Image, Photography and Book

The last of our visits to local artists took us to the studio of American born photographer, Andrew Phelps.

Phelps, who has lived in Salzburg for over twenty years, discussed his working practices and showed us a few examples of his work. His studio, situated in the basement of his home, provides an ideal workspace for his needs. In addition to a dark room, he recently purchased a top of the range Epsom which can produce prints of the highest quality.

He has worked during the difficult period which has seen the growing dominance of digital over analogue in professional photography. In the face of the increasing cost of producing analogue - both in terms of the film itself and the processing - he has recently begun to embrace the positives of digital technologies, while still maintaining the techniques and qualities he found with analogue. In addition to photography, he also curates at the Fotohof Salzburg, where he is also a member of the board, and has a great interest in photography books. His studio facilities enable him to have great control over every aspect of the production of his own books, including issues of sequencing and layout.

He discussed one of his projects, Higley, which led to a book of the same name that was shortlisted for both the Arles book list and German Photo Book award. This work investigated the transformation of his home town in Arizona as a result of the housing boom - and became particularly pertinent with the housing crash which occurred soon after its publication. This has led to his newest project, entitled Haboob, which charts the town’s fate in recession.