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Annual Newsletter

                                                                                                                        March, 2004

Dear friends,

Though it is still quite cold and with snow on the ground here in Bucks County, we send you warmest greetings for all the New Year.

This newsletter will bring you up to date on our photography activities over the past year, and our plans for 2004 and beyond. Once again, the addendum lists current prices for our prints, portfolios, books, and other items. In addition, after the addendum there is further information about all the new books and how to order them.

It has been a demanding, yet exciting time. We have even more projects in the works than usual, and here are just a few that we hope will be of interest to you.

Photographs and Photographing

Last year we had a most productive time photographing on our month-long journey in Baja California in February. We fired up the 1961 International fire truck, something we hadn’t done since Paula rolled it over on the ice a few years ago, and headed out on the road. (During the last few years in Europe we’ve been traveling in the old Land Rover instead.) As luck, or lack of it, would have it, we needed repairs at every stop on our way out West: Atlanta, where Paula’s daughter, husband, and grandchild live, Adrian, Texas, where her parents are still on the farm, Los Angeles, where we taught a workshop, and San Diego, where we stayed with good friends while provisioning for the trip down into Baja. In San Diego, the fire truck was in the shop up until the day we left for Baja. So it was with some trepidation that we headed into, what was for us, a great unknown, where repairs could mean a thousand mile (or more) round trip back to the States just to get parts. (We had two vehicles with us; our two assistants drove our Montero.) But small miracles do happen and from the moment we left San Diego until we got back home, over 6,000 miles later, not one repair was needed.

The time in Baja was most peaceful and relaxing—exactly what we needed. Most of the time we were in places with no electricity, and the calm, quiet land gave back to us many fine new photographs. We have just finished printing those new negatives and we look forward to showing them to you.

In past newsletters, we have written about plans to go to Iceland. We will definitely be going this summer. Logistics for transporting our equipment and vehicles are well underway, and we’re most excited about photographing in the land of fire and ice.

Exhibitions:

We had a number of exhibitions in 2003 and more are slated for this year. All 129 of the photographs from our forthcoming Tuscany books were exhibited at the Fernbank Museum in Atlanta. An exhibition of the fifty photographs from Paula’s forthcoming book, Madonnina, will open at the New Orleans Museum of Art either late this year or next. Both of these exhibitions will be traveling, and if you think your local museum or university art gallery would like to know about them, we would be happy to send a prospectus.


Article in B&W

In the January/February 2004 issue of B&W (“Black and White”) magazine we were honored with a feature article on us—twenty-four pages with many of our photographs, including a few new ones from Baja. The writer, Richard Pitnick, visited us for two days and truly captured the feeling and spirit of our lives. We cannot imagine a better article, and we are most grateful.

Book Publishing: Lodima Press

It  seems this newsletter is becoming a Lodima Press newsletter as well. Our publishing efforts have been enormous this year. (See pages at the end for the specifics on each book including the pre-publication offers.)

Two years ago we wrote, “At this point we are not entirely sure which of our books we will publish this year. We have five books of our own in various stages of completion and one book by another photographer that we will be publishing.” Finally, in 2003 we spent ten weeks overseeing the printing in Belgium at Salto2, the printing company. We can report that all of the books are printed, they currently await binding, and they will be available for distribution this year. They are as beautiful as we had hoped.

All of the Lodima Press books are now printed in 600-line screen quadtone. This is the extraordinary method of printing by Salto2 that we first used with Michael’s book, The Students of Deep Springs College, published in 2000. We continue to be dedicated to the highest standards in photographic reproduction.

New Books for 2004:

•  Tuscany: Wandering the Back Roads, Volume I and Volume II. These are books of the photographs we made throughout the countryside and in the small towns and villages of Tuscany. Tuscany, Volume I, will be a book of Paula’s 8x10s, 5x7s, and 4x5s, and Tuscany, Volume II, will be a long book of Michael’s 8x20s. Robert Sobieszek, Curator of Photography at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art wrote a wonderful essay, “Matters of Choice and Discovery,” and Ferenc Máté, author of The Hills of Tuscany contributed a foreword. And we jointly wrote a preface that includes selections from the journals Paula kept while photographing in Tuscany.

