gratitude

Finally, amazingly, thrillingly, 52 Suburbs the exhibition and book are live! I'm overwhelmed really. Saturday
was so wonderful.

To all those who made it there, thank you so much for coming. I can imagine it must have been a little squishy sitting
there in the packed auditorium for 40 minutes (was it longer?). And I'm so sorry for those who made the trek and
weren't allowed in once proceedings had quicked off. I guess it was so packed in there already the Museum felt
the need to stop any more coming in. But still, I'm sorry you missed out.

Once I digested the fact that there were more than 180 people waiting expectantly for me to talk, I really enjoyed it.
There were a few butterflies doing somersaults inside me but really, what a great thing to be able to talk about
something you've loved doing so much and have people want to hear about it.

I just felt, and still feel, full of gratitude. I won't repeat all my thank you's again in detail but let me summarise
- to those who allowed me to photograph them, to those of you who followed the blog, to my family and friends,
to New South Publishing and to the Museum of Sydney - THANK YOU!

After the talk was over there was another wonderful experience in store for me - a queue that seemed to go on
forever, lining up to have me sign books. Many of them were blog followers and it was so lovely to finally meet
them/you. Some of you told me you have followed the project since week one or two, over a year and a half ago.
Really, I just wanted to jump over the table and hug you all.

But perhaps the most surreal part was seeing my images in the gallery upstairs. From blog to book to this!
And all these wonderful faces staring back at me, faces I'm so so familiar with but have never seen so large.

The one minor bummer was I forgot to organise someone to photograph all this on the day. But thanks to Ann, here
at least is a snap of me at the signing table.







Feeling the need to document things a little more fully, I raced in to the Museum of Sydney today with my daughter, 
Coco, and took a few pics. 







I got chatting to various people checking out the exhibition - and ended up handing one of them my camera to 
photograph someone I never get any images of - me! Thanks David.








Aside from the prints on the wall, there's also an audio-visual component showing all the images from the book that
missed out on a place on the wall, as well as a computer terminal showing the blog.
















What's also strangely exciting is all the 52 Suburbs merchandise downstairs in the MOS Shop. Initially I was dead
against my images being put on any merchandise but I had faith in Peter and Chantal, the retail arm of MOS. 
They have done a great job in putting my images on a variety of objects, my favourite being the magnets, 
drop-down postcards and tea-towels. Yes, tea-towels. And while I'm at it, I thought I'd let you know that you can
also purchase any images in the book as prints from the shop. 







I have been on cloud nine since Saturday and feel as swirly as Coco does in her fabulous red skirt.














If you did miss out on the talk on Saturday, here's a five minute piece the ABC did on me and my project last Friday.





Or you could always come along this Wednesday at 1pm to hear me talk to Robbie Buck about the project at the
Sydney Writer's Festival. I'll be showing some images and talking about them as well as answering Robbie's questions.

That's possibly enough about me for one day. Thanks again to all those who made Saturday - and I look forward to seeing
some of you this Wednesday hopefully.

today's the day!

Today's the day that this blog is launched kicking and screaming into the real world as a book and an
exhibition. 20 months ago I posted my first suburb. 52 suburbs and eight months of preparation
later, it's been transformed from ether into printed form - in both a small but chunky book and as 
larger prints on the wall.

I so so so hope as many of you as possible can make today. I know you probably think I'm just saying it
but I treasure each and every person who has followed this project. Because it was such a shared adventure.

So, if you can make it, please please come up to me today and say hi. Better still, join me for a celebratory
drink afterwards down at the Quay Bar, Customs House (just roll down the hill from the Museum of
Sydney and it's right there.)

Things kick off at 2pm sharp in the auditorium where I'll be giving a 20 minute talk. Yikes.

Hope to see you there, at the last pit-stop on the 52 Suburbs tour of this amazing city called Sydney.

Details:

Museum of Sydney, cnr Bridge and Phillip Streets

2pm

$10 entrance fee

My mum

Next week I'll be giving a little talk at the Museum of Sydney at the opening of the exhibition and
book launch. I'm dreaming it up as we speak, wondering how best to do it. When I come to the bit where
I thank people, I would like to be able to thank someone who no longer resides on the earth but
remains just as alive in my heart and mind as ever - my mum.

