Postcard Pictures

Produced a limited edition (12/12) coptic-bound book exploring photographic perception and the concept of surface-level beauty.

  1. The closed hand-bound book on a grey table, titled Postcard Pictures, Emil Schneider
    Cover01 / 14
  2. The book open at its introduction: a series of ten 4×5 images taken by the River Thames, printed using silver halide
    Introduction02 / 14
  3. The book open at a print of a still river with wooden posts in the water and a boat on the far side
    Plate 103 / 14
  4. The book open at a print of reeds at the water’s edge under a pale, misty sky
    Plate 204 / 14
  5. The book open at a print of old timber posts in the water beside a bank of tall reeds
    Plate 305 / 14
  6. The book open at a print of tidal mudflats with buildings on the far shore
    Plate 406 / 14
  7. The book open at a print of the foreshore with a low fence and a wide river under a bright sky
    Plate 507 / 14
  8. The book open at a print of a graffitied sign standing on rippled sand by the river
    Plate 608 / 14
  9. The book open at a print of a ruined wooden jetty on the foreshore, with tower blocks across the water
    Plate 709 / 14
  10. The book open at a print of a grassy riverbank with a bench and a lone tree under dark clouds
    Plate 810 / 14
  11. The book open at a print of the stony foreshore at low tide, with the city skyline in the distance
    Plate 911 / 14
  12. The book open at a print of rippled sand at low tide under a dramatic sky
    Plate 1012 / 14
  13. The book open at its last page, numbered and signed E. Schneider
    Colophon13 / 14
  14. The closed book seen from the back, showing its stitched binding
    Back cover14 / 14

"Quality doesn’t mean deep blacks and whatever tonal range. That’s not quality, that’s a kind of quality. The pictures of Robert Frank might strike someone as being sloppy – the tone range isn’t right and things like that – but they’re far superior to the pictures of Ansel Adams with regard to quality, because the quality of Ansel Adams, if I may say so, is essentially the quality of a postcard. But the quality of Robert Frank is a quality that has something to do with what he’s doing, what his mind is. It’s not balancing out the sky to the sand and so forth. It’s got to do with intention."

Elliott Erwitt