max s. gerber(the latest shot)

got my first advance copy of the hearts book this week. it’s incredible to think of this thing actually being a real physical object. we’re still several weeks away from the official release but it’s amazing how far a simple binding goes towards making something concrete and substantial. i took the first picture for the book on september 5th 1999, which seems like ages ago. i guess it was ages ago, as it took a very long time to get the project published. it’s still funny when i see the kids from the book, all grown up, sometimes rambunctious teenagers, or college students. jeni even got married.

this is the biggest personal photographic project i’ve yet undertaken, and it’s such a weird feeling to have something progress from your brain to other people’s lives to the world at large and then finally plop itself out as a physical object that takes on a life of its own (i hope). maybe we’ve all been shooting digitally for too long now that actually holding something in your hands just feels weird. recently i bought an audio cassette walkman. it was hard to find, and when i asked salespeople in electronics stores about it i got funny looks. maybe coffee table books are like that now.

i’m hoping that when this book will is released in stores people will actually buy it and it might make them feel a little better. my main premise here in doing this particular project is, i guess, that familiarity is comforting. the conventional wisdom goes against this, saying no, no. . . blind optimism and smiling excessively is comforting! but if you’re making pictures that parents and kids dealing with serious things are going to look at then i think they want to see something that rings familiar and true. the bottom line is that kids are smart. they know when they’re being lied to. when i was a kid and some doctor said “this won’t hurt a bit“, i was pretty sure they were full of shit. i would’ve been really happy to see some familiarity in a doctor’s waiting room. instead i just saw a lot of old people who looked at me funny and assumed i was there with my grandpa.

anyway, you can preorder the book at amazon, or at CSHL press. better buy two or three, just for good measure. i’ll even sign a book for you the same way barry keenan signed a polaroid for me: “Have a Nice Life“.

my thanks as always go to bill smith for doing an incredible editing and design job, and to everyone at cold spring harbor laboratory press for their hard work and noble efforts.