I’m not sure what the meaning of it is, but Blake Andrews in his blog B has created a compass graphic locating a bunch of books that have geographical titles. I am pleased to find Time and Space on the Lower East Side over on the right. Lower east, of course.

It strikes me, as I go about marketing my book, that there are actually very few current art photography books that deal with New York City. A couple of book buyers have mentioned it. Another buyer rejected my book saying it was too New York specific. An attitude that somehow assumes New York to be a narrow subject not relevant to his region–Texas. The reality is that Time and Space is doing well with non-New Yorkers and foreigners. Moreover, the Lower East Side is the great immigrant neighborhood of American history, and today, it continues to be a bellwether of where we are going in New York and beyond.

There are undoubtedly many photographers doing interesting book-worthy work here in New York. The fact that this work is not finding its way into finished books available to the general public speaks to the present lack of options for photographers. There are only a handful of publishers located here in the city that could bring out this kind of content, and none are stepping up to the plate. On the one hand, there are more photographs being made than ever–frighteningly more than ever–and more photo books are being made as well. There’s a lot of action on Blurb and other self-publishing platforms, and there are lots of art books being made, few of which involve the kind of budgets that highly polished photo books require. Meanwhile, a relatively small number of well-known photographers continue to publish regularly. I don’t know whether to be encouraged or discouraged.