I’ve mentioned this before, but I’m not necessarily the biggest fan of the digital format for viewing photography. Screens of any size — but especially of the sizes that people use the most these days (phones, tablets, laptops) — are not ideal for photography, and they’re no substitute for tangible materials.
So I’ve been experimenting with printed formats for a little while now. I’ve done prints in various sizes, from 4”x6” to 16”x20” and even some giant 3’x4’ engineering prints (all of which have been either given away, or are piling up around the house). I’ve put out one booklet, and have some others in the works (it’s been slow going), and now, like a ton of other photographers, both professionals and pretenders like me, I’ve had some postcards printed.
I first started to consider postcards last year while I was in Berlin on vacation. I bought a bunch of random museum gift shop and book store cards during my time in the German capital, and asked friends & followers on Instagram and Twitter to DM their addresses to me if they wanted one. I got more than enough responses to send out all the cards I’d picked up. It was fun for me, and people seemed pretty happy to get them.
Postcards are easy to make, easy to store, fun to send and receive, and these days, seem like a good way to emphasize the importance of the postal service, and its role in the the affordable distribution of creative physical media. The timing of this project, given what’s happening with the USPS on the national political stage, is not lost on me. And as I mentioned previously, I’m certainly not the only person with a camera who’s slinging postcards right now.
So I’ve been plotting on this set of cards for a while, but like everything photography-related that I do, it always seems to take longer than I anticipate. And ultimately, like the Wheatpaste Oaxaca book — this being the first pass at a certain kind of print product that I’ve never really experimented with — it’s kind of a test run.
These cards are 5”x7”, on 15pt. premium card stock, with a satin matte finish. There’s no theme to this series of 10, it’s just images I thought would work well as cards. Some of the photos were made with a digital camera, some shot on 35mm film. Most are black and white, a few are color. All of these photos were made between January 2019 and July 2020 in Oakland, CA, San Francisco, CA, Los Angeles, CA, New York, NY, and Berlin, DE.
I’m happy to put one into the post for you, or sell you a handful on the cheap. So here’s the deal…
If you just want a postcard from me, hit me up RIGHT HERE, and send me your mailing address. I’ll scribble some words on a card, stamp it up, and drop it in the post for you. Or…
You can BUY 5 POSTCARDS FOR 5 BUCKS, and I’ll throw a random selection of 5 cards into a manila envelope, and send them to you so you can write on them and send them to your peoples. (You gotta get your own stamps.)
Cool? Cool.