Reflections on a Bygone Era

Reflections on a Bygone Era is the title for my upcoming book covering my photography from 1972 through 1984.

With the current interest in Formula 1 and motorsports in general, I am pleasantly surprised and encouraged with the interest in my work from 50 years ago by fans in their 20s and 30s. My objective with Reflections on a Bygone Era is to illustrate how different motor racing was back in the ‘70s and early ‘80s. In retrospect it is the era when motor racing was transitioning from a sport to a global business. I am using images from my archive that illustrate the access that was available and how different the tracks were.

 The book is primarily photographs with minimal captions and occasionally brief text to further explain. Also, except for maybe 6 pages, the images are either 1 per page or spread across 2 pages. I have done a couple draft iterations of the layout and decided that fewer, larger images were more impactful than multiple images per page.

 Also, there is a high percentage of images from the paddock where the cars are prepared. I feel they better illustrate the “atmosphere” of the era than all on-track images. The on-track images were selected to illustrate the access that was available without the fences and barriers of today. Not to mention the variety of tracks.

 Details of the book:

Size 330mm x 330mm

Cloth cover

3 editions, Standard, Publisher’s Edition include slipcase and 48-page supplement, and Photographer’s Edition – Publisher’s Edition plus a portfolio of ten 11x14 Fine Art prints

Print run 350 with 190 being Standard Edition, 150 Publisher’s Edition and 10 Photographer’s Edition

The book is going to be privately published, and I intend to launch a Kickstarter campaign to complete the funding requirements. The Kickstarter contributions will be a prepaying of the book. If you are interested in supporting the project, please eMail - Bill.wagenblatt@gmail.com