The problem is, it's hard to talk through tears. And tears are what inevitably flow when I talk about
my mum. I absolutely adored Maureen Anne Hawson and miss her unbelievably. She was one of those
people who managed to be thoroughly decent and kind at the same time as being incredibly
engaging and left of centre. 

So I thought I'd thank her here and now, in case I lose it completely on the day and spend my time
searching for a hankie instead of actually speaking.

Forgive me for being so sentimental but I hear there's a good internet connection up to the heavens and
I'd really like her to read this...

Mum - thanks.

Not just for being a kick-ass carer of your family.

But for inspiring in me a curiosity about what's around a corner.

I hope you like the book. 

(And I know you didn't really believe in it, but Happy Mother's Day.)

from Lakemba to Surry Hills

Yesterday was too good to stay chained to the computer. Perfect blue sky and two things of interest on the
calendar - an open day at the Lakemba Mosque and the Surry Hills Festival.

I also wanted to show my book to show some of the people in Lakemba that I photographed.
If I didn't physically take it there, I doubt they'd ever know they were in the book. I could only find one
family so I decided to show other random people the book anyway - and photograph them having a flick
through.

Two worlds collide...

Part 1: Lakemba Mosque Open Day

Fairy floss and a jumping castle for the kids, tours of the mosque and all questions answered by
the "Ask Me" guides for the adults. Everyone was happy.


Harunur's hat


 




Islam opens its doors








ask me anything










the 'ask me' crew








little red riding hood










little red riding hood and her bro








Shahbaz, Koran cramming










Kadejat, from Ethiopia








Kadejat adjusts her sister's hijab








Shayma and Kadejat







Part 2: 52 Suburbs, the book, in Lakemba


I met Allen, Roba and their daughter Sabah 18 months ago when I took their photograph inside their
cake shop. They were delighted that their photo made it into the book - and could I please come back
and take some shots of their biscuits and cakes for their front window some time soon.


Allen and his family in print







Sabah, 18 months older



After leaving them I wandered down the main street and showed the book to random people. 



Lakemba literature :: 1








Lakemba literature :: 2








Lakemba literature :: 3








Lakemba literature :: 4








Lakemba literature :: 5







It would be great if the book made it into the local shops one day.



you never know







Part 3: Surry Hills Festival


From the land of veils to skimpy frocks and free flowing beer, Surry Hills. I can't give a fair account of the
festival as we arrived late and my daughter's patience was running out rapidly. Just time enough to snap
some people with the book before giving in to the tugging of my arm and retreating home.



Suburb No 17, Surry Hills :: 1








Suburb No 17, Surry Hills :: 2









Suburb No 17, Surry Hills :: 3






Suburb No 17, Surry Hills :: 4








Suburb No 17, Surry Hills :: 5







The book will be out in just three weeks time. So anyone who's pre-ordered should find it on their
doorstep pretty soon.



coming soon to a suburb near you







Back to processing images for the exhibition - made so much easier by the fact the clouds are starting to
roll in again and that perfect camera-friendly blue sky of yesterday is no more. Hope you enjoyed it 
while it lasted.

the 52 Suburbs book cover and other news

I was thinking it would be nice for you to spy the 52 Suburbs book for the first time by yourself
in the inky aisles of your favourite bookshop. But who was I kidding? I can't wait until May 1 when
the book is out.

So here it is! What you can't see is that the numbers are actually cut out and the front cover 
flaps open to reveal the full image behind it. A little like you're looking through a camera lens.
By the way, there's no thin black line around the edge, that's just because it would fade into
the white background otherwise.

Aside from the book cover there was a lot of discussion about book size. Large, small, thin, fat.
Where we ended up really works I reckon. It's a smallish (19cm wide by 16.5cm deep) but chunky
book - 528 pages!

I'm also really happy with the print quality. The colours pop off the page and it just feels really
lush and rich.

All in all very exciting. (By the way, if you feel so inclined you can pre-order from the UNSW Press
website now at www.unswpress.com.au/code13/p2393. Not only will you be assured
a copy on May 1, your early-birdness will also be rewarded with a 20% discount.)

Meanwhile, I'm head down working on the exhibition preparations for the May 14 launch at the Museum
of Sydney. An exhibition space is an entirely different beast to a book so it's spinning my head a
little. But I'm loving it all the same. In fact, I still kind of have to pinch myself when I think back to
when I began the project. It was just something I had to do but I certainly never expected it to 
blossom to the degree it has. 