  Madonnina by Paula is a book of photographs of the beautifully and individually crafted small shrines to the Madonna that can be seen throughout the rural countryside in Tuscany. Included is an essay about the history and tradition of the Madonnina shrines by an Italian writer, Guiliana Bianchi Caleri, and a foreword by Steven Maklansky, curator of Photography at the New Orleans Museum of Art. This charming small book will be out in the fall, and will be perfect for Christmas gifts.

  Stones and Marks by the Australian photographer Peter Elliston is a beautiful book of photographs of petroglyphs, pictographs, stone markers and ruins from around the world. Elliston’s photographs are very fine (or we would not publish his book), but what makes this book particularly engaging are the writings and engravings by nineteenth century archaeologists and explorers about many of the places Elliston photographed. Paired with the photographs, these writings and engravings offer reflective comparisons while providing historical context. We have found it fascinating to learn how these places looked and were thought about when they were first discovered.

  Edward Weston: Life Work is a big 252-page book of Weston’s photographs from the collection of Judith G. Hochberg and Michael P. Mattis, with a multi-part essay by Sarah M. Lowe, author of Tina Modotti, Photographs, and a lengthy essay, Edward Weston: A Memoir and a Summation, by Dody Weston Thompson, Weston’s last assistant. Edward Weston: Life Work includes 110 full-size reproductions, including photographs that have never before been reproduced as well as a number of Weston’s signature images. Edward Weston: Life Work has the finest reproductions of his photographs that have ever been made. Not only are Weston’s silver prints reproduced in 600-line screen quadtone, his platinum prints are reproduced in tritone plus two colors to faithfully reproduce the subtle colors of this early work. If you have never seen Edward Weston’s original prints, but know his photographs only through reproduction, you are in for a revelation.

•  This year we are inaugurating the major multi-year project of publishing nineteen books on the portfolios of Brett Weston. Back in the late 1930s, Brett wanted his photographs to reach a wider audience, and since he was not satisfied with the reproduction quality then available in books, he began to produce portfolios of his original photographs. There is only one complete set of every portfolio, which is owned by collector and photography dealer Scott Nichols of the Scott Nichols Gallery in San Francisco. The reproductions are being made from this set. Instead of publishing one very large and very expensive book of the over 250 photographs, we will publish each portfolio in a separate volume. In this way they will be quite affordable. We will be offering them by subscription, although they will also be available separately, and we will publish books of the portfolios three to four times a year. Many of the photographs included in these portfolios have never before been published. Art historian, Roger Aikin, has written an introductory essay for each of the books.

•  We will be inaugurating another series of books this year—the “Lodima Press Portfolio Books.” We conceived of this series when we considered publishing Paula’s portfolio, A Field in Tuscany, as a small book. As we thought more about it we realized that there must be many photographers who have small bodies of work or small series that rarely, if ever, get seen, and we thought these small books would be an innovative way to get these photographs out into the world. These books will be approximately 95/8" x 83/4" and will contain from eight to eighteen photographs. And they will sell for under $20. We decided to put Paula’s portfolio book on hold and to begin instead by publishing other photographers. We will publish two books this year—the first, Home by Nick Nixon, and Solitudes by Carl Chiarenza, who is currently making new photographs just for this book. Plans are to publish six books in this series next year, and to continue publishing bi-monthly or possibly more frequently. Other photographers whose books will be in this series currently include: Robert Adams, Tom Baril, Mark Citret, Keith Carter, Linda Connor, Tillman Crane, Terry Evans, Larry Fink, Frank Gohlke, Emmet Gowin, David Graham, Abelardo Morell, Philipp Scholz-Rittermann, George Tice, and Jerry Uelsmann, as well as many others.

   We will start by publishing the photographs of known photographers and then we will introduce some very fine work by relatively unknown and previously unpublished photographers, and on occasion, we will publish historical work. This series promises to be very exciting. Titles will be available individually and the series of “Lodima Press Portfolio Books” will be available by subscription.

• Current plans still include publishing the other two books we have in the works: our first collaboration, The Bonsai of Longwood Gardens, in 2005, and Trees, 8x20 photographs by Michael, in 2006. Projected publication dates have been pushed back to 2005 and 2006 respectively.

Publishing: B&W Magazine

We continue to publish our two-page spread in B&W, the new magazine devoted to the collecting of black and white photography. Many of our photographs that appear in these ads have not been published, nor ever will be published, elsewhere. Taken together, our ads in B&W comprise a fascinating and varied record of our photographs from over the years.

