© Tanya Marcuse from her new book Ink, published by Fall Line Press — © Tanya Marcuse from her new book *Ink,* published by Fall Line Press

Tanya Marcuse’s new oversized book Ink, is a beautiful cacophony of form and symbolism.

One summer in Maine, photographer Tanya Marcuse’s son insisted they try nocturnal squid fishing. Moved by the uncanny spontaneity of the experience, Marcuse – who normally makes slow-process large format photographs – pulled out her iPhone and embarked on an unexpected series and way of seeing.

She began making similarly fleeting yet intricately crafted photos of squid spilling its ink across story titles, fashion advertisements, and marriage announcements. In each photograph, the squid, ink and newsprint become a painted, Rorschachy mess that pushes viewers to conjure their own relationships between ink and image, gesture and surface, headline and tentacle.

Marcuse’s images are both alluring and disquieting. These tableau-like still-life compositions reminds us of her background as a large-format photographer, and her iPhone brings a freeing informality to how she organizes form and space. Now a large-scale book (and limited edition folio, if you fancy) published by Fall Line Press, Ink takes on a new layer of tactility from its once digital-only existence – photos you want to hold and handle as you attempt to figure out their mystery. I spoke with Marcuse to learn more about her process and the story behind it.

Jon Feinstein in conversation with Tanya Marcuse

Beware the click bait, it's our semi-monthly Instagram update. Last time we got you, our lovely Humble friends, when we announced the 5 photographers you should never ever follow on Instagram, only to reveal that they're actually some of our favorites. Shortly thereafter, we received numerous emails and Facebook comments arguing that Instagram is still "just another social channel," and that even some of our photographic heroes using IG are doing nothing more than tweeting photos.

Is Instagram, or mobile photography in general, incapable of presenting an interesting shift in the way images are made? The arguments will go on, and in turn, we'll continue to host Instagram residencies from some of our favorite photographers using IG today. Like Tommy Kha who took some quiet time to hang out with William Eggleston in Memhpis, Matthew Schenning, who's been making off-moment pictures while working Art Basel in Miami Beach this week, and other favorite photographers like Tribble and Mancenido, Laura Glabman, Bahar Yurukoglu, and Bill Miller whose photographs regularly make our heads turn. Please have a look, follow them, and support their work.