Why subscribe?

Join me as I explore my past photographs and consider each with the question “why does this image matter to me?”

What will that look like? Possibly but not limited to…

• Exegesis of individual photographs

• Examinations of the subjects, places, genres and cameras I have relied on

• Photo essays

• DIY tutorials on topics such as film development, photobook editing and design, etc.

• Digressions on photographic philosophy and practice

Who I am

I go by Ty.

I have been taking pictures with deliberate intent for just under 20 years. With the exception of a single photojournalism class in college, I have learned through personal and on-the-job experience and guidance from more formally-trained photographers I have befriended and worked with. My archive covers a wide range of styles, formats and subjects including but not limited to: photojournalism, portraiture, nature/wildlife photography, street photography, event photography and film photography.

I also publish the newsletter Sitting Queerly.

When you can expect to see this newsletter

Once launched, weekly newsletter will go out Wednesday mornings.

Why “Reading Photographs”

Well, the actual URL is “readingphotos.substack.com” because another Substacker in the Phillipines is already using the actual phrase for their newsletter.

Ian Jeffrey’s book How To Read A Photograph was one of the first truly academic treatments of photography I read when I first began shooting regularly and with intention. The concept of reading a photograph amused me as a young writer because, before reading Jeffrey’s book, I never thought of an image being read, only scanned. Seen. Looked at. But I’ve learned those terms really don’t do justice to what an image can tell us. You have to read between the composition, between the subjects and their gestures, between the focus and so on to fully appreciate what an image has to say.

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