Little Worlds - the book meets the flood

 
 

     I love this selfie, which is not something I normally would say.  But I like how Little Worlds, my daughter and friends are firmly embedded in my body and head. It certainly has felt that way to me in the eight years I’ve been working on this project. Here, I’m beginning to transport about 450 damaged copies back to my barn. 

     As many of you know,  I lost 45% of my 1,000 print run to the Helene flood. It could be worse. My loss feels insignificant compared to many friends and neighbors. I had already dispersed about 350 copies to supporters, bookstores, people acknowledged in the book, and some out for review. And my printer is holding another 200 copies that will soon be delivered.

     For those of you who have purchased Little Worlds, and people who were gifted a copy, be assured that you now own a rare book, for whatever that’s worth. It remains, in my humble estimation, a beautiful and prescient book. I will likely not do a reprint. 

     But I am giving serious thought to a second edition. An additional chapter that would speak to not only the Helene flood, but also to calamities that have affected other Little Worlds around the globe in the four years since the book ended - the wildfire in Paradise, California, Covid 19, the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, hurricanes, tornados, refugees, famine. It’s an endless list that will continue to grow. 

     In Little Worlds, in both the fiction and journal entries, I speak of a worldwide collapse. I don’t speak of specifics, but rather, a series of occurrences that happen over time - overpopulation, environmental degradation, politics, breakdown of our social and cultural institutions, unrelenting use of fossil fuels, and natural disasters. They add up and fifty years hence, in the fictional component of Little Worlds, the people in that future time find themselves beginning again, building a new little world.

     I have a plan for the damaged books that I will announce in the next week or two. I hope some of you will participate in what I see as a fundraiser for county arts organizations that were radically affected by the flood. 

     There are 200 copies of the rare Little Worlds available. The price is $55 plus $10 shipping and handling. If I hand deliver in Madison or Buncombe counties, the shipping fee is dropped.

On my website:
robamberg.com/littleworlds 
You can also order directly from me at my email address and avoid the middle man:
robambergphoto@gmail.com

Thank you all for your long running and continued support of my work
Rob

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Little Worlds - On Press

Last week I flew up to Massachusetts to be on press with Little Worlds. Flying in economy the flight was mercifully short and seated me next to a pianist who was in town for his brother’s memorial service. I picked up my Hertz rent-s-car at the Albany airport and headed out east to the Berkshires. Fifteen miles into the drive, the power steering froze at 45 mph amidst light traffic.I muscled the car into the parking lot for the East Greenbush bowling center where I was stranded for four hours. Back on the road six hours later, the trip took a major turn for the better.
First stop was with Mariah and Tyler in New Lebanon, New York. Mariah is one of our daughter’s oldest and closest friends who is now our friend also. They live in the woods and both work for environmental non-profits. It was a great visit - slow, quiet, the perfect counter to Hertz.

 

Mariah and Tyer Fogg, New Lebanon, NY, 04/30/24

 
 

The motel fence, Pttsfield, Ma, 04/30/24.

 

I left early the next morning for the printer in Dalton, Massachusetts, and checked into a low-rent motel on the edge of town surrounded by a sketchy fence from another era.

I was disconcerted when I first saw The Studley Press. Old, worn, nondescript building that I missed when I first drove by. But looks are often deceiving and inside I found a clean, organized place that reeked of efficiency and homeyness. The smell of ink, the mounds of paper, the shelves of high end art books and catalogs they had printed, the arrival of Suzanne’s grandchildren one afternoon. I had found my spot.

The Studley Press, Dalton, Massachusetts, 04/30/2024

The Studley Press is located in the Berkshires, in Dalton, Massachusetts. It’s an old company, coming on 90 years old, and has been owned and operated by Suzanne Salinetti for the last thirty years. Studley specializes in high quality art and photography books, catalogs and posters for individual artists, museums, organizations, and galleries from across the country.

Suzanne Salinetti, President, The Studley Press, 05/01/24

Suzanne has a small staff, most of whom have worked with her for at least seven years, some as long as thirty. She’s a hands-on boss who knows every inch of the operation and participates in most of them. She’s especially involved with the imagery of Little Worlds, reviewing every image, making adjustments with Scott Artioli, the pressman. Scott has been working with Suzanne for thirty years. Both his father and grandfather were pressmen so Scott brings a genetic understanding to the work, as well as, years of experience with a variety of presses and an amazing eye for detail, color, and tone. An absolute pleasure to work with, despite him being a NY Yankees fan.

Pressman Scott Artioli, The Studley Press

 

Scott and Suzanne reviewing proofs of Little Worlds.

 

Selecting a printer is a major choice when publishing a book. In the modern world of printing, most printers want to work digitally with little input from the artist or photographer. Most do not want guide prints, preferring to work entirely from scans, and they certainly do not want the artist “on press.” Studley encouraged both. I felt welcomed and included as we made minute changes to individual images as they went to press. Thank you, Suzanne, you and your staff made this vital part of the publishing process comfortable, easy, and far less stressful than it could have been.

Jerrod feeding paper into the press for Little Worlds.

Joe bringing Little Worlds off the press.

Jerry binding a blank dummy of Little Worlds so I can feel the weight and size of the book.

 

A brief overnight with my coursin Pam, her husband Dan, and their three grown children before I headed home the next day. Pam’s dad and my father were brothers, close in age, who stayed in touch throughout most of their lives, even though there were great distances between them. A meal in downtown Northampton. Back at their house for ice cream, we laughed at the obituary of our shared great-grandmother and mention of her toothless face. As we looked into each other’s face, Pam and I were both struck by how much we resembled our fathers.

