52 Suburbs Around the world

Above is a pic of Coco at her first ever meeting – she was invited to attend because she’ll probably be doing something (TBD) at the Museum of Sydney when the exhibition of 52 Suburbs Around the World opens in a few months time.

It’s all go with getting everything ready for said exhibition and I so hope you’ll be there on the opening day – Saturday July 20, at 11.30am. I’ll be giving a talk as I did with the first exhibition before we’ll go up to the space. It’s going to be pretty amazing to see all those faces and places from right around the world in one room. Please put it in your dairy if you can make it.

So that’s the exhibition.

In other breaking news, Kickstarter rewards will be going out in the next week or so – and they’re looking pretty snazzy.

Now, on to the book front, I was bowled over by your response to my last post, when I asked you all if a, you wanted a book, and b, what some of your favourite images were.

I loved hearing which images appealed but I was so excited to hear that so many of you wanted a book. We all went on that journey together and I for one can’t bear the thought of there not being a book so we can do it all again, as many times as we wish.

In an ideal world, I would ‘ta da’ you with the finished book in a few months and all would be swell.

But as it happens, it’s not going to be that easy.

I’ve been busy getting quotes and it turns out that the only way I’m going to be able to self-publish is if people pre-order the book.

The easiest way to do that is through another crowd funding campaign.

So my next question to you guys is, what do you think, would you be happy pre-ordering a book through a crowd-funding campaign?

The book will obviously be very much based on the blog and I will also include some sample spreads in the crowd funding campaign to give you an idea of the book design. Ie Even though you’d be pre-ordering, you’ll have a pretty good idea of what the book will look like.

 

DETAILS OF THE BOOK

 • A larger format – 260mm x 240mm – which will allow the images to really sing

 • Hard cover

 • Around 330 pages with more than 600 colour photos – so quite chunky

 • $79 (I have tried hard to reduce this. I experimented with a smaller book, less images – but I believe we really need the number of images we have.)

• A small run – this book will be a limited edition

My aim is to make this book beautiful and joyous, fun and full of heart – because that’s what the whole project was like. While I’ve been waiting to get quotes, I’ve been busy working on the book with a designer – and I’m absolutely loving the way it’s looking. The larger format is exciting to work with and the images look amazing. As much as they work in the small size they are on the blog page, to see them that much bigger is just fantastic.

I’m also adding a ‘behind the scenes’ aspect to this book that wasn’t in the last book and nor in the blog, to give you more insight into what happened in the moments leading up to various shots –eg that amazing woman in Istanbul with the green eyes.

Basically I’m pouring my heart and soul into this book, more so than I did with the first book to be honest, which was really just the blog in book format. This one will have all that but it will be more special, more intimate somehow.

But look, please don’t feel under any pressure – I won’t hold you to it if you say yes now and decide later not to! I’m just really keen to test the waters on this before I launch into the crowd funding exercise.

As confident as I am about making this book as amazing as it can be, I have to admit, self-publishing is a big deal. But I’m kind of feeling the fear and doing it anyway – this book has just got to see the light of day!

Anyway, please let me know what you think, would you be happy to pre-order a book? A simple yay or nay will suffice (of course feel free to elaborate, I do like it when you elaborate!)

 

PS If you are an existing Kickstarter supporter, all Rewards will be delivered before I launch this second crowd funding – it would be too cheeky to ask for your support again before rewarding you for your first wonderful act of support.

Just over two months since we touched down in Sydney and one month since the final project post I’m here to say – Hey, how’s it going?

Actually, it’s more like HELLO EVERYONE! I MISS YOU!!

It’s been weird not checking in with you once a week so it feels very good to be back once more I have to say.

What have Coco and I been up to since I last posted? For Coco it’s just been life as usual really. She’s slipped back into things as if the project never happened. School, friends, etc, as well as cuddling up with our beautiful pussycat, Tommy (while we’ll never forget his brother, Jinx, we’re so happy to have at least one of them back).

 

 

Interestingly, the only aspect Coco’s been struggling with is sleeping – after 13 months in strange cities, apartments and beds, where she was as happy as Larry, she finally gets back into her own bed and has been freaking out a little. Bad dreams, talk of being kidnapped, that sort of thing. (Makes me wonder if she saw something on TV recently – while we were away, we never turned on the box but now that we’re back, it’s on quite a bit. Just watching the nightly news can be enough to make any kid anxious I reckon.)

As for me, I’ve been busy just trying to re-enter and adjust to life without a major, obsessive all consuming project to attend to. Although last year was a marathon, I knew exactly what my week looked like. Now it feels very fragmented and all over the shop. A photographic job here, Coco school stuff there, endless lists to be made and acted on – or not (as I sit here, there’s a heap of lists sitting in front of me happily gathering dust).

When my brain starts to feel fried I throw myself in various ocean pools. Which is where I snapped this lovely lady…

 

 

(… and where I wish I’d had my real camera on the day I watched a Muslim woman walk into Bronte pool fully clothed. Aside from wanting to photograph her, I really wanted to talk with her, to find out how it felt to be there amongst the Speedo clan – which reminded me how my camera is so much more than just a tool for recording an image, providing me with an excuse to inquire and discover.)

But as of about, ooh, NOW, I really need to get my act together and start to focus again. Because in just over three months time, 135 images from the project will be sitting on the walls of the Museum of Sydney.

The challenge is choosing those 135 images from the thousands that appeared on the blog (I haven’t counted but I averaged 45 a week so 52 x 45 is 2,340. 2,340!). I will get some help from The Museum of Sydney in curating the exhibition but still.

And then there’s the book. I’m going to self-publish one but I still need to decide how and what – as in small or large, as many pages as the last one or half the number? And with whom. And is it even possible given that it would ideally be ready for July 20 when the exhibition opens. And that’s before I’ve had to choose all the images.

Plus I need to choose some images to print as postcards and prints for my wonderful Kickstarter supporters.

All of this has been swirling around in my head and I don’t appear to be making much progress. So, eek, eek, eek.

Yeah. Then a small but friendly light bulb went off in my head and I thought, why not ask my lovely blog peeps. They might have a favourite few images and some ideas about what sort of book they’d like to see come out of this.

So, if you’re willing and able, here’s what I’d love to know:

1. Book – Would you buy one? If so, would you prefer it to be small like the last one (half the size of an A4 sheet roughly), or bigger, more of an A4 or even A3 size? If it’s bigger, there would be less pages – for example, 150-200 instead of 500+.

2. Images – There’s a short-list of 34 images below. Could I please ask you to choose your favourite one (or five, or ten, whatever you feel like). Obviously I need more for the book and exhibition but I’m just after the absolute top favourites at the moment. (If you have a favourite that isn’t below, please let me know too.)

This should only take a minute – just go with your gut and list your faves by number in the comment box (or email me if easier).

I really appreciate this everyone. Really.

Okay, here are the images…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Okay, that’s all of them. So just please leave a comment with your feedback – about the book, or fave pics, or both. You’re too fabulous and you know it.