most people photograph the day something happens.
My grandparents were sharecroppers. There are records of them — land records, labor records, a line in a census. What there aren't are pictures. Not my grandmother laughing on a Sunday. Not anybody's kids just playing in the yard.
The camera came for us when we were suffering and when we were exceptional. It skipped everything in between. And everything in between is where the life was.
An Ordinary Tuesday is three hours spent learning to photograph the in-between. Not gear, not settings, not technique. How to decide what is worth keeping, before you press the shutter.
Ken West · thirteen years · six cities · shot on film
three hours. twelve frames. one sequence.
Every participant gets twelve frames for the entire session. No deleting, no reshooting, no looking at what you took. When you can't spray and delete, you have to decide before you press the shutter — and the decision is the photograph.
the argument
· 30 minutesSeated, indoors. Why the ordinary day is the thing the record throws away first, and what that has cost. This is not a warm-up. It is the frame that makes the next two hours mean something.
the constraint
· 15 minutesTwelve frames each. Phones are fine — you just don't get to look at what you took. This is the only technical instruction of the day, and it isn't technical.
the walk
· 90 minutesA deliberately unremarkable block. Not a landmark, not golden hour. A laundromat, a bus stop, a parking lot in the middle of the afternoon. We walk together, and we stop occasionally to hear what someone else is looking at.
the edit
· 45 minutesEveryone's frames come off their cameras and go up on a screen. I sequence them into one gallery, live, in front of the room, explaining every choice. This is the part nobody else offers.
Within a week, every participant and the host organization receives the finished sequence — the group's twelve-frame walk, edited and ordered. The photographs in my book were edited and sequenced by Bill Shapiro, the former editor-in-chief of LIFE. This is the same work, done for your room.
you don't have to plan anything.
I bring the session, the structure, the books and the edit. Four things come from you.
Seating for twelve, with a screen or large monitor for the edit.
Somewhere walkable within five minutes. Ordinary is better than scenic.
Board members, donors, staff, students. No photography experience needed or expected.
Weekday afternoons work best. The light is honest and the streets are real.
Cameras optional. Phones are welcome and work fine.
what it costs.
Up to twelve participants
Three hours. A signed copy of The Beauty of Everyday Thangs for every participant. The edited sequence delivered within a week.
Up to six participants
The same session, smaller room. Suited to boards and executive groups.
Metro Atlanta included. Outside Atlanta, travel and lodging billed at cost. Sessions are scheduled at least four weeks out.
A signed archival print from the series, for your auction or your walls.
Additional signed books at wholesale, for people who weren't in the room.
tell me about your room.
Send me the organization, a rough date, and how many people. I'll come back with a hold and a one-page outline you can take to your board.
Atlanta, Georgia · travelling for commissioned sessions
Haven't seen the book? Start here.
