--- description: Nick Meyer's new book is an elegy to loss and to a life well lived title: Finding Beauty in the Everyday image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte6e8c0e71365a073/6988bee397cdffda786afdc3/nick_meyer_limits_contradictions_04.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [LightBox](/tag/time-section-lightbox/) ## LightBox Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Finding Beauty in the Everyday by [Alexandra Genova](/author/alexandra-genova/) ## Alexandra Genova Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 31, 2017 5:04 PM CUT  Alexis (Light on Back). Alexis (Light on Back).Nick Meyer by [Alexandra Genova](/author/alexandra-genova/) ## Alexandra Genova Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 31, 2017 5:04 PM CUT Life and death – and the meaning of it all – are the biggest topics an artist could hope to uncover. But photographer Nick Meyer, as an unflinching witness, defines the indefinable with a visceral flair. His new book, _Either Limits or Contradictions,_ finds purpose in the everyday hum and gives meaning to the inconsequential. It’s an elegy to loss and to a life well lived – in all its volatile, messy glory. The book began to take shape after Meyer lost two significant people in quick succession; his mentor, the photographer and teacher, [Larry Sultan](http://time.com/3562317/the-influence-and-legacy-of-larry-sultan/ "undefined") and months later, his father. These losses focused his work, which had begun to take shadowy form more than five years previous. But Meyer is hesitant to give the ‘smiling mortician’ too much prominence. “It’s also about growing up, slowing down,” Meyer tells TIME. “It’s about that shift in life where your parents die and everyone around you is having kids.” The temporality of relationships and experiences are acutely felt in Meyer’s lyrical images and intelligent edit. The gear-change from carefree days by the water to a more deliberate pace of life is palpable. The work is told in three chapters; each marking a definitive shift in life’s focus. The first part, _We Won’t Need Bright Light, Gonna Make Our Own Lightning,_ excerpted from Neil Diamond’s _Cherry Cherry_, is an appraisal of the indestructibility of youth – “creating what you want and not caring.” Part II, _It is Heavenly Weather_, taken from a Lawrence Ferlinghetti poem, marks a slowing down, an appraisal of life’s possibilities. “It’s supposed to cruise and be about stopping to look at the world and stopping to feel beauty,” says Meyer. The final part, _Mists and Exhalations_ – from John Milton’s _Paradise Lost_ – studies permanence and impermanence and the cyclical nature of life and death. “I didn’t want it to end on a high but I didn’t want it to end on a definitive period either,” he says. Meyer’s photographs are hyper-personal and tenderly nuanced to his own reality. Ever since his school days, he’s photographed those close to him, upon the instruction of a teacher who told him: “You should just take pictures of your friends.” This familiarity gives Meyer the access to take revealing, intimate images. But the death of a parent, the birth of a first child, the search for life’s meaning are all, by definition, universal. “There’s nothing that makes me special,” he says. “And that’s sort of the point. We all experience things. We are all looking for that relatability.” Though Meyer is close to those he photographs, it’s the balance of the known and the unknown that he seeks out. And any ownership of his subjects is relinquished once they’re committed to film. “They become something other than yours, especially when you’re giving it to the world,” says Meyer. With that in mind, the recurring characters ultimately become abstract; a representation of “whomever, whatever”. Similarly the backdrop – mostly Massachusetts – could be anywhere. The bucolic beauty of New England forests or the otherness of Californian desert are part of Meyer’s story but are equally of no real consequence. “I like to leave that door a little bit open so you are able to find your own way into the pictures,” he says. The transition into a more considered perspective in the later chapters is marked by Meyer’s withdrawal from the subject. “People become less important, I think; they’re less of the driving force of it,” he says. “It becomes more introspective in a lot of ways.” Nature takes center stage and the importance of light and color become stories in themselves. In this way, Meyer is a master of elevating the unexceptional to the exotic, calling us to see beauty in the routine. And sometimes it takes a photograph – or a photographer like Meyer – for us to pay attention. [**_Nick Meyer_**](http://www.nickmeyerphoto.net/ "undefined")_is a photographer working and living in Massachusetts. His book, Either Limits or Contradictions, is published by Daylight Books and is available for_ [_pre-order_](https://daylightbooks.org/products/either-limits-or-contradictions "undefined")_. It will be released on April 11._ **_Alexandra Genova_** _is a writer and contributor for TIME LightBox. Follow her on_ [**_Twitter_**](https://twitter.com/Alexandraaa%5Fcg "undefined") _and_ [**_Instagram_**](https://www.instagram.com/alexandraaaa%5Fcg/ "undefined") _Follow_ **_TIME LightBox_** _on_ [_Facebook_](https://www.facebook.com/timelightbox "undefined")_,_ [_Twitter_](https://twitter.com/timepictures "undefined") _and_ [_Instagram_](https://instagram.com/timelightbox/ "undefined")  Lightning. Nick Meyer  Seth and Anna Wrestling. Nick Meyer  Anna’s New Tattoo (Live or Die) Nick Meyer  Elaine with Leaves in Her Hair. Nick Meyer  Emily, Alexis and Kieran. Nick Meyer  Solstice Party. Nick Meyer  Behind the Waterfall. Nick Meyer  Alexis (Sunning). Nick Meyer  Tree in Fog (Winter). Nick Meyer  Rainbows on a Dead Plant. Nick Meyer  Alexis (Light on Back). Nick Meyer  Scratches on Micky’s Face. Nick Meyer  Asleep in a Hotel Bed Nick Meyer  Dad’s Altar. Nick Meyer  Blood in the Sink. Nick Meyer  Emily on the Beach #2. Nick Meyer  Alexis Walking out of the Water Nick Meyer  Goat Head. Nick Meyer  Walking a Down a hill Nick Meyer ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4705725/photobook-nick-meyer/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4705725/photobook-nick-meyer/"},"headline":"Finding Beauty in the Everyday","datePublished":"2017-03-31T17:04:46.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:39:33.323Z","description":"Nick Meyer's new book is an elegy to loss and to a life well lived","url":"https://time.com/4705725/photobook-nick-meyer/","keywords":["LightBox","photography","photobook"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte6e8c0e71365a073/6988bee397cdffda786afdc3/nick_meyer_limits_contradictions_04.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alexandra Genova","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alexandra-genova/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte6e8c0e71365a073/6988bee397cdffda786afdc3/nick_meyer_limits_contradictions_04.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Nick_Meyer_Limits_Contradictions_04","caption":"Alexis (Light on Back).","creditText":"Nick Meyer","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-lightbox/","name":"LightBox"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4705725/photobook-nick-meyer/","name":"Finding Beauty in the Everyday"}}]}] ```