Hershey
The second book in the Series Works is about to go to press. It publishes the Hershey series I made in 1997. Hershey is an important series in my ouvre as it reestablishes a way of working begun in the early eighties. This is narrative work and can be thought of as visual story telling.
I blogged about it:
Hershey: here
Hershey Part ll: here
Hershey Part lll: here
The first book, Oakesdale (see blog here), was printed this past November and is just about out of print. If we get enough demand for Oakesdale we will order a second printing. These books are signed and numbered by me, are 7 inches square and are available for $25 plus shipping, each. These books are being printed in extremely small editions and, as each one is signed, they will quickly sell out.The idea is excellent printing, elegant design with modest size and price.
The plan is to publish twelve of these little books and offer a slipcase to house them in. This group of books will come from series work photographs I made from 1981 to 2005, all black and white and all square pictures.
We are now in preproduction on the next one which is Yountville, CA.
Let us know if you'd like either Hershey or Oakesdale (or both). Send an email with your name and mailing address and we will put you on the list, with copies getting to you in about a month. You can also sign up for all twelve books and we will ship each one to you as they become available.
Neal's email: here
Thank you for your interest in my work.
Related series
Hershey, PA 1997
The Hershey pictures were made at a time when I was expanding my understanding of what was possible within a series project. I had made the Portland, Maine series earlier in the year and the Oakesdale, Washington series the previous summer. This was a farm that looked abandoned, off the side of the road on the way out of Hershey on another spring break trip to photograph, heading back home to Boston with a friend. We stopped and photographed for a while. It was cold and gray as much of March is.
OAKESDALE, WA
A new book, one of twelve that are planned to highlight Rantoul's vintage Series Works, made in the 1980's and 90's. These small and modest 7 inch square books feature one series in each book, with an essay by the author. Editioned, signed and numbered by the artist.
From the author's introduction to the Oakedale book:
As I write this now, on the twentieth anniversary of when these pictures were made, I find myself thinking back to the reasons I was walking around a rural cemetery outside a very small town in the wheat field region called the Palouse in the southeastern corner of the State of Washington on a very hot July afternoon. This was not the first series I had made by this time and, in fact, I was not in the Palouse to make series work at all but to photograph the extensive wheat fields with an 8 x 10 inch view camera. I made the Oakesdale Cemetery pictures in 1997 when I was young enough not to be cynical but old enough not to be naive.
Proving that excellent design and printing need not be expensive, these books are an elegant way to share in Rantoul's seminal imagery. The first 100 in the edition are $25 each, with shipping and handling added. You may order from the author: nrantoul@comcast.net
Yountville, CA 1981
After making the Nantucket pictures the year before, I tried to make several other series but was having little luck. On a spring break trip to California my soon-to-be wife and I were staying at an inn in Napa Valley in the town of Yountville. Getting up early the next morning, I started walking through the side streets of the little town.
The light was soft, gray and a little foggy and I made this series. Of course, after this I assumed that the light would have to be gray from that point on in making work this way. It wasn’t until 1996 with the Portland, Maine series that I proved my original theory wrong.
