Santas, Trees, and Snow
Stephen Leslie unpacks our seasonal nostalgia
It’s hard to believe we’re at the end of another year! Time is flying. 2022 has been pretty good for me, and I hope you can say the same for you and yours. I spent the Christmas holiday hunkered down at home with a cold, which was a bit of a drag but, on the upside, I read three books over the holiday break, so I can’t complain. It’s amazing how we can focus without so much social media occupying our attention.
Kristen gave me a copy of Paul Harding’s Tinkers for Christmas. Do you know this book? It won the Pulitzer for fiction in 2009, and she’s been raving about it for years, so it seemed the time to take her up on her recommendation. I’m glad I did. The book is about memory, and Harding’s prose reads like many densely layered photographs. It’s a rich, moving story and one that has flooded my mind with images of my family’s rural lineage here in Wisconsin. Do check this one out when you have some time. You can read more about Paul Harding and the book here.
Tinkers put me in a nostalgic mood, and I've been thinking about how pictures remind us of the past — about who we are and who we were. Then Stephen Leslie emailed with news about another video he made for the season. It resonated with me, so I wanted to share it with you before 2022 is in the rearview mirror. I think you'll like this — Stephen is so witty and intelligent, and his deep dive into the pictures we make at this time of year is funny and insightful at the same time. The way he unpacks his photograph at the end of the video ("His Master's Voice" at the top of this post) is brilliant. Some of you have probably seen this already, but it's well worth your time if you haven't. I love what Stephen is doing with his YouTube channel, so follow him over there if you aren't yet. He's an absolute original.
One more thing: I'm still looking for Winter Pictures, so please drop me a line if you've made images like this. You can read more about my inspiration in my previous post. Thanks, Adam Frint, for sharing this one with me!
That’s all for now! Happy New Year, friends. I’ll see you in 2023. ❄️✨
By far my favourite post of yours. I appreciated you sharing about the book, Tinker -- I'm definitely going to look it up. Life isn't just photography -- thank you.
Thanks for the helpful book & YouTube recommendation (ordered & following). Jurgenson sums it up nicely: “The Snow Day is exceptional and thus picture worthy. Each extra inch looks like progress and is thus photographable. Everyday surroundings that usually seem to have exhausted their photographic potential are breathed new productive life. Look how different things are right now. And snow photos look good. The white wash makes the image simpler and more striking by removing extra elements from the frame. The bright snow provides instant contrast, making any subject pop. The flurries in the wind provide movement and texture and depth. The snow itself falls and is blown into beautiful and unpredictable arrangements, wrapping around the contours of objects smooth and lifelike. Even when shot in colour, snow photos can appear almost black-and-white. Snow is its own photo filter. (Nathan Jurgenson).