Dry Hole

In Stock
464 pages, including 429 B+W duotone images
Softcover with silkscreened cloth spine
6.75 × 9.5 inches / 170 × 240 mm
Edition of 750

Dry Hole is an eclectic selection of images extracted from a collection of Real Photograph Postcards. These were manufactured preprinted card backs for photographs that allowed postcards to be printed directly from a negative. The early part of the last century spawned an explosion in the popularity of RPPCs, which were both collected and used as an affordable and efficient way to communicate, particularly in North America. This was fuelled by a reduction in postal rates and the wider accessibility of small cameras designed specifically for this format. While many were mass-produced and used commercially, a proportion were made by amateurs and stand as unique historical documents, conveying life in small-town and rural America through the events, places and people they depict.

Collected and edited instinctively, David Thomson emphasises details contained within the larger frame of the postcards by cropping into specific areas—a subtle nuance of light, a stranger’s gaze, an impending tornado—where the mundane and extraordinary hold company in equal measure. The accumulative effect of this diverse collection of images begins to elicit stories of past endeavours and adventures during a time when life was tough, but aspirations and hope were abundant.

Co-published: Mörel / AMCbooks

DRY HOLE by David Thomson