About The Work
In 1994, John Miller began a series entitled The Middle of the Day, comprising thousands of photographs taken between 12pm and 2pm. This goes against the elementary rules of the discipline: not to photograph when the sun, shining at its zenith, makes shadows and contrasts disappear. What these photographs show at first glance are harmless, almost banal scenes.
Divided into two sections, Shooting Log offers in its first part a text taking the form of a diary split into ten chapters accompanied by ten images all taken in 1994, including his very first photograph.
The second section comprises a set of photographs from the series the Middle of the Day taken between 20 May 1994 and 4 July 2008.
The story of Shooting Log starts in the present, examining a picture taken in the past. Agreement between the past and present tenses of the photograph activates memories of the circumstances of the shooting and sometimes recovers those associated with what was actually photographed. Does the picture (re)awaken the memories? Or is it today’s perception that (re-)reads the image and enhances it with a new story?
The Middle of the Day series at the heart of Shooting Log is also a diary in the strictest sense of the word since it accumulates documents, in this case photographs, which provide a day to day account. The journal is kept for the purpose of remembering past events, things seen, thoughts and emotions evoked. In Shooting Log, John Miller matches the coming and going between two superimposed “journals” with introspective comments on the photographic act.
About John Miller
From The Magazine
- Interviews & Features: I Want to Believe: The Met Breuer Uncovers the Deep Links Between Art and Conspiracy
- Interviews & Features: Can Abstract Painting Be Political? Curator Alex Gartenfeld on the Secret Power Relations Embedded in Contemporary Canvases
- News & Events: Avoid Plexiglas and Brush Your Teeth: Christopher Williams on How to Excel as an Artist
- Interviews & Features: Porn, Philosophy, & Trout Fishing: Artist Aura Rosenberg on Finding Inspiration in the Rubble of Civilization
- Art 101: Artists Who Rock: 8 Artist-Led Bands That Matter
About The Work
In 1994, John Miller began a series entitled The Middle of the Day, comprising thousands of photographs taken between 12pm and 2pm. This goes against the elementary rules of the discipline: not to photograph when the sun, shining at its zenith, makes shadows and contrasts disappear. What these photographs show at first glance are harmless, almost banal scenes.
Divided into two sections, Shooting Log offers in its first part a text taking the form of a diary split into ten chapters accompanied by ten images all taken in 1994, including his very first photograph.
The second section comprises a set of photographs from the series the Middle of the Day taken between 20 May 1994 and 4 July 2008.
The story of Shooting Log starts in the present, examining a picture taken in the past. Agreement between the past and present tenses of the photograph activates memories of the circumstances of the shooting and sometimes recovers those associated with what was actually photographed. Does the picture (re)awaken the memories? Or is it today’s perception that (re-)reads the image and enhances it with a new story?
The Middle of the Day series at the heart of Shooting Log is also a diary in the strictest sense of the word since it accumulates documents, in this case photographs, which provide a day to day account. The journal is kept for the purpose of remembering past events, things seen, thoughts and emotions evoked. In Shooting Log, John Miller matches the coming and going between two superimposed “journals” with introspective comments on the photographic act.
About John Miller
From The Magazine
- Interviews & Features: I Want to Believe: The Met Breuer Uncovers the Deep Links Between Art and Conspiracy
- Interviews & Features: Can Abstract Painting Be Political? Curator Alex Gartenfeld on the Secret Power Relations Embedded in Contemporary Canvases
- News & Events: Avoid Plexiglas and Brush Your Teeth: Christopher Williams on How to Excel as an Artist
- Interviews & Features: Porn, Philosophy, & Trout Fishing: Artist Aura Rosenberg on Finding Inspiration in the Rubble of Civilization
- Art 101: Artists Who Rock: 8 Artist-Led Bands That Matter
Specifications
Book, 27.9 × 21.6 cm, 112 pages
Printed on Blacklabel silk 200g
Signatures are double-stitched with linen thread.
Cover printed on Curious Touch Wet 120g and 250g
Graphic design by Thomas Bizzarri
Printed by Arte-Print
Bound by Delabie
Edition of 270 numbered copies and
30 artist's proofs
Produced and published by mfc-michèle didier in 2009
©2009 John Miller and mfc-michèle didier
NB: All rights reserved. No part of this edition may be reproduced in any form or by any means without written permission of the artist and the publisher.
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