Jem Southam's Starlings
These quiet, elegant images are the balm we need right now
Hey friends, earlier this year, I started brainstorming an idea to lessen Instagram's grip on my photography habit by highlighting artists here in the newsletter. I’m kicking that off today with this Spotlight series and will continue experimenting with this as I go. My goal is to give you something short and sweet, a launching-off point to discover something new, inspiring, and, if we’re lucky, beautiful. Do you have something you’d like to share here? Please let me know. Thanks for looking!
I don’t know about you, but the news is getting me down lately, and sometimes I need a gentle pick-me-up to remind me that not all is terrible in the world. Jem Southam’s new book, Starlings, is delivering that in spades. These are beautiful, quiet images, like so much of his work, and they’re everything I need right now. Jem writes:
The photographs in Starlings were made on the afternoon of 2 December 2023 at Ham Wall, a wetland wildlife sanctuary managed by the RSPB in Somerset. They show the stillness of late afternoon before the gradual formation of a murmuration of starlings flying in to roost. As the book progresses, the murmuration is shown in full flight before disappearing with the coming of darkness.
Isn’t that lovely? Starlings is the first book published by Raft, Jem’s new imprint. It looks like the book is already sold out, but you may be able to find a copy somewhere online. That said, if you are a fan of his work and imagery like this, you should definitely subscribe to Raft’s newsletter to keep up with Jem’s work. It is nourishing. I hope you like it.
A murmuration is a beautiful thing, and a good metaphor for a cooperative community. Everyone standing on their own soapbox shouting their own story is a cacophony; a choir in a public park is something altogether different.
Like others, I appreciate it when people promote the good work of others. I see this a lot in Notes, especially with photographers. We are happy to see photos people have taken themselves. It’s also nice when we gesture to others and the good work they have done. A mutually supportive community is a healthy community. Demonstrating best practice is a responsibility we should all take on. I’m going to make an effort to do more of this myself. Generosity, like good work, is its own reward.