“This {Song, About A Girl} is off our first record——most people don’t own it.” —Kurt Cobain

Hey Gang,

It’s me, your boy Tim.

I’m BACK in the saddle, or rather, back in the driver’s seat of the car that’s missing a steering wheel, the brakes are shot, and the transmission is blown; leaving me reeling through life aimlessly like a thirty-something bearded hipster wrecking ball.

Anyways—

Somehow I found the motivation and the time to make another Photo-Book. Allow me to explain.

I released my last book, “What Am I Doing With My Life: Volume 1” a year ago.

The book was an attempt to answer the existential questions of “what are we doing here?“, “what is the meaning of life?”, “what is my purpose?”. I was on a journey to justify my life as an artist and most specifically a documentary photographer. Like many people my age, I was desperately searching for meaning & purpose.

My book was a limited run of only ten (10). A year later, the book has sold zero (0) copy(s) and has since been salvaged by a hoard of Coronavirus preppers and repurposed as toilet paper.

So, after the performance of my last two books, both selling zero (0) copy(s)——I had to take a hard look at my life.

I had to ask some really tough questions.

When is the next season of Stranger Things coming out?
Why is the only guy in ZZ Top without a beard named Frank Beard?
What am I doing with my life?

I spent a lot of time staring longingly at sunsets in the Walmart parking lot. I went on long contemplative walks. I called up some of my friends and asked them “Why am I so weird?” and “Why can’t I just be a normal person?”.

In the end, I had to evaluate my life as a failed artist. I had to make a plan.

So I decided to make an even more meaningless book.

“My last book sold zero (0) copy(s)——with my next book, I’m hoping to blow those number(s) out of the water.” 

What started out as a joke among friends turned into a legitimate project. I’ve been covertly snapping photos of my friends eating for years——always with the tagline that I would someday make a book. Well gang, it’s someday, and here it is——People Eating: Volume 1. 

 

“For thousands of years——people have been eating.” ——excerpt from my book People Eating: Volume 1

I have to thank my friends Julie & Kelley—who both make up a large amount of photos within the book. I’m not really sure why, but I think it’s because they’re always eating when they’re around me. I think they are always eating in general and the more stranger phenomena is that they are spending time with me.

“Those glittering eyes——crossed. That previously veiled tongue becomes a visible landing strip.” ——excerpt from my book, People Eating: Volume 1

I honestly had a great time going through my archives and finding all the photos to fill this book. The process of culling & editing photos can be overwhelming, but I get so much enjoyment from finding photos and pairing them together in order to tell a story.

That’s really the magic of making a Photo-Book.

Most of the images in this book where taken years apart—but somehow they come together and fit like puzzle pieces.

For me, that’s the most rewarding part of being a photographer—creating some sort of warped connection through people, time, and space.

The book is sixty (60) pages of black and white images along with one of the most lengthy pre-faces that I’ve written for my books so far.

Is this art?

I don’t know.

“They laugh at me because I’m different; I laugh at them because they’re all the same.” ——Kurt Cobain

I had fun making this book. That’s all that really matters. I hope the people who receive a copy of People Eating: Volume 1 get as much enjoyment and laughter out of it as I did.

By the way this book is not for sale. 

Thanks for reading!!

-T