Tom Wood: 101 Pictures
The book 101 Pictures by Tom Wood, published by RRB Photobooks, is a concise and considered look back at Wood’s work selected by Martin Parr, edited and sequenced by Padraig Timoney.
101 Pictures is the first English language retrospective of Wood’s work, casting light on his 25-year long testament to the people of Merseyside. It includes previously unseen photographs, alongside major works such as the infamous nightclub series, Looking for Love (1989), and from his seminal Photie Man (2005) publication.
“Many of the images that I have selected here are portraits; these are strong, albeit subtle and understated. Tom photographed whole families, groups of workers, couples and individuals, always conveying a sense of dignity and respect.” – Martin Parr
A special slipcase edition of 100 copies is also available. This will contain the book together with an analogue C-type print, (10×8 inches) of the image ‘Chelsea Intro’. This will be hand-printed on Fuji Gloss Maxima by Paul Lowe at Spectrum Photographic. Paul has worked closely with Tom for over two decades and is an expert in making fine hand-prints in the traditional darkroom setting. The print will be signed and numbered.
Padraig Timoney is a New York-based artist and long-standing collaborator with Tom Wood on many of his books. Padraig has contributed two paintings to the project, which will be printed onto cloth to form the book and slipcase covers.
About the Author
Tom Wood was born in 1951 in County Mayo in the west of Ireland. He lived and worked in Merseyside between 1978 and 2003, before moving to his current home in North Wales. Wood has published numerous books, including Looking for Love (1989), All Zones Off Peak (1998), Photie Man (2005), and Men / Women (2013). He has had solo and group exhibitions worldwide and his work is represented in the collections of major international museums.
Throughout his career, Tom Wood has experimented with a variety of cameras, film types, and printing papers. This has been at the heart of his practice, allowing for different interpretations of his subject matter and revealing new detail and depth in the finished photographs.
Partly due to cost, from time to time he has used old cine film and out of date film stock for his pictures. This lends a grainy quality to the film, most evident in Bus Journeys. However, his use of medium formats lends fine detail to the negative, allowing much more visual information to be revealed through the printing process.
Wood has also tirelessly experimented with printing papers to create the exact color balances and textures he requires. For him, analog rather than digital printing, and making his own prints in the darkroom, are important. He sees photographing, printing, selection, and editing as inseparable parts of the process of photography. (via scienceandmediamuseum.org.uk)