Publishing: Other

We will be participating in Book Expo America (The BEA Show), the annual trade show for the American Booksellers Association that will be held at the beginning of June in Chicago. This will give us the opportunity to show our books to a wide audience of book trade professionals. In October, we plan to participate in the Frankfurt Book Fair in Germany—an even larger event with over 1,500 exhibitors. And in mid-November we expect to have a publisher’s booth at Paris Photo (the European counterpart to New York’s Association of International Photography Art Dealers), an event we attended in Paris last year for the first time.

www.michaelandpaula.com

Finally, last year we got at least some photographs up on our web site—those from our Tuscany books. And by the time you read this, we should have e-commerce up and running, at least for our books. We hope to get more photographs onto the site soon.

If you haven’t been to our web site and registered on the sign-up page, please do so. We can then notify you of special offers, exhibitions, books, and generally keep you informed of what we are doing in the world of photography. We have some special things planned for the site that will be available only to those who have signed up.

Workshops and the Large Format Conference in Monterey:

Because of our travel schedule, we have only two Vision and Technique Workshops scheduled for this year, June 25–27 and October 1–3, both here at our studio in Bucks County.

Iceland:

We are offering a workshop in Iceland from July 29–August 8. If you are interested, let us know and we will send details. At this time there are only two spots left.

We will be presenters on three different panels at the Large Format Conference in Monterey, California, April 23–25. In response to requests from a few of those attending the conference we are offering the Vision part of our Vision and Technique workshop immediately after the conference. It will begin on the evening of April 25 and continue throughout the day and evening of April 26. For further information about this and any of our other workshops, see our web site or give us a call.

Building:

Our building expansion project continues—slowly, slowly—we might even get doors and windows in this year, but it will really be something when it is finished.

                                                                                               

As many of you know or as you might have learned in the recent feature article in B&W, our livelihood as full-time artists is always difficult and uncertain. We would be most grateful to have the names of anyone whom you think would be interested in our work. Thank you.


Addendum

Many of you have requested updates on our print prices for your records. This addendum contains those updates and also provides information about our books, exhibition catalogues, portfolios, note cards, posters, and (singular) video. Please note that there have been some changes and additions. These are designated with an asterisk.

     Photographs: Silver Chloride Contact Prints

     Now that we are not printing from older negatives (except in a very few instances), we are pricing all older work individually by image. Since we are no longer printing from these negatives, the edition size of the printing is fixed. It is different for every photograph: for some photographs it may be as few as 4 or 5; for others it could be 12, or 17, 26, or 33, or some other “odd” number. Although we have never before editioned our photographs, we have always assigned each print a unique number and have kept exact records of how many prints of each image we have made.

     Each year we expect the photographs that fall into the “older” category to change by one year, although that is not rigidly fixed. We may consider certain work “current” for more than two years or we may consider it to be current for only one year. Here are prices as of January 1, 2004.

*   Current photographs (those made in 2002 and 2003):

Michael:   8x20       $2,000.                               Paula:   8x10       $1,000.
                                                                                                  5x7          $750.
                                                                                                  4x5          $750.

*   Photographs from Tuscany

Michael:   8x10       $1,500.                               Paula:   8x10       $1,000.
                        8x20       $2,000.                                              5x7       $1,000.
                                                                                                  4x5       $1,000.

                                                     Photographs from Madonnina are $750.

Note: many of our Tuscany prints will be going up substantially beginning in 2005. The pre-publication offer on the Special Editions of our new Tuscany books represents significant savings.

*   Older photographs (pre-2002):

Michael:   8x10       $1,500. –$10,000.             Paula:   8x10$1,000. – $2,500.
                        8x20       $2,000. –   $5,000.                            5x7$1,000. – $1,500.
                      18x22       $3,000. –   $5,000.                            4x5$1,000. – $1,500.

The price for Michael’s 2'x5' enlargements, made directly from his 8"x20" negatives is $4,500 except for the two prints of which half the edition has sold. Those prints are priced at $6,000.

