Once-In-A-Lifetime
Dear Friends,
I have just returned to New York City for a 3 week or so, intensive period of work. I must sign 30,000+ prints for the upcoming sale of my archive. A life’s work is on the line, and so my studio director has signed up a team of assistants to work with me for 6 days a week, 8-10 hour days, in order to complete the sale by a certain date.
Just today I signed 1550 prints, so I can see the path through this as an endurance test, but one I happily commit to. What this means in terms of the blog postings is that I will most likely not have the concentration to write during this period. But by this time you have read me regularly, and you get the drift of my thinking, although I hope I have not been too repetitive, still my concerns and my limits have been out there for all to see.
I propose doing the simplest thing to keep the blog going until I can be fully present once again. That would be to post a picture a day as is my blog’s raison d’être, but without my making commentary. However; now that you have read my kind of responses to seeing and working, I am open to seeing what it is that any of you might contribute to the images I show, your take on them for example. No obligation, believe me, just my own curiosity to see what ways, if any, I may have provoked you into thinking about this crazy, wonderful medium of ours.
You’ll be hearing from me again when this is done. Wish me luck on this Once-in-a-Lifetime deal.
ONCE MORE AROUND THE SUN 
curious to know what you mean by the sale of your archive? Is it all your private, published, and copyrighted works? Are you divesting all the work of a career. Your explanation is most appreciated.
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Rick, my archive is all the vintage prints I made over the last 5 decades. I hold the copyright and all negs slides etc, but the vast majority of the 50,000 plus prints in my archive will be going to the collector somewhere around 30,000+ fine prints. But this last goodbye is a great final look at everything that has taught me who I am and how the world looked to me. Now I can be free to play out the time remaining in new ways with a liberty that I haven’t had for many years. You may know that the photography world was always the low end of the totem pole of value in the art world, so there are many artists of my generation who had to keep hustling, as I have done for fifty years, so now I’ll have som real freedom. All my best, Joel
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I have followed your work for 34 years. When I started to study color you were there… now thirty plus years as a professor I teach color showing your images. But what is most interesting to me is how your blog has revealed the idiosyncratically human twists and turns of the evolution of your ideas as they connect to the common humanity we all share as image makers. We are so different and yet so the same…
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Dear Brian, nice to know you have been the all along and still consider the work seriously. It is a great medium for responding to the world’s offerings and then trying to make sense of it. I’ll be back in gear soon enough. Joel
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Good luck and happy journey! I am addicted to this blog by now, feel like I’ve learned a lot. I will be happy to go along with your suggestion and give you feedback as you suspend your written word during this busy period for you.
All the best,
Ece Batchelder
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Ece, thanks for responding. I’ll look for your comments as I go. Best to you, Joel
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good luck with all the hard hard work coming up.
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Jacky, thanks! There’s a lot of scribbling of my signature to do and I always sign my full name! Now I wish I had only used my initials, but I’m flying along pretty fast now. All my best, Joel
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We’ll be missing your thoughts, they are an unexpected and daily gift we get from one of the most passionate living photographers. Take care of your hand, it’s going to be tough. I hope I can buy one of those prints in reward. And don’t worry, we’ll take good care of the blog. See you soon.
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Jose, thanks for the supportive comment. It’s my goodbye look at 50 years of work but it leaves me with a new freedom to make fresh work as I enter the end game time of life. I am grateful that someone out there has the desire and the dollars to take in an archive as large as mine and then gift it to museums all over the world. This will get the work out there in ways that I was unable to do on my own.
I’ll be back on the blog and commenting as soon as I’m free again, meanwhile you and other readers are free to say anything you wish about the images, who knows, it may be an interesting challenge to see what effect the blog has had on everyone’s sensibility.
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I think the old adage, “one picture is worth a thousand words” will suffice in these coming days. I think we will be fine with that. Good luck, hope you don’t get a sore wrist. Great opportunity for you – see you sometime in Italy, hopefully, with a good bottle of Brunello and a warm fire
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Alfonso, Sounds great. We are down in Tuscany, where are you?
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I get there often….will be there early next year for wine business. I’ll be in touch with you and Maggie. Hang in there…
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I have so appreciated the daily gift of your images and text–rich, pithy, and poetic. Best of wishes on this turning point in your journey.
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Jane, Thanks for your support. I will be back in the game once this is done.
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Congratulations, Joel. As many photographers of your generation struggle with the legacy question it looks like you’ve found…no, earned…the opportunity of a lifetime. I look forward to seeing the work out in the world, and reading the blog when you get back to it, and of course seeing the new work to come with your new freedom.
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Thanks Susan,
I will certainly be back at the blog once this signing is done. 1500 prints a day is my goal so there is no time for reflection, just exhaustion.
Joel
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