December update: Low carbon footprint photography and bookmaking

Handmade Japanese stab bound book of my 1point4 miles project

What I’ve been up to this month

This month I completed a handmade book of the images for part 1 of my 1point4 miles project. You can see the book above and I plan to make a short video of it as well.

I also started learning to use Affinity Publisher. The reason for this is that I am planning to make a zine of 1point4 miles. I aim to launch this at the end of January. The zine will be a limited, signed edition of 44 pages plus cover and feature 30 images. The price will be £8 + post and packing. There will also be an option to purchase prints. If you are interested in purchasing a copy, I’d love to hear from you: I trying to work out how many to print (just hit reply to this e-mail and let me know).

I also started a quick project taken in the house where we stayed for three nights over Christmas. You can see an image below and I will write about this more in the near future.

What I learned this month

The first thing I learned was how much I am gaining from writing this newsletter. I found my learnings so useful last month that I have added them as a separate section going forwards. I also learned that writing down what I plan to do keeps my mind wonderfully focussed!

I also realised that learning software can be easy if you know what you need to learn. Affinity Publisher is a huge programme with a lot of functionality. However, I only need to use a fraction of this. So it is important to know what I want to achieve, learn what I need and focus on the creativity and not the software! The same is equally applicable to editing software.

What are my plans for next month?

The big plan is to launch my zine. This is the first time I have published any of my work and I am excited and nervous in equal parts. I can’t wait to see it in print. But I also hope that a few people will want to purchase it!

I also want to create some more images for my States of Mind series.

What I’ve been writing about this month

My latest blog focusses on low carbon footprint photography. I’m passionate about reducing my footprint on the planet and I hope others are too. Photography can have a bigger impact than you might realise. You can find out more, along with some suggestions on what we can all do, here.

What books have caught my attention this month?

I have been enjoying more abstract photography this month. I purchased two books that I would thoroughly recommend if you like this type of image. The first is Simon Ashmore’s I Am Not The Rain. Simon’s work is very personal and deals with some very moving stories. Many of his images are dense, dark and foreboding. But, by the end of the book, there is a sense of hope and light. Find out more about his work here. I believe there are still a few copies of the reprint available from Simon directly.

I also purchased Valda Bailey’s new book, We May As Well Dance. It’s a marvellous mixture of colour, texture and shape. See more of Valda’s work here.

What I have been listening to this month

Instead of music, I am going to recommend a podcast this month. Euan Ross at Biblioscapes produces a regular podcast where he interviews photographers who have recently published a book. We learn about their work, their bookmaking process and their favourite photobooks. The interviews are fascinating, but be warned about the number of books you may wish to purchase after listening to each episode!

I want to make my newsletter as worthwhile a read as possible

This is only my second newsletter so please do send me feedback. What did you like best? Was there anything that didn’t work for you? Is there anything you would like me to talk about?

If you liked the newsletter, please do share it with friends and encourage them to sign up!