EXORCISM 03

A tower of new ULTRAsomething magazines sits stacked in a corner of my tiny condo — a condo made all the tinier by its need to house both myself and the entire ULTRAsomething media empire. Tidy fellow that I am, I’m rather anxious to see it diminish in stature. Not only will I then recoup the space to store future issues, but I’ll recoup at least some of the expenses incurred in this issue’s publication.

Speaking of expenses, I’m just a few sales away from breaking even on EXORCISM 01, and only a handful of copies remain. EXORCISM 02, which cost significantly more to produce and has sold fewer copies to date, is still some distance from toggling Excel’s red pixels to black. And now, joining them on the spreadsheet, is EXORCISM 03 — currently so far in the red that it’s purple.

That’s because, like EXORCISM 02, I chose to print EXORCISM 03 using the rich-black CMYK process. Also, our old friend inflation has driven the production costs even higher. But for now, I’ve decided to eat these cost increases, and the magazine is priced the same as the previous two issues — even though it means the issue will never break even. That’s the funny thing about the art world — it’s the collectors who stand to make a profit — not the creators.

Which is why it’s time for me to once again adopt my persona as “world’s worst salesman,” and try to market the darn thing — not for myself, mind you, but to help drive up the value for you collectors. I’m quite selfless that way. So here’s what I’ve come up with: “ULTRASOMETHING | EXORCISM 03 is now available to buy in the ULTRAsomething STORE. Personally, I think it’s the best issue yet. Then again, I’ll probably think the same of every issue — at least I hope I will, if I’m doing this right.” Eat your heart out, Madison Avenue.

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Below is the apologia, as it appears in EXORCISM 03:

For me, ULTRAsomething Magazine is many things — but one thing I don’t want is for it to become dogma.

On the surface, some elements of the magazine — like its B&W photos, or its full-page/full-bleed format — may appear dogmatic. But, in reality, they are not.

In the case of B&W, it’s simply the medium in which I work; is what I enjoy; and is what I do best. Since each exorcism is meant to be a “snapshot” of my circumstance and predilection at the time of publication, the monochromatic photos merely reflect that fact. Should I one day choose to produce colour work, the magazine will dutifully comply. B&W is not dogma — it’s preference.

Similarly, the magazine’s layout — while rigid — is not dogma. It exists because each exorcism, and the magazine as a whole, should feel like a cohesive unit. I created this particular structure because my work is shot mostly in a 3×2 aspect ratio, which a full 2-page spread is sized to showcase. And for decades, I’ve cropped all vertical shots into a less top-heavy 5×7 aspect ratio, which fits the dimensions of a single page. So it was the photos that dictated the layout, not vice-versa. But that layout (like the B&W photos it contains) is not immutable. Should I begin to work in other formats that produce square or panoramic images, the layout will shift as the photos dictate.

One thing that I neither intended nor designed, was for the magazine to be shot entirely on film. The fact neither of the first two exorcisms contained a single digital shot didn’t come down to dogma, but simply to my extensive use of film cameras during that period. What would be dogma, is if I began to reject digital shots simply because they aren’t film.

As I began to assemble Exorcism 3, I noticed the prospects pool contained a smattering of digital shots. Because of the precedent set by the first two exorcisms, my first impulse was to remove them from consideration — exactly the sort of creeping dogma I’m supposed to reject. The whole point of the magazine is to evince what I thought, what I saw, where I was, and what camera I happened to have. If the camera I happened to have was digital, there is no reason to eliminate the photo — unless I choose to live in an autocratic regime of my own design. And where’s the fun in that?

So here, in your hands, is ULTRAsomething’s latest exorcism — still B&W; still full-page/full-bleed; and still dogma-free, thanks to the smattering of digital photos mixed in with the film.

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© 2023 grEGORy simpson

Thank you to everyone who has previously purchased a copy of ULTRASOMETHING magazine — and that goes double for all who have purchased both previous issues. Your support is seen and appreciated.

ABOUT THE PHOTOS: The photos, shown here, appear in ULTRASOMETHING | EXORCISM 03, but represent only a small subset of the images contained in the magazine. In the posts announcing each of the previous two issues, I listed all the cameras that contributed to their publication. EXORCISM 01 used twelve cameras, which I found somewhat embarrassing. EXORCISM 02 used fourteen, which was just utterly ridiculous. EXORCISM 03 continues the journey to madness by employing nineteen different cameras in its making. These are: Contax G1; Fuji GS645S Wide 60; Konica Autoreflex T3N; Konica Autoreflex TC; Konica Hexar AF; Konica Recorder; Leica M2; Leica M3; Leica M10 Monochrom; Leidolf Unimark II; Leitz/Minolta CL; Minolta TC-1; Olympus OM-2n; Olympus Pen FT; Olympus XA; OM Systems OM-1; Pentax MX; Pentax MZ-S; and Ricoh GR III. In case it’s not obvious, I really like cameras.

ULTRASOMETHING | EXORCISM 03 is now available for purchase at the ULTRAsomething STORE.

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 neither an aggregator site nor is it AI-generated. 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, including ULTRAsomething Magazine, are available for purchase.