When I visit the Apple store, I view my web site on the grandest of iMacs. The photographs, beautifully fill the screen, but for me, the piece of paper, the print, the book, is my intended form of expression, the work fully realized.

I want the viewer to have the best possible experience looking at my photographs. I need to express myself, without compromise or limitation. I want the photograph on the page of the book to be the equivalent of the forty five inch wide print on the wall.

A conversation with a book packager, revealed that I would need to spend the equivalent of one years college tuition or so to produce a book. I was guaranteed that people would be lining up to purchase prints and that dreams would be fulfilled. Due dilegence indicated that this is not the typical outcome.

My visit to the on line world of self publishing, the fast food equivalent of bookmaking, was seductive, easy and quick. The results were less than encouraging.

I had to become a bookmaker.

To design, print and bind books, is no small task. Hunkered down in my studio I refined production techniques and made working copies of GUN CRIMES, MOTOR HOTEL and WHITE SANDS. Books were shared with gallerists, curators, collectors, dealers, friends and family. I mindfully observed their interaction with the books and listened to their comments. I studied their eyes, their hands, as they encountered the books. It was quiet, beautiful, thoughtful viewing of my photographs. The touch, the texture of the paper, the careful turning of the pages, heightened the experience. It was clear that my photographs were being fully realized, that I was onto something wonderful. WILBUREDITIONS was born.

GUN CRIMES is the first in a series of artist books from my on going work, CADILLAC.

I am a bookmaker.