 

My cousin, Pam Dissinger, and her husband, Dan, who was a pressman during his working days, Northampton, MA.

 

Outside of Dalton, Massachusetts, 05/03/24

Time for a short drive through the stunning Berkshire landscape at the very beginnings of spring up here. The small hill towns, the fresh smells, the total lack of trash on the roads. I stop to make a picture.

You can still participate in the pre-sale of Little Worlds at the following link.
https://www.robamberg.com/blog/2023/8/12/little-worlds-the-book

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Little Worlds - Almost There

Rob Amberg has had his eyes and ears tuned to the Western North Carolina landscape and
its people since 1973. Rob’s photographs are imbued with his unique perspective as both an “outsider” and an “insider,” and his work in the Asheville Art Museum Collection provides an intimate look at the region as it has changed over the years. Little Worlds, through the beautifully woven tale of words and images, of fact and fiction, importantly adds to the discourse on the veracity of photographs as well as the subjective nature of memories and myths.
—Pamela L. Myers, Executive Director, Asheville Art Museum

Inside front cover of Little Worlds

I leave early Monday morning for Massachusetts to be on press for the final printing of Little Worlds. For those of you who have been following this long-running saga, we expect to have books on hand by the end of May. No one will be more pleased than me to have this book out in the world. To each of you who has contributed to the production of this book, I offer my heartfelt thanks and appreciation. It has truly been a community effort.
I will be posting some images from the printing process at The Studley Press in Dalton, Massachusetts. And if anyone remains interested in purchasing a pre-publication copy of Little Worlds, or talking advantage of the offered rewards, the link to the fundraiser is below.
https://www.robamberg.com/blog/2023/8/12/little-worlds-the-book

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Little Worlds - BIG NEWS

 

Kate in my truck, Barnard, 1995.
-from Little Worlds

 

After seven plus years working on Little Worlds I’m pleased to announce the book is now in the capable hands of The Studley Press in Massachusetts. We’re looking at a publication date of mid to late May.

While it would seem I would be elated by this news, and I am, I’m also gripped by a sense of unease, the knowledge that the book is out of my hands now. It’s done, for better or worse, no more edits, or photo changes, or last minute story additions. All that’s left is the angst from wondering if Little Worlds is any good.

All books are journeys and Little Worlds has certainly proved to be more challenging than my last two. Dealings with publishers, the endless edits and structural changes in the manuscript, the minutiae of the self-publishing process, the fundraising and distribution, all have tested me. Yet there was comfort in those tests - the knowledge that the process was still in my hands. No risk involved.

After my second book, The New Road, I had vowed to never do another book. It had exhausted me. But some years later on a solitary drive out west, I concluded I wanted to do another. I needed to finish what I had started, which was a trilogy of books from Madison County, NC, where I had made my home for fifty years. Now, 22 years after the publication of Sodom Laurel Album and 15 years after The New Road, we will soon have Little Worlds.

I want to thank everyone who has contributed to the making of Little Worlds with generous donations, be they time, money, and goodwill. And to the people of Madison County who have graced me for fifty years with their stories, their images, and their friendships.

The fundraiser for Little Worlds is ongoing and I would encourage anyone who is interested in supporting this project to check out the link below.
https://www.robamberg.com/blog/2023/8/12/little-worlds-the-book

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Little Worlds - author pix survey

One of the more disconcerting decisions to be made when publishing a book is choosing the author photograph. The thoughts and arguments surrounding such a choice are endless: too fat, too thuggish, too calm, pants hang too low, too boring, too mysterious, too me. I decided to give readers a bit of a choice. Here are the four under consideration. All are numbered. I’m not going to identify the photographers as yet. Make your choice. Buy a book.
https://www.robamberg.com/blog/2023/8/12/little-worlds-the-book

#1

#2

#3

#4

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Me, Letojanni

 

In Letojanni, Sicily, October, 2023. ©photo by Titus Heagins 2023.

 

I think often about place and finding my spot in the world has been a lifelong quest. Where do I belong? Where am I most at ease? Where can I be my best self? Madison County has been that place for most of the last fifty years and I think I landed well.
As with life, photography and writing are equally dependent on finding your spot. Where to stand when making a photograph or to best hear a story is the first, and most elemental, decision I make when photographing or simply listening.
Throughout my life and career, I’ve had the opportunity to visit many places, some of which I’ve thought could become my spot. I’ve studied the landscape, the climate, the size, the people of these places—northern New Mexico, Vermont, Alaska, the Olympic Peninsula—and thought, I could live here. I could photograph here. I could be of this place. But I’ve never left my place in the mountains.
I returned home from a recent trip to Sicily with that familiar urge to make it my own. I had reasons: family history, living relatives I know, a love of the culture, land, and people. The raw emotion of being with family in the place where we began, where our DNA is buried. But perhaps most importantly was being of an age and inclination to appreciate and embrace the slow of the Mediterranean day.
The name Letojanni is often attributed to the Moors who conquered Sicily, as well as, much of 'Europe in the 9th century A.D. They had a favorite horse named Janni and named the town after him. But in Sicilian Letojanni is generally understood to mean happy years and I sense I could be happy there, that it could be my spot.

 

Janni, Letojanni, Sicily 2023

 

Please donate to my upcoming book Little Worlds
https://www.robamberg.com/blog/2023/8/12/little-worlds-the-book

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