     Books and Catalogues:

*   Landscapes 1975–1979: This collector’s item is going fast. Only five sets remain of Michael’s first book (last year at this time there were eight). It was printed in a signed and numbered, limited edition of 600 two-volume sets. Landscapes 1975–1979, with an original photograph as the frontispiece, letterpress text, and tipped-in plates, is a rare and beautiful set of books for fine book and photography collectors. Published in 1981, and with an essay by James Enyeart, it was awarded “Best Photography Book of the Year” at the International Festival of Photography in Arles, France, July 1981. This set is now priced at $2,500 (plus $15 S&H). The price will increase by $250 as each remaining set is sold.

*   Landscapes 1975–1979:An exhibition catalogue with the same title (and essay) as the book, but with different reproductions (12). Published in 1981. Very rare. Few copies remain. None are currently available.

     Michael A. Smith: A Visual Journey: Photographs From Twenty-Five Years:Published in 1992, this book accompanied Michael’s twenty-five year retrospective exhibition at the International Museum of Photography at George Eastman House. Foreword by Marianne Fulton, essay by John Bratnober. 176 duotone reproductions. $85 (plus $7 S&H). Signed and numbered, slipcased limited edition: $250 (plus $7 S&H).

     Princeton: An exhibition catalogue of Michael’s with five reproductions and an essay by Richard Trenner. Published in 1985. Rare; only thirty copies remain. $20 (plus $4 S&H).

     Natural Connections: Photographs by Paula Chamlee:Published in 1994 and Paula’s first book—photographs of the natural landscape accompanied by selected writings from her journals with an essay by Estelle Jussim. Printed in Laser Silver-Lit Tones™, 42 tritone reproductions. $60 (plus $7 S&H). Signed and numbered, slipcased limited edition: $200 (plus $7 S&H).

     High Plains Farm: Published in 1996, a book of Paula’s photographs and writing about the farm where she grew up on the High Plains of the Texas Panhandle. Foreword by George Thompson. 81 duotone reproductions. $70 (plus $7 S&H). Signed and numbered, slipcased limited edition: $200 (plus $7 S&H).

*   San Francisco: Twenty Corner Markets and One in the Middle of the Block: Paula’s third book, published in 1997. Printed in a signed and numbered limited edition of only 550 copies, 21 duotone reproductions and hand-tipped plate on the cover. Fewer than fifty copies remain. $60 (plus $7 S&H). The Collectors Edition, which came with the purchaser’s choice of any photograph in the book, is now sold out. Next year the price for remaining copies will be going up.

     The Students of Deep Springs College:A book of Michael’s about the most unusual college in America, published in 2000. Essay by L. Jackson Newell, afterword by William T. Vollmann. 53 reproductions printed in 600-line screen quadtone. $50 (plus $7 S&H). Signed and numbered, slipcased limited edition: $200 (plus $7 S&H).

Portfolios: Paula

*   A Field in Tuscany: An edition of ten portfolios self-published in 2000, each containing eight 8" x 10" photographs archivally mounted and overmatted, and two sheets of deckle edged Arches paper printed letterpress. The portfolio comes in a handmade box covered in heavy linen. $5,500.

*   San Francisco: Twenty Corner Markets and One in the Middle of the Block: An edition of three portfolios self-published in 1997, each containing twenty-one 8"x10" photographs archivally mounted and overmatted, and three sheets of deckle edged Arches paper printed letterpress. The portfolio comes in a handmade box covered in heavy Italian linen. $21,000.

     High Plains Farm: A Unique Portfolio: An edition of fifteen portfolios self-published in 1996. Sold out.

Portfolios: Michael

     The Stones of Monteriggioni: A suite of six 8"x20" photographs archivally mounted and overmatted. $6,000. Printed in an edition of five.

     Eight Landscape Photographs: An edition of twenty portfolios plus two artist’s proofs published by Regnis Press in 1983, each containing eight 8"x20" photographs archivally mounted and overmatted, and two sheets of deckle edged Arches paper printed letterpress. The portfolio comes in a handmade box covered in heavy linen. Upon completion of this portfolio, the negatives were retired; no further prints were made from them. $18,000.

     Twelve Photographs 1967–1969: An edition of twenty-five self-published in 1970, this portfolio contains a representative selection of twelve photographs from this period. The 8"x10" archivally mounted and overmatted photographs and two sheets of Arches paper printed letterpress come in a custom-made portfolio case covered in heavy linen. $25,000.


