Travels in Plastic
trav·el·ogue
a lecture on travels, usually accompanied by the showing of pictures about a foreign or out-of-the-way place, especially one that emphasizes the place's unusual or glamorous aspects
About eight years ago, feeling a basic need to be making analog photographs more often in my daily life, amidst heavy academic obligations, I began carrying a Holga camera at all times. The ‘toy camera’ affords me a low maintenance way to have the ever-present option to make photographs at my fingertips. Only a few years ago I realized that by carrying these cameras with me, I was oddly creating a travelogue of locales: far, exotic, ordinary and some in my own backyard.
One of the things that strikes me about travel images is that they typically portray a sense of perfection. Anyone who has ever traveled knows that trips, great or small are far from perfect, memorable yes, unforgettable generally, but never perfect. In working with a plastic camera, intentional or not, imperfection reigns supreme.
I began thinking about the record I was creating. In looking at my negatives, I would photograph the ‘big ticket’ expected travel images. More often than not, however, they rarely appeal to me in print form. This came as no great surprise; I have always attached a greater meaning to banalities. The result is not only a kind of travelogue, but also a personal meditation on the power of minutiae.