118 pgs. Hardcover, 95 photos with illustrations, printed on 140# Mohawk proPhoto Pearl paper
edition of 2, one for the author and one for the Erikkson Johansson family
In August of 2022, Tim Soter travelled to Sweden to stay with Marie Erikkson and her family in the little town of Kungälv outside of Gothenburg. The two had met at a high school in Pennsylvania some thirty-five years prior when she was an international exchange student. They stayed in touch for decades, having some mutual friend as well as similar tastes in music, aesthetics and design. This book documents his second trip to Sweden (first visit was to Stockholm) and is a summer love letter to the country that he has, in the last few years, connected with as a real sister country.
Much like his previous book Environments, this book displays quirky cultural incongruities that caught his eye, all and shot vertically and captured with a fixed 35mm lens. A discarded giant from a closed amusement park is repurposed as a nighttime mischief custodian. A pair whose clothes twin, stand on a pier completing the tricolor landscape. A loppis (thrift shop) stores its second-hand washers and screws in an empty can of cat food with a feline face staring panicked at the viewer.
But it’s also a loving travelogue and acknowledgement to a reoccurring summer that boasts eighteen-hour days. A fresh set of eyes on the common beauty of a country that seems tidy and uniform. Where mushroom hunting is a seasonal ritual and exact hunting spots are not shared beyond family.
Soter picked up ephemera (and cola gummy candy) while there – but most of what he brought back were books. One such book was a 1949 collection of children’s stories and pictures, Den roliga boken, (The funny book) designed by John Liljeström. Soter plucked those drawn illustrations and integrated them into his book as a playful nod to the seemingly wholesome past as well as the widely accepted, stigma-free thrifting and recycling culture. Tiny vintage characters mirror current actions, suggesting that maybe not much has truly changed in hundreds of years. And that perhaps Sweden, tying neck and neck as the most northern country of Europe and a bit outside of that bustling cluster of cultures, might still be a bit more provincial.
It is a book limited to an edition of two copies, one for himself and one as a gift to his very generous host family.
116 pgs. Hardcover, 55 plates printed on 140# Mohawk proPhoto Pearl paper
edition of 25 copies, each with a unique cover (no two covers are the same) and an archival print
Environments unites fifty five images shot over twelve years, each photo recognizing quirky and dryly funny surroundings. A skeleton leg bathes in the window light of the sun, a filling station offers a drive-up milk dispenser, an urn equipped with a princess telephone allows easy communication beyond the grave. Nature and mankind fight to dominate in an absurd dialog for those who see it. All the evidence is in the book. These photos are tarot cards to be read. Book includes an essay on criteria along with a quiz!
Each copy of this dummy series has a unique cover with twenty-five different covers in total. The copy you order will be yours alone! No one else will have the same cover. This printing retains all of the qualities of a polished photography book, but some of the work-in-progress charm of a book dummy. Book covers will be selected randomly.
EUROPEAN/OVERSEAS Shipment: send me an email directly and I will calculate the shipping for you! Happy to ship overseas.
28 pages; Limited to an edition of 150, published by Cafe' Royal Press. Out of Print, a few copies are still available. Signed.
BOOK EXCERPT: “The mid-'90s saw a significant shift in the social behavior of NYC after dark. This was, for all intents and purposes, really the last pre-internet, pre-cellphone era. The last time when, if you were meeting a friend at night, you had to plan it out in advance, because "Where are you?" wasn't yet a textable thing. It was the last time you could get lost in the city without a map app. It was the last time you had to be in the moment, without that tick of false self-assurance created by constantly checking your phone to see what everyone in the 'world' was up to. You talked to strangers more. You would see friends on a weekly basis and knew only their first name - and nothing more."
"Electronic Music: New York City 1995" is in the library of the Museum of Modern Art, Thomas J. Watson Library at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Photo Elysee Bibliotètque as well as the library of Martin Parr.
EUROPEAN/OVERSEAS Shipment: send me an email directly and I will calculate the shipping for you!
80pgs; Imagewrap cover, an edition of 10, printed on #100 weight archival-quality Superfine eggshell white uncoated paper stock.
2011
This edition is now SOLD OUT.
Fumetti is an Italian word – literally “little puffs of smoke” – a reference to speech balloons, the narration in comics. Outside Italy, fumetti often refers to a specific genre: photo comics—stories told using photographs instead of drawn illustrations, with dialogue added in speech bubbles or captions. In the past I have considered figuring out a way to bridge the gap between comics and photography.
