Whenever I publish a new issue of ULTRAsomething magazine, I begin by gathering a fresh pool of a hundred or more photos from the ones I shot the previous few months. As I work on the layout, I fish out photos as needed — choosing those that support the narrative and sequencing, until I’ve around 50 or 60 selected for printing. The remaining photos stay in the pool in case I have use for them one day. It’s rare that I do. Now and then, I might rescue a few for a blog post, but most are simply forgotten, as each new exorcism gets its own new pool — the freshness of which drowns all memory of the previous pools.
In spite of what you see here, it’s not that the forgotten photos are necessarily bad — it’s more often the case that they didn’t pair as well with some other photo in the magazine, or add to whatever arc I’d constructed, or (as you do see here) they’re just a bit too silly. When it comes to ULTRAsomething magazine, a photo can’t just look good — it needs to add to the overall context of the publication.
So, once again bereft of a quality idea for a new essay, I decided to pan through the last couple pools of rejects and pull out any photos that might have some sort of merit. Maybe they do. Probably they don’t. Either way, don’t be surprised if I dredge a few more puddles in the future. Photographic tide pools are plentiful. Article ideas? They’re more of a desert mirage.
©2025 grEGORy simpson
ABOUT THE PHOTOS : For the gear heads:
Surveillance : Pentax MX with 50mm f/1.4 lens on HP5+ at ISO 400, developed in Rodinal (Blazinal) 1:50
Hand 1 : Leica IIIc with Leica 35mm f/3.5 on HP5+ at ISO 800, developed in Rodinal (Blazinal) 1:50
Hand 2 : Canon Demi EE-17 on HP5+ at ISO 400, developed in Rodinal (Blazinal) 1:50
Blockhead : Nikon 28Ti on Fomapan 400 at ISO 400, developed in Rodinal (Blazinal) 1:50
The Enduring Legacy of Sigmund Freud : OM-2n with 40mm f/1.8 lens on FP4+ at ISO 100, developed in Rodinal (Blazinal) 1:50
Owner’s Manual : Nikon 28Ti on Fomapan 400 at ISO 400, developed in Rodinal (Blazinal) 1:50
Signage 1 : Olympus OM3Ti with 21mm f/3.5 on FP4+ at ISO 400, developed in Rodinal (Blazinal) 1:25
Signage 2 : Olympus Pen FT with 38mm f/2.8 pancake lens on HP5+ at ISO 800, developed in Rodinal (Blazinal) 1:50
Impacted : Fuji Natura Black 1.9 on HP5+ at ISO 1600, developed in Rodinal (Blazinal) 1:50
Incentive : Olympus OM-2n with 21mm f/3.5 on HP5+ at ISO 400, developed in Rodinal (Blazinal) 1:50
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I have enjoyed every Exorcism thus far and eagerly await 08.
They inspire me: I MUST get to work on my next photo book.
Thanks, Godfrey. If all goes well, it’ll be available next month… I can’t tell you how many hours I’ve spent deep diving into the quirkiest little dark and dangerous corners of CMYK the last few months — probably in the hundreds — all in an effort to extract an extra 1% print quality from this issue. We’ll see if I achieved it, or if I totally screwed everything up. Either way, I’m sure it wasn’t worth the time, but once I start down the rabbit hole, I can’t stop ’til I’m in the earth’s core.
So there is some pattern in your periodical.
You’d be surprised how much work goes into giving it the illusion of chaos.