Bedmounds by Noah Kalina

Noah sent me a signed copy of his book when I called in to his Hotline Show. Unexpected and generous and made me smile - much like the show.

Like most of his projects, this is a collection of ritual photos - of a simple thing: a mood of bedsheets from each room he’s stayed at. It spans multiple years and includes homes and hotels and trailers.

The choice of bedsheets in this series is just so perfect because the rumples and folds capture light and create an incredibly tactile texture in every photo. And the environment - a bedroom - means that every photo also has the context of the room and a window out onto the rest of the place.

The cover and binding of the book is beautiful - a flowery print like every bed duvet you’ve seen at a motel and a big bold embossing of the title.

I really love flipping through these. The variety of places astounds me - and most of these seem to be Western culture places - and the beauty of some of the homes is an extreme contrast to the most anodyne motel rooms. It makes me dream of creating the world’s best guest room at my own home.

Years ago, Noah showed me the beginnings of his Bedmounds series […] It was easy to fall in love with the series and get excited about the next installment that he’d text message or email (if the wifi was good) from a remote roadside motel […]

I’ve been brainstorming what my own next photo series should be, and this idea that you can text the next image/installment to your close friends is a lovely reference point. A good series idea has readers eagerly awaiting the next issue.

Some of the photos are painted full-page/bleed and others with a white border. I’d love to know how and why that was chosen.