Fumetti pairs photos taken in the early 2000s, in a body of work that would become the collection known as The Ship Escaped, with comic books that Soter has had since he was a child. The visual relationship between the two is often ironically funny, contains similar textures or patterns or perhaps has elements or characters that repeat from the photograph to the comic frame.
Fumetti is in the collection of the library of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
148 pgs. Hardcover second edition of 50. Each book contains a unique piece of a signed, cut-up Duane Michals photograph provided by him for this publication. Also this second edition contains an Epilogue expanding on the time that has passed since the publication of the first edition.
"TIM! GO AWAY!” is a project exploring my obsession with photographer/artist Duane Michals. The book contains my letters written to Michals, samples of his handwriting and detailed stories relating this infatuation, plus photographs shot during his workshop, his gallery openings, plus photos of my collection of his thirty three individual book titles. This book is full of funny stories recounting my methods of stalking one’s hero into a real friendship. Ultimately the book becomes a self-portrait and a way to explore the connection that some artists have with the mentors in their field, whether they meet them in real life or not.
"TIM! GO AWAY!" is in the collection of the library of Thomas J. Watson Library at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art, Hasselblad Foundation library, the library of the International Center of Photography and the collection of David Solo, among others.
EUROPEAN/OVERSEAS Shipment: send me an email directly and I will calculate the shipping for you!
138 pgs. First edition of 50 copies. Each book contains a unique archival tipped in page from Duane Michals (Photo Poche publisher, 1984) embossed with the photographer’s stamp reading “Tim Soter”
"TIM! GO AWAY!” is a project exploring my obsession with photographer/artist Duane Michals. The book contains my letters written to Michals, samples of his handwriting and detailed stories relating this infatuation, plus photographs shot during his workshop, his gallery openings, plus photos of my collection of his thirty three individual book titles. This book is full of funny stories recounting my methods of stalking one’s hero into a real friendship. Ultimately the book becomes a self-portrait and a way to explore the connection that some artists have with the mentors in their field, whether they meet them in real life or not.
"TIM! GO AWAY!" is in the collection of the library of Museum of Modern Art, Thomas J. Watson Library at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the library of the International Center of Photography and the collection of David Solo, William M. Hunt, among others.
EUROPEAN/OVERSEAS Shipment: send me an email directly and I will calculate the shipping for you!
85 pgs. Hardcover, 95 photos with unique ephemera, printed on 140# Mohawk proPhoto Pearl paper
edition of 2, one for the author and one for the Margonelli-Haliscelik family
August of 2023 Tim Soter made a last minute decision to be on press for the printing of his book, DFA Records : the early years. He flew to Istanbul, staying as a guest of Ufuk Sahin at his printing house, MAS Matbaa. For five days (really mostly nights) he worked approving pages, learning the pre-press process and enjoyed the company of friend. Staying up late with Ufuk, to try and catch a glimpse of the International Space station flying overhead and enjoy a late dinner, with cats winding their way under the outdoor rooftop table. When the printing was wrapped he moved on to stay with Becky Margonelli-Haliscelik and her husband Kahraman and daughter Mina.
Becky and Tim had the same circle of friends for over twenty-five years but had never spent any significant time together, one on one. Becky, being an artist herself, turned out to be an excellent tour guide. Instead of going to popular mosques or tourist hotspots she took Tim to what he remembers as “the street of all dresses” and the quirky transportation museum. Tim had researched the Feriköy Flea Market in advance of the trip and they went there together, pouring over eclectic items and potential souvenirs.
As with, Gotëborg, Kungälv and places nearby, his travelogue from the previous year, this book displays unexpected cultural incongruities that caught his eye, all and shot vertically and captured with a fixed 35mm lens. A man in all-white communicates, phone raised, to colorful luggage. The ghost of a bee keeper guards a floor to ceiling glass window. A parked train engine provides part of a network of textures and lines that flattens the photo into an exciting collection of geometry and pattern. Opposite that, a couple on a busy street hides behind a tree and a ladder finding shade and some privacy for their affection. A tourbus parked on the Galata bridge reflects the city in its windows, mirroring the panorama that’s been printed below it, on a decal on the side of the bus.
To make each of the copies of the book unique, he attached ephemera into the final blank pages, postcards he collected at the flea market. He attached a saw-cut Turkish lira into two pieces, each book getting half a bill.
It is a book limited to an edition of two copies, one for himself and one as a gift to his very generous host family.