WHY: A SKETCHBOOK OF LIFE

One of 2023’s goals was to write/make/design a book. With a release date at the 11th hour in terms of where I found myself in the year, I’m happy to say it’s out, in eBook form.

This is the synopsis…

At the tail end of my interviews, I’ve been asking my studio guests for a fair while: what is your why? Those who answer mostly and understandably interpret the question to be one that’s trying to unpick the reason for making and taking pictures, recording the World in a fraction of a second.

Others observe in a more introspective fashion through the lens of their life, how people or situations forge the answer to a question I’ve begun to consider could be a whole podcast series of its own. Though I enjoy asking this rather searching question, I’ve not attempted to answer it myself in any great detail, until now.

Across 99 pages supported by 116 photographs in the eBook WHY: A SKETCHBOOK OF LIFE, I publish 20 answers received from photographers to this question, some recent, the remainder taken from archived reaches of The Photowalk podcast.

This first Photowalk eBook leads with a personal account of a particular day in 2009 that has, upon reflection, helped me recognise the facets of my own life that forge a creative leaning.

The answers to why explored within the opening chapter lead toward a serendipitous discovery of sketchbooking with a camera; a desire to photographically record and share the every day, be that vista-styled beauty, human curiosity, carefully curated moments, or the wondrous mundanity we so often pass without even so much a second glimpse.

Has this become my contribution to photography’s vast history? I’d say that would be a rather lofty expectation, but it is nonetheless my first foray into making a book that isn’t a work featuring a client’s pictures, and I’m pretty proud of that.

In the future, I’d like to make actual tangible hold-it-in-your-hand page-turners, but I felt a gentle introduction, making a book that can be a tablet or PC companion, was a super way to start my literary adventures.

It’s something that has been produced in a collaborative manner. Partly as it features the words of those I have interviewed, and then for the photography made whilst sketchbooking with my beloved X100V - and that is in no small way down to the encouragement you have provided by subscribing to and listening to one man walk with his camera and dog each Friday.

There is a commercial angle, though one in which giving is as important as receiving, perhaps a creative transaction in a way. I wanted to make something that represented the podcast, flexed and challenged my writing and creative muscles and supported the show as it continues into 2024.

A hearty thank you to those who support this show by purchasing this, my first eBook.

BUY WHY: A SKETCHBOOK OF LIFE

WATCH

Why it took this long to discover such a gem of a film in terms of its writing, cinematography and beautifully perfect casting, I do not know. Thank the f-stop that a good friend of mine sat me down to watch Mike Leigh’s classic Secrets and Lies one decadent afternoon, the OG title. It’s almost three decades old, but this very English classic has bucket loads of dark humour and a desperate storyline waiting to come good. Plus, you may appreciate the running photographic story within the piece. See more and view the trailer.

LISTEN

The final Photowalk edition of 2023 took me to Oxford to visit Tony Lorenzo, who found two fading 1930s photographs in a box on the floor of a shop in London’s Camden Market in 2005 featuring a girl called June. This is the story of a long-tail photo project, a quest to find who this girl was in real life from those and other photographs subsequently found. It’s a photographic detective story that takes Tony up and down UK motorways, piecing together June's 'lost' family album. Hear the show.

READ

This is a read-and-watch; sounds like homework Neale? Photographer and YouTuber, Ted Forbes made a short film two years ago on photo books, and how he thinks they could be a tonic or even cure for what many might see as the disease of Instagram, other social platforms are available. PetaPixel wrote a decent synopsis of the film, and the full nine minutes film can be seen here. Beware, this movie will also open up the World Wide Wonder to have you searching and devouring the work of one Larry Towell.

MAKE 2024, YOUR ADVENTURE

TAKE THE FINAL SPACE TO VISIT AFRICA WITH US IN JANUARY

I’ve never really been one for a New Year resolution; the words feel like school homework, and though I do broadly understand the notion of makes sense line-in-the-sand forward planning, who really gets excited by things that make sense?

I think that’s why I prefer words like assignment and adventure.

A number of happenings in 2023 conspired to personally encourage this idea of adventuring even more in ‘24. Whilst the sad and negative things leave one in a reflective mood, there are equally positive observations that have encouraged me to think, “Excellent, now it’s my bloody turn!”

I’ve watched friends and peers stride out in some pretty positive ways this year, and their successes remind me that there is quite literally a World of adventure there to write about, photograph, observe and experience.

On that note, January 23rd, four Photowalk adventurers plus guides, including award-winning photojournalist Jason Florio, land in The Gambia to explore this country rich in culture, history and natural beauty.

For me, it’s an adventure that heralds a personal assignment to really embrace 2024, to kickstart the spirit of learning and the wonder of experience.

The Gambia is blessed with much wildlife, celebrated for its breadth of birdlife, with over five hundred species to be discovered in the forests and along the River Gambia’s mangrove-lined banks.

Unlike other African nations where you can travel days and not see a soul, The Gambia is a more densely populated country that provides many opportunities to photograph people at work and play.

We’ll be witnessing and photographing the annual Kankurang festival, learning about the country’s history, past and present, both by land and river, visiting bustling famous markets, making documentary photographs for a school, recording daily life, observing tradition, and each evening talk about photography and learn/discuss photo story techniques.

The updated itinerary is now available on the AFRICA ‘24 PAGE and there is still a space for YOU! If you want to kick-start 2024 with a life and photographic adventure, please be sure to get in touch so we can advise upon your travel there!

SEE AND BOOK AFRICA '24

FAREWELL FRIEND

With much sadness, I announce the passing of our friend, Nils Amelinckx. I remember first meeting Nils through a letter he wrote to the show at the end of ‘21. He wrote of being diagnosed with incurable stage four bowel cancer and how with a prognosis of five years to live, he had found photography once again.

From his original letter:

“Suddenly, with time becoming increasingly precious, I wanted to once again focus on documenting life's adventures through the medium of photography and for my pictures to act as an inspirational legacy, predominantly intended for my young children to be inspired by when they grow up, should I no longer be there to fulfil that task myself.”

Nils was an accomplished cyclist, a professional in the business and the founder of Rider Resilience, which carried as a hashtag a sincere belief that two wheels and the wind in your hair could be the perfect medicine for the soul.

I didn’t get to walk as much in person with Nils as I would have liked, but we did have a number of conversations both privately and on the show about his life and creativity. He’d moot that being thought of an inspiration seemed somewhat like an out-of-body experience, though that word I think, matches Nils and his approach to time perfectly:

“If I wasn’t going to be able to add days to my life, I wanted to add life to my days.”

Nils, you will be missed by everyone whose life you touched, on the trails, on the tops of mountains, photographically and in every other way. I’ll certainly miss our chats, but I’m all the richer for having known you, if only for a short while.

***Pic from the new eBook: Neale James***

POSTSCRIPT

Well, 2024 awaits and I’m looking forward to more adventures along the trail with you, wherever that path should take us. Please keep sending in your stories and pictures from where you walk and I’ll leave you with a PS, as is the way of the show from a true documentarian who understood life behind a lens.

Alfred Eisenstaedt was a German-born American photographer and photojournalist. He began his career in Germany prior to World War II but achieved prominence as a staff photographer for Life magazine after moving to the U.S.

I think Nils, would have approved of this one too.

“WHEN I HAVE A CAMERA IN MY HAND, I KNOW NO FEAR.”

N#2: FLEXING CREATIVE MUSCLES AND MORE…