environments

i've been part of the publishing world for over fifteen years now, in one way or another, and it's fair to say that books touch me in a way very few other objects can. so when i heard olga bennett was going to make a book, when i finally ordered a copy and received it in the post, and then sat down at breakfast to leaf through the pages for the first time, i was very excited. the book is a small format, roughly the size of both my hands placed one above the other. it is printed on matte paper and carries olga's subtle and atmospheric photographs so well. often the depth of field is shallow, you can feel the ambient light of the room, often you can make out the colours and contours of objects in the background, which makes these images even more enigmatic.

olga portrayed the working spaces of various artists for her project, and i love reading the small texts, in which these creative people describe themselves, their work, their relationship to their environments.

my favourite quotes from the short introduction by sarah caldwell:

"perhaps the more that you look at these ordinary places, the more you can find the extraordinary about each person within them."

"their attitudes evoke the human capacity for change, reinvention and openness to new things."

sarah is closing with a most beautiful quote from sainte-beuve, volupté, 1834
"... let the image float inside you; pass lightly; the slightest idea of it will suffice for you."

find olga's blog here, her portfolio here, and if you are curious now, you can order a copy of environments here.

p.s.: pictures showing my living room and olga's book on my table.