- William Hunton
I Went For A Walk and It Is For Sale
When the pandemic hit and after the first shutdown in March last year, I had to get out of the house. The community center where I worked out was closed. I had some exercise equipment but not much. I really, really enjoy hiking. The definition of hiking is “Walking where it’s okay to pee.”
Sadly, in many cities across the nation, those social and hygienic constraints have been suspended. I suppose that even in the woods, circumspection and a sharp lookout are necessary. There are other physical limitations to how far I can hike. But I am going to go for as long as I have breath and legs, for as far as I can and as high as I can.
During those walks, I always carry a camera. Sometimes the purpose of my walk is to see what I can “see”. I developed a photographer’s sensibilities at about the same age I started formal music lessons, about age ten or eleven. Both are gifts from God. He is a poet and a musician at heart. If I respond to either one and try to share it with others, and just mirror it back to Him, like the moon reflects the sun’s light, they provide me some kind of meditational benefit, I suppose, and maybe some enjoyment for you.
Within the past few months, I discovered something visually. I said that being older imposed limitations on my hikes. I no longer like to trek with pounds on pounds of photo equipment. For one, it is risky given the terrain I like to hike. There are a lot of roots and rocks to trip over. I will on occasion, but most of the time now, I carry a tiny 1-inch sensor camera with a zoom lens. They are remarkably good, but they are limited in what they can capture and express.
“If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.” So within the limitations, or maybe boundaries is a better word, I have found that if I present broad areas of tone, either color or black and white, and not try to get tiny details, that the tiny camera is really expressive. It is just a cool tool, so to speak.
I’ve spent the past year working, and now I have collections of photographs I need to do something with. I can look at them and enjoy them, but maybe other people would like them too. So I am offering three books, each a collection of about 20-25 photographs. The first is in color and the subjects are Cheatham Hill, Cochran Shoals, and Sweetwater Creek parks in metro Atlanta. The second is another color book of my city walks. The third will be black and white, and a little more eclectic. (BTW, I’ll be hanging about 20 of these photographs at Rev Coffee in Smyrna, Georgia, the entire month of July 2021.)
The books are hard cover, 11×8.5 inches, ebony linen, with photographs printed on archival paper. The paper surrounding each image is dark gray. It lays flat. Most of the prints are on a single page. I have a single, two-page spread in the book, also. I printed such a book, about a year ago. It is very nice. Because I am printing them to order, each book takes about a month to produce and ship. That also helps to explain the price; the books are all custom published, and they are priced at $120.00 each. I can send you photos of what the book will look like.
You can also get individual prints on Pixieset in a few days. Prices will be on the website.
Finally, I will personally print and sign a limited number of individual prints up to about 11×17 paper size, not image size. I limit the prints to no more than 20 per image. They are priced at $100.00 each, mounted on archival board. Matting and framing is additional. They are limited edition because I really get tired of printing them, more that it is me trying to get some kind of self-aggrandizing ego trip or establish an artificial scarcity. I try to keep it real; they are digital images and we all know what that means in practice. However, I refuse to destroy my hard drive once I reach 20 prints of an image.
Below are the images for Book 1, Sweetwater Suite. These images are in Book 1, only. I’ll publish the images from Books 2 and 3 later. Obviously there will be differences among what you see here online, what you see in the books, and what you will see in individual prints.
You can contact me directly at pacesmountainassoc@gmail.com, or leave a comment (nice ones preferred) and I’ll respond in a few days.
You may have seen these images before. These are the photographs in Sweetwater Suite. I have to add here, all content is copyright protected, (c)2020, 2021 by William D. Hunton, all rights reserved. I retain all rights to these images. I own all copyrights, and you do not.
Selah