My Interview with Brian St. Denis.

As a Canadian, access to contemporary titles in the photobook world usually means paying for shipping, customs, and also converting a weak dollar into stronger currencies to get your hands on the books you want.

The Contact Photobook Lab in Toronto, Ontario, is a saving grace for us Canadians looking to get our hands on the works of our peers without the added costs, while also supporting a bookstore that serves as a photography community pillar in the GTA area, and in Canada at large, with its affiliation to the Contact Photography Festival.

Running a successful festival, bookstore, as well as year-round artist talks, book launches, workshops, portfolio reviews, book club meetups, and off-site events are the daily duties of Brian St. Denis, the manager of the Contact Photography Festival and Photobook Lab, and his team.

I’ve gotten to know Brian through a customer relationship, which led me to volunteer to help him out at last year’s Montreal art book fair, where we talked about a lot of things that will be discussed in today’s conversation, as I felt the information I learned from Brian would be useful to others.

We talked a lot about the business side of the photobook world, building healthy relationships within the industry, creating community, the book as an aesthetic object, and how all of these things lend themselves to Brian’s own practice as a photographer.

I think you will all take something away from our conversation, so sit back and enjoy, as I try to become a better interviewer and editor of these conversations.

Matt.

Cover photo by Sarah Bordi.