A new start on the 1st February 2023, a new month in 2023 and the start of another new visual storytelling journey in my photography books and zines segment. After the launch of my TGH Photography Zine No.2 in November 2022, I was preparing and making plans for my visual storytelling publications and photo books for the year 2023. Here I am, sharing my photography books/zines proposal plans/ideas for 2023 that I would choose from to embark on, as well as my long term visual storytelling projects that I am working on.
A brief history of my photography publications
First and foremost, let me bring you through a brief history of my photography books/zines publications that I produced and published.
- Hokkaido B&W Landscapes
- Square 8 x 8 Little Black Book with Zno (Hokkaido travel)
- Trial/Pre-launch Photo Zine
- TGH Photography Zine No.1: SG55 Special Edition
- TGH Photography Zine No.2: TGH Photography Therapy Zine and Playbook
Visual storytelling proposal plans/ideas
Continuing on from my TGH Photography Zine No.2 (you can get a physical and/or digital copy here!), I have shortlisted two project themes to work on:
A) Long term: Hokkaido travel visual story/travel guide (1 to 3 years)
My 1st travel adventure to Hokkaido was in November 2014, followed by my 2nd adventure in October 2016 (autumn). When I returned from my 2nd Hokkaido adventure, I set a goal for myself that I want to publish a photo book on 4 seasons of Hokkaido.
This plan hasn’t change, it just got refined, my long term visual storytelling plan is a Hokkaido travel visual story/travel guide together.
How am I going to discover my unique voice in my travel visual storytelling and travel guide combination? Firstly, I would need to make a few more trips, covering spring, summer and late winter seasons of Hokkaido first, I am reading more travel writing guides, travel writers works and start writing in small steps and phases.
B) Medium term: Singapore travel guides (6 months to 1 year)
I have a wide range of photographs and stories of Singapore over the past decade (and still counting), documenting old places, nature and green spaces, urban landscapes, history, heritage and culture, arts and creative sectors.
Which sectors should I start on first? How should I approach it? A series of handy and informative handy Singapore travel guides might be my style and approach.
Photography books/Zines proposal plans/ideas
Here are some of my photography books/zines proposal plans/ideas that I have come up with.
- Old playgrounds
- Cats
- Clouds
- Sunsets
- Forest Bathing (Shinrin-Yoku)
- Hokkaido landscapes (2nd edition)
- Singapore landscapes
- B&W street photography
For 2023, I am planning my zines to be of a more informal style and approach, while photo books would be produced in a slightly more planned approach. There is no final decision yet, I would go with my feel and see how each project theme turns out that I choose to work on.
Why do I still want to print/publish books/zines?
The debate on publishing/printing books/zines have probably been ongoing for quite a period of time now, in this social media driven era of videos and photographs, accompanied by goldfish memory and a getting shorter attention time span.
I feel it’s less of physical books/zines making a comeback, there are some of us who wish to return back to the analogue days before the internet and social media boom. Some are also looking at a balance of both analogue and Web3.0 complementing each other.
Publishing and printing photography books and zines bring my ongoing works to life, beyond the digital and social media realms.
Come follow me on my (new) visual storytelling adventures!
I may have honed and discovered my own visual storytelling style over my years of photography and writing, I am also relearning, reading, improving and maybe finding a new voice in my visual storytelling.
Come follow me on my (new) visual storytelling adventures through my photography and writing!