art to share. See you then!
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