A Parallel Planets piece by Unknown
Putting together a collection of early photographic "hits" was a useful exercise, since it prompted me to reassess all of my work—new and old—in light of its humble beginnings. The plan was to come up with a dozen or so of my favorite images from my first six months or so of shooting nudes and working with models, the period from May to November of 2013. I expected to like more of what I found, and to find it difficult to limit myself to so few images, but in fact the opposite was true. I recall being rather proud of the work I shared at the time, and of the response it received. But now many of the same images seemed boring or slight, and—at first —I found it hard to find enough that I liked to fill out the collection. 
But then I discovered that this was a good thing: if I still loved my early work as much as I once had, it would mean that my photography had not matured, and nor had my eye become more refined, since those early days. It was reassuring, in a way, to learn that I'd left these images behind. And once I realized this, I could see them more objectively. They weren't as wonderful as I had once considered them, but they contained seeds of what would come. Hints of an aesthetic, flashes of ideas that are still unfolding in my work, but which come with greater frequency now that I've mastered my cameras and gotten more comfortable working with models.
So these are some of my better early moments in photography: not great images, but still important in the grand scheme of things, which means I love them as much as anything I've done since.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
About the Artist: Andrew Janjigian (Alveoli Photography) is a bread baker and food writer from Cambridge, Massachusetts, who makes photographs in his spare time. Alveoli (pronounced as al-VEE-o-lie) are the cavities in your lungs and the holes in a loaf of bread. || Text and Images: all from the artist. View more of his works: Tumblr, Instagram, Website.
