Exeter in Lockdown 2020
In Exeter, the Saturday before the first Covid-19 national lockdown, I received a much-anticipated new camera and lens system. With this in hand, the then enforced essential daily exercise walks become serious photo walks. Like many other photographers, I ended up with hundreds and hundreds of images showing the place where I lived in a light that it had never been seen before. The style of photographs was very much in line with the majority of all my work. I love wandering around the backstreets of towns taking pictures that might give a viewer an experience almost like being there.
Making a selection of images from so many was a lengthy process, but eventually I had four sections corresponding to four of the wards in Exeter. My first book attempt was a large format, hard back version from Blurb. However, with 166 pages it was prohibitively expensive. Then I tried a soft-back smaller format, and then a magazine format. But looking back at them more recently, they all seem to be much more like books of photos than photobooks.
Over the past year I have discovered that I am in fact what is known as a flâneur, (a person who lounges or strolls around in a seemingly aimless way; an idler or loafer: the flâneur, that cool, aloof observer of urban society) and that the process of strolling around is called a dérive. With this in mind, I’ve reused a recent format with the idea that turning the pages gives the reader an experience rather like being a virtual flaneur, wandering around the streets of Exeter.
The book is 210mm x 210mm, 168 pages, 200gsm, with 350 gsm covers, printed by Mixam, at a much more affordable price. See preview here https://mixam.co.uk/share/65f18d4b1a119d7128fa94f0
