31) Artist research, Wolfgang Tillmans - if one thing matters, everything matters - 20/11/17

I was first drawn to this book from the title because I thought it loosely related to the idea behind my 35mm happiness photos and how I want to shoot anything and everything that makes me happy.

This can also be reflected in the scans from the book (see below), through the way his images look very broadly based, shooting lots of different subjects but then accumulating the images together to make one piece of work. This is what I want to do with my finished images from each shoot and create one zine showcasing it all.

I also noticed an interview and mind map in the back of the book which illustrate his thinking behind the book further (see below). I think this mind map could be a good idea for me for when I start the editing process and need to start grouping all my different photographs for the zine. I also took a lot of inspiring quotes from the interview, which I will outline and go into further below the scans, because the writing in most of them is unreadable.

1. "We're all so interested in ordering things that I deliberately employ randomising patterns in my work".

- This is something I want to play around with, due to always being so chronological and ordered with my work. I potentially want to play around with different colour schemes which all my various photoshoots relate to, and experiment with other 'randomising patterns'.

2. He asked himself "How long will I have such a close attachment to this work, and remember what it meant to me?".

- This has reminded me that all my photos need to have the meaning of happiness related to it and this is why they're important to me. Sometimes I feel you have to narrow the subject of your work down to something small to then branch out and take a multitude of images within this topic. I like how he was motivated to make this collection of work because of the strong meaning he felt towards it, and I feel the same with my own topic of happiness.

3. "This interest in, at the same time creating and mapping a world, in analysing and quantifying interests, has been a part of my work from the beginning. It's like the tracing of consciousness and the process of finding, shaping and developing subject matter, discovering solutions to the challenge of inventing new images in an already over-saturated visual world".

- I just really liked how he summed up his interest in taking photos like this, and I really agree with how he has put it. Again I feel it really illustrates what I'm trying to do in my own happiness project. I really like the idea that as a photographer you are in charge of quantifying interests and deciding whether its important enough to take a photo of it. You are completely in control of how you want to portray the world through your eyes, and then show it to people as an alternative outlook to their eyes.

4. "as long as I enjoy how things are pointless and hugely important at the same time, then I'm not afraid".

- I really like his outlook on photography and how chilled out he is about everything. It doesn't matter to him whether things are pointless or important, as long as he enjoys documenting it then that's all that matters and he isn't afraid. This is how I want to be in my own practice, because sometimes it's more about the process of taking, not the finished product.

5. "I never underestimate the importance of the fleeting moment; potentially a good thing can happen at any time and only reveal its full relevance over the course of time".

- This quote has reminded me how spontaneous photography can be, and why I'm always carrying around my 35mm point and shoot. Sometimes the most fleeting moments can be the most important, and I want to be able to capture them and not miss it so I have the opportunity to then include it in my work if I want to.

Overall I'm really pleased I picked up this book even if it was just because the title enticed me, because it relates to my project in so many ways and gives me a lot of inspiration. For instance I love the broad range of images, I found the mind map pretty insightful on later planning within my work, and I found so many intriguing and thought provoking quotes in the interview at the back to not only reflect on Tillmans' work but also on my own.

#artistresearch #obsessions #book