josef chladek

on photobooks and books

Martti Jämsä - Heart and Bullet, Semiosquare, 2014, Helsinki

Softcover, edition of 300 copies, desgin by Jorma Hinkka, text by Martti Jämsä.
„I found a small brown envelope containing black and white negatives in a box in my studio.The envelope was marked Lounais- Hämeen Kauppaoppilaitos 1977 (The Southwest Häme Region Commercial College 1977). Taking a closer look at the negatives on the light table, I remembered having made passport photos of them for my classmates for a small fee. I cut the negatives into strips of three frames. I photographed 33 fellow students, of whom 29 were selected for this book.
I took the pictures in ambient light. I do not recall using a tripod and in some of the pictures the focus has shifted from the face to the hair of the subject.This was no doubt due to my being nervous about the photographing. I developed the films myself and took contact prints of each one, from which it was easy to choose a suitable picture. From the chosen negatives, I made three standard format passport photographs of each person.
The names of the persons are not on the envelope. A few of them were certainly in my class. Now soon 40 years after taking the photos, I recall their names, thinking of what may have become of them. Are all of them even alive any more? Looking at my self portrait on the previous facing pages, can I even recognize myself?“
http://www.semiosquare.fi

Pages: 40
Place: Helsinki
Year: 2014
Publisher: Semiosquare
Size: 12 x 17 cm (approx.)