Books have been the primary means of disseminating Nigel Shafran's photographic work. He understands the gift of their materiality and has invested heavily in the appearance and production of his books. But Shafran's investment in bookmaking is also integral to the way he constructs his ideas and projects. He is rooted in a process that sees his photographs, shortly after they are taken, printed, edited, and pasted into the pages of bound volumes that are at once workbooks, diaries, and aide-mémoires.
These working documents are informal books, but, in part to prepare for the decisions that will later define the actual publications, they are carefully assembled and richly embellished. Each is filled with drawings, notes, and ephemera from daily life, as well as photographs, and each has a particular aesthetic, with an easy sense of material craftsmanship as well as a visual simplicity and clarity that are characteristic of Shafran's intuitive organizational principles and his entire working process. - David C
