NONFICTION
Christopher Anderson

Softbound in Handmade box, 7.35 " x 6.7" 104 pages
54 color photographs
2004, de.MO

From the Publisher:
The pictures in this book are not about anything in particular. They were taken between November 2002 and June 2003 with an Holga. They are conversations overheard and half remembered. But they are all true.

So Chris what do you have to say about this book and you experience?

I started taking these pictures when I had a chance encounter with a toy, plastic camera. It started out as a game, a distraction. But I quickly found a freedom from what I normally do (as a "war" photographer). My work usually requires a certain intellectual engagement, a purpose or intent in trying to visually communicate information both literal and emotional. There is a very conscious thought process involved. But what I found with this camera, is that I was doing something very different. Because it is an awkward tool (being a toy), a couldn't control it the way I normally would a camera. I couldn't take pictures that were the result of an engaged thought process, because it was physically impossible with this camera. Intstead, I found myself REACTING and taking pictures in a much more instinctive way. The pictures that I was making with the camera were free of meaning or message and were much more revealing about how I reacted to scenes that I encountered while going about my life, walking in the street... between all of those moments when I was consciously MAKING photographs.
Most of the pictures were made as one frame of something I encountered, I would then move on. This ensured that the photograph would be a pure reaction. Thus, it became sort of a diversion excercise/therapy. I will not continue taking these pictures. If I were to continue, it would become a trick, or worse, a discipline in and of itself... exactly the opposite of why I did these pictures.

About the Photographer
Christopher Anderson was born in Canada in 1970, he spent most of his life in Texas and Colorado before moving first to New York and then Paris where he currently resides. He has produced pictures for many of the world's most highly regarded publications. His work has documented many conflicts and social issues such as the Afghan refugee crisis and the plight of Haitian immigrants sailing to America. He is a contract photographer for the "US News & World Report" and regular contributor to "The New York Times Magazine" and "National Geographic Adventure". He became a member of VII photo agency in Spring 2002.
Awards: Robert Capa Gold Medal, Visa d'Or, Perpignan, Kodak Young Photographer of the Year Award, Picture of the Year award. Exhibitions: Visa pour l'Image, Perpignan, Gallerie Dupon, Paris.

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