     Note Cards:

     Michael A. Smith: Note Card Set OneandPaula Chamlee: Note Card Set One:Two boxed sets of note cards, one set from each of us. Printed in Belgium by Salto2 in 600-line screen quadtone. Each set has twelve cards and envelopes—three cards each of four photographs of the natural landscape. In our fanaticism to make these cards as finely as we could, we found a card stock that is coated on the outside for optimum reproduction and uncoated on the inside for quick-dry, non-smear writing. Both sets are limited to an edition of only 1,000. $19.95 for the first set, and $16.95 for each additional set. $4.00 S&H for one set plus $2 for each additional set.

Posters:

The fourHigh Plains Farm posters are exquisitely printed in 300 line-screen duotone on heavy cover stock and were run through the press an additional and fourth time for extra luster and brilliance. Size: 19"x26" for three of the posters and 19"x27" for the fourth. $25 each or $80 for all four. A limited edition of signed and numbered posters is also available at $50 each or $125 for all four. We will send reproductions of the four images upon request. For posters, add $6 S&H.

Video:

The PBS half-hour documentary film, High Plains Farm: Paula Chamlee, produced by KACV-TV is available from us for only $25 (plus $4.00 S&H).


Pre-publication and Ordering Information
for all New Books from Lodima Press

More information can be found at www.lodimapress.com
Orders can be placed through e-commerce, or directly through us.

•     Tuscany: Wandering the Back Roads: Volume I, by Paula Chamlee
70 reproductions     160 pages     95/8" x 111/2"
Regular Hardcover Edition: $75 • Pre-publication offer: $65 (until June 1)
Special Limited Edition: $1,200 • Pre-publication offer: $750 (until June 1)
(The Special Limited Edition comes with your choice of any photograph in the book.)

•     Tuscany: Wandering the Back Roads: Volume II, by Michael A. Smith
59 reproductions     128 pages     95/8" x 20"
Regular Hardcover Edition: $95 • Pre-publication offer: $85 (until June 1)
Special Limited Edition: $2,250 • Pre-publication offer: $1,450 (until June 1)
(The Special Limited Edition comes with your choice of any photograph in the book.)
Shipping: $15 for the set; $7 for Volume I; $10 for Volume II. Special Edition shipping: $35.

•     Edward Weston: Life Work   110 reproductions     252 pages     12 x 121/2"
Regular Hardcover Edition: $125 • Pre-publication offer: $95 (until April 30).
Special Limited Edition: $450 for the first 25 copies. Price will increase thereafter.
The Special Limited Edition includes a modern print of a rare portrait of Edward Weston
by Tina Modotti. We are doing the printing.
Shipping: $10. Shipping is free during the pre-publication period.

•     The Portfolios of Brett Weston—Volume I: San Francisco
Softcover Edition: $34.95 • Price for subscribers to the series: $29.95.
Hardcover Edition, limited to 100 numbered copies: $100 (available to subscribers only).
Subscribers to the series will receive two free volumes and a slipcase for the entire series of nineteen books.
Shipping: Softcover: $5. Hardcover: $8.

•     Stones and Marks, by Peter Elliston    77 reproductions     160 pages     11" x 13"
Regular Hardcover Edition: $85 • Pre-publication offer: $75 (until June 1).
Shipping: $10. Special Edition shipping: $35.

•     Madonnina, by Paula Chamlee     50 reproductions     96 pages     9" x 10"
Regular Hardcover Edition: $60 • Pre-publication: $50
Special Limited Edition: $950 • Pre-publication offer: $475 (until December 31).
Shipping: $7. Special Edition shipping: $35.

•     Home, by Nicholas Nixon     16 reproductions     24 pages    95/8" x 83/4"
The first in a series of Lodima Press Portfolio Books
Softcover Edition: $19.95
Hardcover Edition, limited to 100 signed and numbered copies: $100.
Shipping: Softcover: $4. Hardcover: $7.

•     Solitudes, by Carl Chiarenza     16 reproductions     24 pages    95/8" x 83/4"
The second in a series of Lodima Press Portfolio Books
Softcover Edition: $19.95
Hardcover Edition, limited to 100 signed and numbered copies: $100.
Shipping: Softcover: $4. Hardcover: $7.

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