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Posted by Egor 
· December 1, 2022 
· 11 Comments

EXORCISM 01

For the past fourteen years, ULTRAsomething has maintained a mostly virtual presence — its photos no more tactile than the code that delivers them to your screen. About a dozen years ago, I self-published a photo book through a print-on-demand service. Its print quality screamed “MAGAZINE!” while its sticker price screamed “ART BOOK!” This disconnect lead me to two simultaneous conclusions. One, was that I would never release another book until I had the means for a luxurious printing. Two, was that as long as I could only afford to produce magazine quality publications, magazines were exactly what I would produce.

Today, twelve years after that first publishing experiment, I still haven’t the means to create the photo book I’d like, but having completed my PhD in procrastination, I’m now publishing the first “brick & mortar” issue of ULTRAsomething magazine.

I hope to produce several such volumes a year. Because each issue will require that I take a rather extensive number of photos in a rather constrained amount of time, chance will play a crucial role in the results. To ensure even less control over the outcome, all photos will bleed off the page — necessitating that each be brutally and unceremoniously cropped to the unwavering dictates of a page’s physical dimensions. Consequently, every issue will result more from purge than plan; more from exorcism than curation.

Every photo in “ULTRAsomething | Exorcism 1” was shot this summer, and without any intent or purpose beyond my desire to gather visual vestiges of my daily life. They are merely accidents of where I happened to be, and what camera I happened to have. In this particular issue, everything was shot on film. Future exorcisms might contain a mix of digital content; or they might juxtapose new and old photos; or even have a more cohesive unifying theme. Predictions are futile — this is improvisational publishing.


The above transcript is the apologia, and is the only text to appear in ULTRAsomething’s premier issue (or “exorcism,” as seems more poetically accurate). It serves to both explain and defend the 60-page publication, and each subsequent exorcism will contain its own apologia.

My intent is for each issue to contain only photos never before published on the website — though any post announcing new exorcisms (such as this one) will obviously contain a few representational shots. Publishing this is crazy enough — publishing it without at least a modicum of marketing would be a step too crazy. Suffice to say, the vast majority of photos will be revealed in print. So if you want to experience them all in full 8.25” x 11” glory (or 16.5” x 11” glory for landscape-oriented shots), then your best bet is to purchase the magazine.

And speaking of purchasing magazines, I’ve hacked together a rather pedantic but effective storefront, accessible from the STORE menu at the top of this page. Billing is currently handled through PayPal (though you don’t need a PayPal account). Eventually, I’ll implement a slicker cart — with the word “eventually” chosen precisely for its indeterminate characteristics. For now, please keep in mind that I’m only one guy, and my name isn’t “Amazon.”

That said, I am like Amazon Prime in one important way: shipping will be free to locations in Canada and the continental USA. Unfortunately, I cannot offer free shipping to customers outside the USA and Canada… well, I could, but I would lose money on every sale. So I would kindly ask all international purchasers to please blame Canada Post, and not me.

As you might expect, I haven’t slept much these past few months — designing the format; shooting/editing photos; building/tweaking the maquette; and establishing an infrastructure for future exorcisms. And all while continuing to hold down a “real” job.

Next month, I’ll have more to say about the magazine, the philosophy behind it, and this new, expanded direction for ULTRAsomething. But for now, why not treat yourself to your very own Christmas exorcism?


© 2022 grEGORy simpson

ABOUT THE PHOTOS: The photos, shown here, appear in ULTRASOMETHING | EXORCISM 01 , but represent only a small subset of the images contained in the magazine — all of which were shot on film, with each of the following cameras contributing at least one photo to the publication: Black’s Sassy; Contax IIa; Contax G1; Fuji GS645 Pro Wide 60; Konica Autoreflex TC; Konica C35; Konica Hexar AF; Minolta TC-1; Minolta XTsi; Olympus Pen FT; Nikon 28Ti; and Pentax MZ-S. Yes, this is arguably excessive and marginally eccentric. But so is publishing a photo magazine in an Instagram world.

REMINDER: If you’ve managed to extract a modicum of enjoyment from the plethora of material contained on this site, please consider making a DONATION to its continuing evolution. As you’ve likely realized, ULTRAsomething is not an aggregator site. Serious time and effort go into developing the original content contained within these virtual walls — even the silly stuff.

Those who enjoy a tactile engagement with photographs are encouraged to visit the ULTRAsomething STORE, where actual objects are available for purchase.

11 Comments
Categories : Musings, ULTRA news
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Comments

  1. Peter S_ says:
    December 4, 2022 at 3:51 am

    What a great and excting idea! I’m sure it will be a experience! Ordering one right away! ??

    Reply
    • Egor says:
      December 4, 2022 at 3:00 pm

      Thanks, Peter! It’s on its way.

      Reply
      • Peter S_ says:
        December 15, 2022 at 9:19 am

        It arrived today:) I like it – very cool. Great images and nice quality! And your signature is the icing;)
        Would be exciting to see the one from those 12 years ago.

        Reply
        • Egor says:
          December 15, 2022 at 9:37 am

          Thanks, Peter. Glad it got there. Took a tiny bit longer than I would have thought, but it is that time of year where postal systems are overwhelmed with packages.

          Prior to publication (and because I detest marketing), I considered throwing one additional joke into the sale price: pricing the magazine at $40 WITHOUT a signature, and $35 WITH a signature (suggesting, obviously, that the signature devalues the magazine). In the end, I decided such silliness would just be confusing (and stupid), and priced it the same for everyone, signature or not (‘cept you international folks who are forced to tack on $10 for shipping).

          Reply
          • Peter S_ says:
            December 16, 2022 at 3:38 am

            I’d gladly pay as little as $30 for the next one, WITH a signature! 😉

  2. Wally says:
    December 5, 2022 at 12:34 am

    My order is in; I’m sure the magazine will be interesting.

    Good luck on your sales.

    Reply
    • Egor says:
      December 5, 2022 at 11:25 am

      Hi Wally: Thanks for the order. It shipped out with today’s stack. “Stack” being a word I didn’t really anticipate using when it came to describing what I’d be carrying to the post office each visit…

      Reply
      • Wally says:
        December 15, 2022 at 10:37 pm

        My copy arrived the other day; I’m not sure when because we only check the Post Office box a couple of times per week. Very nice! I was impressed by the quality of the photography as well as the printing. The glossy paper makes a nice presentation.

        Thanks!

        Reply
        • Egor says:
          December 15, 2022 at 10:46 pm

          Glad to hear that copies are arriving at their intended destinations, and that no one (yet) has suffered any trauma as a result.

          Reply
  3. Lars Jansen says:
    December 5, 2022 at 3:14 am

    And ordered! Let’s see how fast these Canadian pigeons can fly across the pond.

    Congratulations for making the leap (jump? step?). Hopefully this will take off well enough for you, as I hope it may inspire me to finally create those prints and magazines I’m always thinking about.

    I have absolutely no idea what procrastination means.

    Reply
    • Egor says:
      December 5, 2022 at 11:36 am

      “Procrastination” is the opposite of the action I employed to ensure your order went to Canada Post along with the rest of today’s orders. All copies of Exorcism 01 ship first class, so I don’t think it’ll take more than a couple weeks to get there (though Christmas shipping volumes may clog the system). I, too, hope it “takes off well enough for me.” It probably helps that I’ve decided to set the bar for “takes off well enough” to mean “I don’t lose more than $1000/year publishing this sucker.” Which is less than I lose publishing the website, so I guess that’s good?

      Reply

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