This video is an extension of the airplane flight 1978 project. 

In the summer of 1978, I flew from Connecticut to Martha’s Vineyard in a small chartered plane. Just the pilot and me. During the flight, I photographed the shoreline, boats, and water using a 35mm film camera with black and white film. 

I never did anything with these photographs until June and July 2021, when I scanned 10 of the images and made inexpensive 12x18” paper prints at Staples. I then attached the pictures onto 18x24” sheets of newsprint. I used the 10 sheets with six additional blank sheets of newsprint to make a 6x8’ map-fold book. Missing was air and water. 

I live near a beach with an expansive sandbar at low tide. I decided to take my map-fold book to the beach to unfold it and wait for the tide to figuratively return the images to ocean from where they were made. It was also windy and raining, which added an unexpected element to my plan. Especially the wind, as it immediately ripped apart the fragile newsprint while I was unfolding it. Fortunately, I was able to eventually get everything under control using sand as anchoring points on the corners that were prone to flight. While waiting for the tide to rise, I made several still photographs and snippets of videos. All remnants of the book were gathered up before completely drifting away and will be reappropriated if possible.

I also made a photo book to display the original photographs from 1978. Here is the book: