The [ED]it // Edition 001. Patience

Losing my patience (with social media) and finding it again (with ramen), plus recent news, ‘one image’ and endnotes.

Jan 31, 2021

Image: EXIT, Brooklyn, NY, 2013

Here I am trying something new, a little experiment, to write and share more. Something perhaps a bit more thoughtful, less reactive. A slow burn, harking back to the days of blogging that proved so enjoyable and led to new opportunities for many people, myself included.

It comes at a time when my patience with social media has worn thin. The endless grind of the feed is part of it, yes. So is the shouting, the reductionism, and the narcissism. I don’t necessarily mean by others, though that is part of it, too. I found that I was tending towards these traits and I didn’t like it. Increasingly, I was checking myself before posting. That decreased my enjoyment of it, and the frequency of my posts became fewer. Eventually, I decided to take a break.

There are more reasons I am moving away from social media which I’ve outlined on various platforms. But suffice to say I am fully engaging in the irony that if I want people to come and read this newsletter, I have to do at least some promotion on social media.

One positive aspect of taking a break is that I am allowing myself to experiment and try new things, while considering how I want to engage with people who are interested in the work I do. This newsletter is just the first of a few things I want to try.

My intention is to produce a new edition of The [ED]it monthly, releasing it on the last day of the month. Please have patience with any typos or teething problems as I embark on this new endeavour (although, my ‘in-house’ editor, Alli, will likely have caught any grammatical errors before I publish). But most of all, please do engage via the comments section or by email. I’d love to hear your thoughts, questions and discussion. That’s what this is about.

// Feature

‘Day and a Half Soup’

On the patience required to make ramen.

A few weeks ago, I craved some ramen. I can’t remember if someone mentioned an old ramen place I used to go to for lunch in Manhattan or if we watched something on Netflix about a ramen chef. Whatever the impetus, I found myself searching for recipes, adding ingredients to our shopping list and, eventually, going out to get them.

What I found when I finally sat down to look at the recipe was a long, involved process, each part needing its own special attention and care. That process was to stretch out over a day and a half.

There were several components I had to make or blend from scratch, including the pickling liquid for the eggs, roasted garlic oil, and Shoyu Tare. The stock used for making the Chashu pork belly would eventually become the broth for the soup. Overnight, I left the roasted garlic to infuse the oil, the eggs to pickle and the oven-roasted pork to flatten under a weight in the fridge.

The next day saw the soup come together with the gradual mixing of each component. The preparation and makeup of each element brings its own particular flavour to the dish. Without one of them, it would not be the same. In different proportions or with substituted ingredients, it would not be the same. However, sometimes compromises must be made, either to get it done or because something you want is unavailable. In the case of this ramen, I substituted Shaoxing rice wine instead of sake in the pickling liquid and Shoyu Tare.

So, was my ramen faithful to the recipe I was following? Not quite. Is it actually ramen? I have no idea. But it was inspired by memories of steamy ramen bowls of yore and was as close as I could make. While I didn’t end up with what I thought I would when I embarked on making this dish, it was still a very tasty ramen that made me happy (and full).

How does this apply to photography (or writing)? When embarking on a project patience is needed in the research, in the actual doing and in bringing all the images and strands together to make something cohesive. It’s also true that what you envisage at the start will likely change, that some pictures, maybe your best pictures, will not suit this particular project in its final form.

Additionally, if making a book, other ingredients need to be considered; the paper weight, surface and feel, the endpapers, the binding, the cover and on and on.

Checklists help, and substitutions will need to be made when things are too costly or unavailable. Ultimately though, hopefully, these choices will leave you with a project, possibly a book, that makes you happy (not full, eating your book would be a bad idea – unless it’s made of rice paper…now there’s an idea!).

Image from the series ‘Change at Jamaica’ (2013), which I have begun to re-edit.

// News

Photo Scratch

I recently took part in an online edition of Photo Scratch focused on work-in-progress documentary photography projects addressing environmental narratives. It was very well-run and I received some excellent feedback for a project I am working on. My project concerns a local sand and gravel quarry that has been restored into an award-winning nature reserve over the last five or six years. It’s a place of great biodiversity and a habitat for wetland and migratory birds. Most of all, it is a place the people from the surrounding towns have connected with, even more so over lockdown as more people have discovered nature on their doorstep. Sadly, it is currently up for sale, with the potential of yet another piece of natural green space being lost to development of privatization. I hope to be able to show something very soon as I am currently pitching it, so if anyone knows a paper or magazine that might be interested in this please get in touch.

If you are looking for a place to present a project-in-progress in order to push it forward, I recommend submitting to present at Photo Scratch. You can find out more about it here.

There will also be a second edition of Photo Scratch focused on work addressing environmental issues. It will be held on 22 February and you can book tickets via the link on this page.

// One image

Image: Walking to the ruins of the Llanddwyn priory, Ynys Mon, 2019

Pilgrimage to Llanddwyn

It is with the wandering of the mind and feet – and patience – that the essence of pilgrimage is found. The 25th of January was St. Dwynwen’s Day, honouring an early Medieval Welsh princess who is said to have become a nun at the church of Llanddwyn on Angelsey (Ynys Môn). Pilgrims travelled to Llanddwyn throughout the middle-ages to see Dwynwen’s image and to seek restoration from the holy wells. Llanddwyn also holds a special place in my family’s heart, and is the destination for a sort of regular pilgrimage for us.

I’ll write a bit more about Llanddwyn in a different newsletter. I’m reviving the quarterly one focused on my project photographing people of north Welsh heritage in New York and Vermont. Look out for that in March. You can find out more about that project on my website here and sign up for that newsletter here.

// Endnotes

Two links this week of relevance to this first edition:

Offline Journal is run by Brian Carroll and dedicated to documenting the development of contemporary photography in, from and of Wales. Brian issues regular newsletters that include audio conversations with photographers about their work or on a particular topic. I found the recent conversations with Gareth Phillips particularly eye-opening when it came to his process of editing and making books. Have a listen here.
Ameena Rojee’s newsletter ‘The Silver Way’ is a diaristic and photographic account of her journey along the Via de la Plata pilgrimage route of the Camino de Santiago. It’s well worth a read as a relatively raw and honest and travelogue.

Thank you for reading the first issue of The [ED]it. I hope you enjoyed it. Please forward this on to anyone else you think might enjoy it, and please do get in touch by leaving your thoughts in the comments or contacting me via email at edbrydon@gmail.com

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