Originally Published January 19th, 2019

“This book is my attempt to speak the foreign language of light, color, texture and movement. It all becomes a strange dream in this city at night; alone, quiet, feeling kinda blue.” —Excerpt from Kinda Blue

2 Years Later

It’s been two years since I published my first photo-book—Kinda Blue: Street Photos of Kendallville, Indiana.

I recently sat down with some friends over coffee and browsed through the book. I was prepared for a cringe fest, but surprisingly most of the images have held up.

As a creative, I’m usually sick of my work after a few months. After publishing the book, I was more insecure about the introduction than the quality of the photos. It was also my first time publishing my writing.

For a short time I considered reprinting the book and leaving out the intro. Now that some time has passed, I’m ok with the words I wrote and it’s become part of the book.

Some Trivia:

The writing from the book was inspired by Jack Kerouac’s poem October in the Railroad Earth

I took the name Kinda Blue from Miles Davis’ Jazz Album, which I was playing a lot at the time.

The majority of the photos in the book were taken with my Fujifilm X100T, but there were a handful of images that I shot with film cameras.

The first half of the book is in color while the second half is black & white, this was inspired by Daido’s Tokyo.

The editing process was by far the hardest part of making the book. I printed off over 100 4×6 images and with Ashley’s help, slowly & painfully narrowed them down to what would finally make it into the book.

Final Thoughts

“Some days I walked with my wife and our two dogs—snapping photos. Some nights I walked alone while they were all sleeping.”

Kinda Blue represents a pivotal moment in my photography journey. It was a transitional period for me—a lonely time filled with doubts about the future. I feel that I’ve grown a lot as an artist since then.

At the same time, I still find myself occasionally wandering the streets of Kendallville, hopelessly searching for something interesting—or that ultra rare decisive moment.

Since publishing Kinda Blue I’ve also put out another photo-book: Deconstructed.

In 2019—my goal is to release 3 zines & possibly another photo-book.

I learned a lot from publishing this first book. Looking back it was one of the most enjoyable creative experiences I’ve had with my photography.

I think in order to make art that will truly last—it must be done in a way that requires work, discipline, persistence & time. All these went into making my book and I’ll always remember that with future projects.

“Do what is meaningful, not what is expedient.” —Jordan Peterson

I’m a huge proponent of photo-books. If you’re a photographer—definitely consider making your own book. Even if it’s just to hand out to friends and family. Two years later, I’m so happy I put in the time and effort to make this book.

Going back and revisiting it has inspired me to begin working on my next big project. I hope this inspires you to start your own artistic journey and create something that is meaningful to you.

“The most important thing about art is to work. Nothing else matters except sitting down every day and trying.” – Steven Pressfield, The War of Art

Stay motivated!
Keep making meaningful art!

-Tim