Adam Geary
Adam Geary
About Time
A5 size
Perfect Bound
68 Pages
1st Edition
AGLU/Adam Geary
2018
From the artist:
‘Faced with ageing and change we gradually withdraw from the world.’ About Time (ISBN 9780995651746 ) is the latest photobook by the UK photographer, Adam Geary. You can take a virtual flick through the book at www.adamgeary.com/books.
As we grow older and watch those around us pass before our eyes we start to look back and reflect on lives lived. In a society obsessed with the now and the new, it is perhaps time for more reflection and consideration. About Time asks us to step back and reflect on our lives and simply look and connect with the everyday stuff that surrounds us. ‘It is time’, Geary says, to ‘look afresh at this life passing, where every day is made up of fleeting glances, to be kept close at hand for a journey that might get rough.’ Adam Geary is based in Scotland. He has published over 16 books and work is collected widely.
Grab a copy of the book here
Book review by Dana Stirling |
In his new book ‘About Time’ Adam Geary tackles the notion of the ‘everyday’, he urges us to take the time and look at the things that surround us all the time. The concept of the ‘everyday’ is something many photographers have undertaken because it is – well, always around us. It is easy sometimes to forget to take a moment and reflect on not only ourselves but what all these things and people around us mean to us and shape us. ‘About Time’ makes you take the time not only the see Adam’s everyday but reflect on our own.
The first thing that struck me the most is the overall aesthetic choices made in the book. From the bold and graphic cover, to the choice of the yellow and pink as the main story teller colors I found the book to have a great minimalistic yet colorful statement. Although most of the images in the book itself are black and white or very monochromatic with slight touches of color, the added ‘artificial’ colors in the pages of the book create a dynamic read of the images.
““Time to look afresh at this life passing, where every day is made up of fleeting glances, to be kept close at hand for a journey that might get rough.” ”
I found the choice of color and the placement of it in the book to almost make small chapters within the book – dividing it in to three. The first has a feeling of the need to document time and it’s passing. The second, a very graphic examination of movement and the third a story of objects as they reflect in various places yet mimic each other. These so called chapters might just be my own interpretation, but never the less they create an interesting dialog within the book itself and its images.
After the initial browsing to get the overall feel and taste of the book I took the time to look at the images, one by one. I think what resonated the most with me is the simplicity of the images, yet their poetic string together hits home. As someone who can really only photograph objects and things myself, I always admire people who can tell a story using still life. How can you tell a story of people with no people – well, by their surroundings and their leftovers. I found a great intimacy in the images, a silence that allows the viewer to fall deep into personal thoughts. The use of repetition while allowing small changes and slight shifts creates a movement not only in the photograph itself but in between the images themselves.
While viewing this book I had in mind Roland Barthe and his ideas of what photography means and what stands behind them. The idea of having an image capture both what is in the photo itself but also what we don’t necessarily see – but what the image is a part of in our culture or context. For me, Adam’s images play on this place of what is and out of the frame and how the reader/viewer can insert themselves in to this context.
Grab a copy of the book here
