Samantha Casolari – photobook wrap > “ODE TO STREET HASSLE (THE BOYS ARE KEEPING SECRETS) / untitled, nevada 2007”
When I received Samantha Casolari’s first published book just before my last departure to Europe, I was left in a quandary, the packaging of the book was so wonderful, I could not bear to open it. It is a beautiful object that deserves to be preserved and reminded me of one of the more interesting principles of quantum mechanics (Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principal); the more precisely one property is measured, the less precisely the other can be measured. Expressed in a more philosphical way, when you come to a fork in the road, you have to make a choice and proceed, and understand that you will not know very much about the path not taken.
Which for me is that I can either admire the book’s wrapped presentation as an object or I can cut the twine binding so that I can admire the photobook and the interior photographs; I have to make a choice, as it is one or the other. One part of my attempt to understand why I have not opened this book wrap yet is perhaps best stated by Bertrand Russell; “The observer, when he seems to be observing as stone, is really, if physics is to be believed, observing the effects of the tone upon himself“.
One aspect of the digital age is the opportunity to find alternative sources of information, and in this case, Casolari’s web site in which she features interior images from this book. So as a tease for the subsequent review when I resolve this quandary (a photobook reviewer does need to read the actual book) are some intriging and mysterious images, below, from the book’s untitled/Nevada 2007.
Best regards, Douglas
PhotoBook Journal 
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