Sad Bird Books

Sad Bird is where I put together my own bound works. Most are short-run or unique editions, serving as maquettes, zines, and curated pieces. Presently I am not accepting submissions for making bound works, but keep an eye on my social media for when things open up again.

 

Perennial (MFA Maquette Edition)

Images by Jeff Smudde, 2021 to 2023

Text by Walker Downey, 2023

61 plates, 108 pages, 11” x 11”

Printed by Edition One, Richmond, CA, Edition of 5

 

The Overpass

Images by Jeff Smudde, 2022

40 page laser printed magazine, 8.5” x 11”

The Overpass skatepark is a DIY skate park under I-195 in New Bedford, MA.

Available upon request

 
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Oak Street

Images by Jeff Smudde, 2018

11 images, 24 pages, 6” x 9”

Purchase a copy here

A single roll of medium format film shot on Oak Street in Normal, IL. A nighttime exploration of a central Illinois neighborhood that represents the quietness of a college town, the light and form present when everyone has turned-in for the day.

 
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I CAN HEAR THE ROAD CALL

Various photographers, curated and designed by Jeff Smudde, text by Jeff Smudde, published August 21, 2020

46 images, 52 pages, 8.5” x 11”

The second submission-based zine by Sad Bird focuses on the theme of the road trip, how despite being typically treated as an American past-time, is not bound by political borders. The idea of the road trip has attracted photographers for generations, especially since the success of Robert Frank’s famous “The Americans,” and further pioneered in color photography by the likes of Stephen Shore, William Eggleston, Joel Sternfeld, Joel Myerowitz, and many others.

 
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Nothing is Interesting and Everything is Normal

Various photographers, curated and designed by Jeff Smudde, text by Jeff Smudde. Published November 12, 2019

118 images, 124 pages, 8.5” x 11”

The first submission-based zine by Sad Bird, Nothing is Interesting and Everything is Normal is about the ordinary in many definitions. Photographers who submitted defined ordinary for themselves, and used photographs that exemplify their definition of ordinary. After all, once you put a frame around something ordinary, it suddenly becomes extra-ordinary.