Photos of Hands
Background notes from photographer Richard Seah

This book of PHOTOS OF HANDS has been more than 25 years in the making, for it contains photographs taken as long ago as the early 1980s, (sorry I cannot remember exactly which year) such as this one which I title Bali Blessings.

Yet it was quite quickly put together in one intense week between Christmas 2008 and New Year's Day 2009. I completed it somewhat past midnight on New Year's morning.

Next, I allowed the book to "sit" for about two weeks, during which I did not even glance at it. Then it was a final round of editing before I decided in early-February 2009 that Photographs of Hands was "completed".

Earlier attempts

But to say that Photographs of Hands was done in one week, or even six weeks, is to tell only half the story. In reality, the idea for a book on photos of hands had been brewing in my mind for some years, so it can be said that I was mentally producing this book for some years.

Also, I had started work on another version of this book earlier last year, 2008. I reached up to page 35 before I lost energy and put the project on hold. As it turned out, it was good that I suspended that project because in the end, many of the images in this book - about 1/3 of them - were taken afterwards.

It means that the final version of Photographs of Hands has a wider range of images. It also means that I am more stringent in my selection of images, as I have a great deal more to choose from. My original version would have had much much more photos of hands in prayer. That, I feel, would have made the book too serious and also too one-dimensional. It would have been heavy going.

When resumed work on the book, I did not continue where I left of. Instead, I started from scratch with a totally different concept. My original idea was to have a considerable amount of text, with each photograph accompanied by half to one page of words. In the end, I decided it was best to let the pictures speak for themselves.

The idea of grouping the images into five themes -- Hands in prayer / Hands at work / A show of hands / Hand-made / Just hands -- was also new. It arose naturally. Again, I feel this is much better than the original, more or less chronological grouping.

What this book is / what it is not
Photographs of Hands is intended as an art book - an artists' portfolio, if you like. It is intended for the enjoyment of art and the enjoyment of photography. At the same time, it is intended for the teaching and study of photographic art.

This is one reason why I designed it such that the printed version would come in a large format, 11 x 13 inch hardcover edition. For the sake of a wider audience, however, an e-book version is made available, very affordably priced at US$20.

Not only hands
I have been flexible in my selection of photographs for this book. I include not just photos of hands that feature only the hands, but also photographs in which the hands are a major focus of interest, such as this picture of "Hand-made noodles":

This is not because I do not have enough photos of hands. Rather, it is because I wish to present a wider variety of photographs.

In any case, I am not one who is in favour of strict definitions. Within reason, I much prefer a wider, more open interpretations of themes, be it in photography or other situations.

Not a comprehensive listing
In the creation of art, the artist works with what is available as well as what inspires. Art is never intended to be a comprehensive listing. For example, just because Vincent van Goh painted sunflowers and irises, it does not mean that he must also paint roses, lilies, orchids and various other flowers.

In the same way, Photographs of Hands is necessarily incomplete in its coverage. For example, whilst I have photos of hands in prayer in the Buddhist and Hindu contexts, I do not have photographs of hands in Christian prayer. This is not because of any deliberate bias.

The reasons are, firstly because I have greater access to Buddhist and Hindu prayer rituals as they are "public" events where photographers often gather. Secondly, I find them more interesting to photograph.

It's the same with other types of hand images. There are lots and lots of hands in lots and lots of situations. There is no way I can cover even a tiny percentage of them.

That said, of course I shall continue to expand my repertoire of hands images. Look out for Photograph of Hands II, which shall be published once I accumulate another 80 or so good images that I consider worthy of publication.

Click here for more photos of hands and another preview of this book, which I posted at JPG Magazine.