when books are photographed with primitive tools...

above: what is probably the first photograph ever taken of books on a shelf, by fox talbot from the pencil of nature, circa 1844. below: photograph of books on a shelf taken in september - one hundred and sixty four years later - in secret, with my iphone. talbot had to take his books outside so that the sun would light the books and shelves enough to be visible in the photograph. i, while alone in a room for a few moments one evening, took a quick photo in a space that was relatively dark. i've never read much about talbot's photo, specifically related to his books and i wonder, if as in traditional still lifes, if the books held some sort of significance or told some story that, perhaps, only talbot himself could decode. in my own case, as with everything i notate, it was of course not only the books themselves, but the moment of the snapping of the photo that i wanted to somehow hold on to. the books act more as a kind of trigger or anchor, directing my memory back towards everything the photograph could never have captured in that moment, on that evening...