Dirt becomes a cover.  

I never intended this to become a photography blog, and, from the looks of things, I’ve stayed true to my word. Most of my photos are just as lousy as they were in 2009, when this thing began. The images are still there as an accompaniment–the bed of rice on which the meat and potatoes rest. Like that analogy, sometimes the results are a bit too starchy. And while I have a better sense of what makes for good composition than I did six years ago, so many of my photos are impromptu that they don’t deserve to be treated as art; there’s just not enough deliberateness or cognizance to any of them.

So it was hard not to feel at least a bit flattered when I received a request not so long ago to use one of my pics as the cover to a newly published book of poetry. At first I was skeptical: surely this requestor would seek a dramatic natural vista—one which someone else out there had captured with far more sensitivity than I had. Why would someone want one of my photos? But then the requestor told me what she was looking for, and it made more sense why she chose me. But of course—who else has amassed as many depictions of blighted suburbia as I have? The one above, from the remains of the Bannister Mall in Kansas City, became a substantive, photo-dominated blog post, also featured on Urbanophile.

And now it’s the cover of Postcards from America, a new collection of poetry by Judith Kerman.

It’s clearly serendipitous that she found the optimal photo for her work on a blog such as mine, and I can’t begin to say how flattered I am that she shares my fascination for these shopping sarcophagi. Her own blog is here, and I will likely modify this blog post as I learn more, and when I finally get the opportunity to read Postcards from America. Until then, I hope our mutual readership gains as much from the shared exposure as we have through learning about our respective pursuits!