Despite glaring errors of fact which embarrass me; I still wish to keep this book alive. The naiveté in which I approached this first attempt at bookmaking lends this book some "qualities" I never intended when I was putting it together. A total failure in terms of my original intentions; it's this "unintended quality" which pleases me enough not to scrap it.
I stare hard at a group of simple snapshots -taken pretty much at random- in an attempt to get them to "speak" more than my usual pre-occupations. With a bit of imagination connections abound and past and present, Okinawa, Japan and my own childhood become intermeshed, encased within the form of a simple travel diary.
I live and work in central London in the UK. I make books in an attempt to outwit mediocrity and hope to share the results as an act of friendship. A book as a message in a bottle. PHOTO-BOOKS. The bringing together of words and images is something that has always had the power to move, amuse and/or annoy me profoundly. Some things I've realised: 1: A commentary which attempts to "explain" images usually robs images of their inherent ability to express beyond words. 2: Using images to illustrate prose usually robs prose of it's inherent ability to produce new images in the readers imagination. How does the humble amateur photo-book maker overcome the above?.... Taking a lead from my hero Chris Marker. I attempt to have images and commentary be separate entities, running parallel; sometimes close, sometimes far apart, behind or in front, and then occasionally coming together, meeting, crossing and then on their way again. Hopefully...with a poetic outcome.