I’ve spoken a few times about the unique collective I founded, The Photobook Club. The one thing that unites the members, even more than photobooks, which the name would suggest is the relationships and connections we make together.
So over the years since the group was founded (2017) there have been many examples of the Collective finding each other on photoshoots, Tessa Bunney and Barry Lewis at a cider farm, by accident and despite never meeting in person have said when they did meet it was like seeing an old friend because they had got to know each other so well online.
The ethos of the group is supporting our photographers with kindness and empathy, with particular emphasis on inclusivity and supportive critical feedback.
Rewind back to March 2020 and the pandemic is starting, we are all really concerned as work is drying up, shoots are being cancelled and we are wondering what will happen to our livelihoods. I thought we should try and keep in contact beyond the Facebook group I set up so we started doing online talks, video chats essentially.
Jack Lowe discussed his remarkable project, The Lifeboat Station Project. A monumental journey to photograph all 238 RNLI lifeboat stations and volunteers around the UK and Ireland. He has photographed 158 stations. Oh and I should add that he is photographing them all on 12 x 10 inch glass plates. It has to be seen to be believed really.
A few weeks later, Daniel Meadows also spoke about his work including the Free Photographic Omnibus, which he is now celebrating the 50th anniversary of the making of this work. There is a brilliant exhibition that has just started at the Centre for British Photography on Jermyn Street in London, worth seeking out.
More and more photographers from the collective came forward and spoke about work in progress, photography they wanted feedback on and a willing peer audience was only too happy to provide. Suddenly I was organising three talks a week which ran for four months straight during the most challenging period of the pandemic, it became known as Elevenses as it ran from 11am-1pm Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
I recently clocked how many talks I had organised in that time, 48. From the end of March to the end of August. I’m not sure how I managed it to be honest.
The one thing that we all had was time, no income of course but lots of lots of time. Daniel alongside many other members was a regular attendee and the provider of plenty of critical feedback for the collective.
These talks cemented so many friendships and relationships during this time and as the moderator and curator of the talks programme which got compliments from so many of the members such as” better than my MA”.
It also resulted in books being seen through to publication such as Lost Summer by Alys Tomlinson, The Stranger Series by Arteh Odjidja and One Hundred Years by Jenny Lewis to name a few.
Last year I worked with the Royal Photographic Society on a partnership with The Photobook Club, I curated a year long programme of talks from the members and our books were stocked in their shop.
As part of it I spoke at the first event back in March and launched my new book, At Home With Xavier Fox. Later on that year I was really pleased to co-present Black Dog by Gavan Goulder, about the book he published to help him cope with a mental health crisis. You can watch a recording of the talk here
A couple of years ago, I interviewed Daniel Meadows and Jack Lowe about their long term photography projects for a fledging podcast series called The Photobloom, you can watch it on my Patreon page here.
Here’s a highlight below
There are so many great anecodotes from both of their respective journeys, the Free Photographic Omnibus by Daniel Meadows and The Lifeboat Station Project by Jack Lowe. Especially when they discuss the moments of kindness they experienced during the hard yards of making the work. It’s really moving stuff.
I hope you enjoy it and if you do, consider contributing to the running of my Patreon page.
I wrote this month in Patreon about my photography spark being reignited due to a combination of great exhibitions, serendipity and seeing old friends. My pilot light has been well and truly extinguished over the past few months.
My best
Tom
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