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).
Tom and Coco
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…
mermaid
(… 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…
1. fringe dwellers
2. eat and be merry
3. floating fish
4. hidden
5. lattice like
6. through the car window – the flower seller
7. it’s a child’s playground now
8. smoke and rubble but at least the washing’s done
9. eyes the colour of the Sea of Mamara
10. burnt sienna
11. cold and wet – perfect Spring weather – if you’re a duck
12. the watcher
13. water water everywhere but not a drop to swim in
14. ice cream truck time again
15. scales
16. ‘men will let you down but the Lord will look after you, always’ – Flossie
17. bird on a branch
18. They share nothing, But a predilection for dots, Is that not enough?
19. Eight arms apiece, Like eight petals on her obi, Infinity rules
20. autumn
21. “it’s my hobby” – Emiko in her mother’s kimono
22. day fades quickly into night in the Japanese autumn
23. the inspiration for his hair do? – Teruaki
24. crowded Kyoto – last chance to see the autumn leaves
25. patchwork
26. visiting from Tokyo to play dress up – Yuika
27. from Tokyo’s man-made mountains to Kyoto’s high-rise
28. woven
29. windy Welly
30. flying back to her adopted home, Auckland – Elizabeth, originally from Samoa
31. recent arrivals and the original ones
32. and more recent ones – Nadia from Ethiopia
33. successfully transplanted onto NZ soil
34. water colours
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.
