Andrew Phelps
720 – limited edition book, 2010
Ok, time for some self-promotion. Some are calling it a mid-life crisis book, I am calling it my long overdue homage to Mike Mcgill and Robert Adams.
There are 100 signed copies, the first 20 come with an original print. These 20 are almost gone, so please check for availability.
Numbers 21-100 are 16×21 cm (A5), 34 pages with a spiral wrap-around binding.
34 Euro includes shipping in Europe.
Dashwood and Harper have them in the states.
Andrew Phelps “720” from Andrew Phelps on Vimeo.
Its been 20 years since I sliced a transition out of a sheet of plywood and leaned it against a wall, but thankfully photography still manages to get my heart racing from time to time. I made these images with a bit of envy, jealous of the kids who took the relics of a corporate wasteland, and with a few power tools and some ingenuity, created their own world. With those familiar, but long forgotten butterflies that come with breaking-and-entering, I don’t know which pull was stronger, the desire to compose these images or the urge to push along the corridor and ride up a wall.
Nowadays my skateboarding is limited to cruising around the studio, carving a wide arc around a big yellow table in the middle of the room. It is a form of meditation for me. I can get my head straight about decisions to be made, both big and small. There is something about the flow that seems to focus my thoughts, and the occasional kick-flipS wow my daughters.
It took me some years to realize it, but I have taken my unspectacular style of skateboarding with me into my photographic approach. I was always happier with a long, smooth tail-slide than with a flailing, spinning 360. Just as now I am happier with photographs that carry me along for a while than with those that jump out and scream for attention. When I dream of skateboarding, I’m Mike Mcgill. When I dream of photographing, I’m Robert Adams.
Andrew Phelps. Spring, 2010
Me, 1988. The legendary Hohokam ditch, the setting Phoenix sun and a punk haircut.
Photo by Tom Schultz.