I seem to have started my SOFOBOMO fuzzy month the other day. Looking over a roll of scanned film, I noticed that I’d taken a couple of picture of these sets of numbers written on utility poles and sign posts around the neighborhood. The numbers are all over the place, all over Eckington, all over DC, and who knows where else. I’m a sucker for patterns and for those inconsequential bits of the world that elude explanation. If I was a sophisticated conspiracy theorists (or if I had a GPS equipped digicam) I’d be mapping these things out, but I’m not and I don’t, so I won’t, yet. Maybe later.

I doubt this book will be interesting to anybody but me, but part of the fun of SOFOBOMO is the way the arbitrary restrictions of the event create an opportunity to do things that break the other conventions of photography and narrative. When SOFOBOMO rolls around every year, I tend to have tons of ideas for fairly conventional book projects, ideas that I never seem to end up using. The whole endeavor is so ridiculous that approaching it from the perspective of a conventional photo narrative seems like a invitation to folly, so the most ridiculous ideas seem the most suitable.

I still need a title though. I’m thinking “Untitled Numerology,” but that may not stick.

Look for the rest of photos in my SOFOBOMO 2010 set on flickr. More as they come off the scanner.

M6TTL, ZM Biogon 35 F2, FP4, Xtol

M6TTL, ZM Biogon 35 F2, FP4, Xtol

M6TTL, ZM Biogon 35 F2, FP4+, Xtol

Despite having a perfectly good kitchen table and chairs, we seem to eat most of our meals sitting in front of that picture window. The world just goes by.

M6TTL, ZM Biogon 35 F2, FP4+, Xtol

Well, today was a productive day. I gave myself a haircut which Kate won’t have to spend too much time fixing, and I finished my SoFoBoMo book. Get it here:

this is not there

Update 6/17/2009: I realized this morning that my ‘finished’ book is actually fairly far short of the required 35 photos. I’m happy with it the way it is though, so I’m disinclined to add photos to fill it out. At the same time, I’m not entirely comfortable claiming the finishers badge on sofobomo.org, so I’ve decided to take the book off the official site. The book will remain available on my site at the link below.

I’m quite satisfied with the end result of the project. That I came in under the 35 photo minimum is somewhat irrelevant to my own goals. I put together a collection of photos that I like and got them into a book format that makes me fairly happy. I’m going to call that a success.

this is not there, the unfinished edition

M6TTL, ZM Biogon 35 F2, FP4+, Xtol

Contact sheet for roll 2

M6TTL, ZM Biogon 35 F2, FP4, Xtol

One from version 2 of my sofobomo project.

M6TTL, ZM Biogon 35 F2, TMY2, Xtol Stock, Coolscan 9000

M6TTL, ZM Biogon 35 F2, TMY2, Xtol Stock

M6TTL, ZM Biogon 35 F2, TMY2, Xtol Stock, Coolscan 9000

M6TTL, ZM Biogon 35 F2, TMY2, Xtol Stock, Coolscan 9000

M6TTL, ZM Biogon 35 F2, Neopan 400, Xtol Stock

M6TTL, ZM Biogon 35 F2, TMY2, Xtol Stock

M6TTL, ZM Biogon 35 F2, TMY2, Xtol Stock

M6TTL, ZM Biogon 35 F2, Neopan 400, Xtol Stock

M6TTL, ZM Biogon 35 F2, TMY2, Xtol Stock

M6TTL, ZM Biogon 35 F2, Neopan 400, Xtol Stock

M6TTL, ZM Biogon 35 F2, Neopan 400, Xtol Stock

This is me shooting this.

M6TTL, ZM Biogon 35 F2, Neopan 400, Xtol Stock

M6TTL, ZM Biogon 35 F2, Neopan 400, Xtol Stock

M6TTL, ZM Biogon 35 F2, Neopan 100ss, Rodinal

M6TTL, ZM Biogon 35 F2, Neopan 400, Xtol Stock

M6TTL, ZM Biogon 35 F2, Neopan 100ss, Rodinal 1:50