field notes for useful light is a photographic exploration of the Prelinger Library, a San Francisco-based research library featuring texts and objects usually discarded from institutional or public libraries. The Prelinger Library presents alternative ways to physically encounter library material through a geospatial taxonomy that moves a visitor from the ground towards outer space. Visitors are encouraged to reconsider concrete truths through appropriation and remixing.

As an artist-in-residence at the library, I began an investigation into photometry using archival material from within its collection. However, conversations with co-founder Megan Prelinger always seemed to turn towards the poetic life of light as it moved through the space throughout the day and seasons. The light is easily overlooked: however, once noticed, the light became all I could see. This research process then evolved towards something less tangible: instead of using library material, the library space itself became the material. The light within became a metaphor for the affective qualities of research and discovery. Like the revelations of research, the secret shadows of the library unfolded sporadically, organically, and with serendipity. The photographs, like the library, become an archive of the ephemeral: a movement of light that, once photographed, was gone.