Last piece of exciting news - before Christmas I was asked by the State Library of NSW for permission
to archive the blog 'in perpetuity'. Which means they'll keep updating the technology as necessary 
to ensure the blog is accessible to people forever. It is quite amazing to think of those living in 
the year 3010 or 5010 being able to check out 52 Sydney suburbs as they were in 2009/2010!

I may just have to go and fix myself a little tipple to celebrate. Cheers!

coming up for air - briefly

It's been two weeks since I last posted - which is at least one week too long.
Where have I been? Well, after swirling around the suburbs for 52 weeks, I've
spent the last two weeks rooted to the spot. Stuck in one place. Chained to a
computer. Bit of a shock to my restless being but all in the name of a good
cause: THE BOOK.

Part 1: The journey of an image from the ether into printed form

Now, who has any idea how much pre-press work is required to produce a
photographic book? Not me that was for sure. I now marvel at the mountain
of stuff that I have to do to give birth to The Book.

Not that I am complaining. This is a dream come true. Huge. Thrilling. But sheez,
you should see what's involved. It makes the last 52 weeks seem like a gentle stroll.
This is a MARATHON.

You may be entirely uninterested in what I'm about to describe but I just thought
I'd bore you with my current schedule:

Up at seven. Stumble immediately to the computer to start work, only stopping
to holler various commands at my daughter and deliver her to school. And here
is where I stay until midnight, only moving to pick up my daughter from school
and attend to vital bodily functions.

For the most part, I am processing images all day long. But occassionally I take a
'break' to do a little bit of writing work to pay the bills (bills which seem to forming
a small mountain of their own lately).

Sometimes I press on until 1am in the morning. I'd stay longer if I thought a
marathon effort would make a significant dent in the side of the mountain of
work. But no, I've been at this for ages and still the mountain towers.

So what's involved that makes it such a behemoth? Well, for one thing, I took too
many photos. Now I have to sort through them all, attempting to narrow thousands
down to around a thousand. Then there's this thing called colour profiles. Who knew
four little letters could mean so much - CMYK. Converting RGB to CMYK to be more specific.

Translation - you can end up working on one image alone for ages, just to
ensure it'll look good in printed form rather than online, computer form.

And the thing is, I'm a newbie at all this. Not only am I learning about preparing
images for pre-press, I've also just switched photo editing programs in the last fortnight.

End result is that I'm on a learning curve so steep I keep feeling that at any moment
I may just fall off.

The good news is, I am learning. A lot. And at the end of my learning curve will
hopefully be a beautiful book.

So I'm not complaining, really. I just wanted to let you know why I haven't posted -
and why I may not post much again until the book is out the door.

Part 2: A major omission

In my last post I couldn't thank everyone who's followed 52 Suburbs enough.
Yet where, I asked myself a little later, once those damn tears had stopped
spouting, were my thanks to all the people I'd photographed. The ones who
stopped mid-march to give some lady with a camera five minutes of their time.
People hurrying to work or to get milk or to meet a lover. They all - bar maybe
three - were gracious enough to let me take their photograph. 

So can I jut say a HUGE, ENORMOUS, HEARTFELT thank you to those kind souls.
This project would be much less rich without you. And an especially big thanks
to those who let me document their tattoos; it's not everyday someone stops
you in the street, stares pointedly at some part of your body and then says,
could you just pull up/down/around your shirt a little more so I can snap that tat.

Part 3: Er, me

Image by Andrew Goldie

This is for all those people who have asked me to 'come out of the shadows' and
show myself. I kept meaning to take a shot in some reflected surface but never
got around to it. And to be honest, I adore photographing other people but not
so keen on being photographed (oh, the irony).

However, I do like this photograph. Sure, I'm doing a bit of a serious trying-to-look-
relaxed pose but I love that the textures in the wall happen (true) to match my
top and bizarrely enough, my hair. Freaky. And I love the tiny dabs of yellow and
red above (lifesavers). The lovely Andrew Goldie shot it as part of the story Sydney 

Magazine did on 52 Suburbs last week (page 64-67 if you have it lying around).
So while I'm at it, thanks Andrew and Sydney Magazine!

How weird huh, a 52 Suburbs post without suburban images. Makes me want to
fly out the door and find a suburb to annoy. All in good time.

Okay, I feel much better having taken the time out to say hello. Now back to my
scary but wonderful monster.

See you next week? Maybe. But definitely soon.