A quick note for all our loyal readers: the TPI blog is to be suspended indefinately – effective immediately.

Please contact us directly for more information. Many thanks to all of you for following our excursion into Web 2.0 and we hope one day to meet you all again in cyberspace…

Australian couple Julia Schauenburg and Ben Grace travelled across Europe, Russia, America collecting photographs of and stories from ageing baby boomers. Good Old World is a touching exploration of personal histories and global change. This self published book is proof of the need for strong intergenerational communication and respect for the lesson taught by the past.

Where:  Victoria – CCP 404 George St, Fitzroy, Vic 3065 

                                 17 December – 23 January 2008

             New South Wales – ACP 257 Oxford St, Paddington, NSW 2021

                                               12 – 26 January 2008

Timed to coincide with Australia Day in both Victoria and New South Wales, My Australia explores conceptions of Australia through the eyes of some our best contemporary photographers. Sponsored by TIME Magazine and Tourism Australia, the exhibitions will feature works by Frances Andrijich, Michael Amendolia, Narelle Autio, Ross Bird, Andrew Chapman, Stephen Dupont, Lisa Hogben, Arunas Klupsas, Randy Larcombe, David Dare Parker, Trent Parke, Andrew Quilty, Russell Shakespeare, Peter Solness, Oliver Strewe and Robert Young.

It is time to start thinking about Christmas gifts for those special – or especially difficult to buy for – people. TPI have a variety of cheap prints that look great when framed. Prices range from 50 cents to $20.00. Subjects include:

• landscapes
• art
• nudes – male and female
• celebrity portraits
• animals.

If you have a particular area of interest, just call ahead and we can sort them out for you!

TPI is not really sure what we think about the immanent merger between photoeye photography and amazon but it is definately a sign of the times.

Photoeye is a web based photographic book publishing house and distribution company who have agreed to intergrate their site with amazon’s. Customers will be able to buy a variety of stock carried by amazon through the photoeye website.

Somewhat optimistically, the open letter to their customers announcing the merger also suggests that:

“you may still opt to purchase a particular title from photoeye directly even though the same book is available through amazon at a less expensive price”.

The only constant may be change but we think that it is a little sad to see photoeye diluted as they had been photographic specialists since 1979. Good luck to all involved.

Who: Roz McQuillan

What: Body of Work

Where: Brunswick Street Gallery, 322 Brunswick Street Fitzroy Melbourne

When:  23 November – 6 December.

As regular readers will know, TPI specialises in photography. So, we would not normally promote a painting exhibition however, this exhibition is a special one.

Roz McQuillan is the previous store manager of TPI and is a successful fine artist. She was awarded Best in Show at Brighton Art Society in 2006. Brunswick Street Gallery are holding a solo show of her work in November.

Roz attends painting and life-drawing groups in Melbourne, and monitors a painting group at Hawthorn Artists Society. She has always had a special affinity for portraits and the nude, and has worked in a number of mediums, including pastel, charcoal and conte, pen and ink, gouache, watercolour, acrylics, pencil, photography, and mixed media, and is currently painting in oils.

Regular readers may recall last week’s post announcing the release of Australian photographer Paul Freeman’s lastest collection of male nudes – Bondi Road. The books are such perennial favourites with TPI regulars that we have decided to offer an early Christmas special.

TPI bookclub members – and readers of this blog – can pick up the complete set of “Bondi” photographic books for only $280.00. The set includes:

• Bondi Classic
• Bondi Urban
• Bondi Work
• Bondi Road (2007 release).

Freeman’s work appeals to a broad range of photography enthusiasts. Apart from the obviously homoerotic content, the books are beautiful studies of the male nude that have a place in a tradition of classic human form photography that reaches back to the work of Edward Weston.

The TPI Top Ten List

1. Adobe CS3 for Photographers

2. Louise Mann: The Joy of Light

3. Face of Fashion

4. Skin : The Complete Guide to Digitally Lighting, Photographing, and Retouching Faces and Bodies

5. Image Makers Image Takers

6. Yvonne Todd: Dead Starlets –

7. Michael Langford’s Starting Photography

8. Still Life and Special Effects

9. The Art of People Photography

10. Light Science & Magic

The TPI top ten list reflects our customer mix. Although we are a specialist photography bookshop, our Chapel Street location means that we attract a large number of browsers and books like Joy of Light, Dead Starlets and Face of Fashion are appealing to a general audience. We also stock a large range of technical books such as Skin and Adobe CS3 that are suitable for beginners and for more advanced users like tertiary students and professional photographers. These kinds of books are not normally carried by general bookshops and libraries do not always have them.

This new collection of male nudes from Australian photographer Paul Freeman features colour images as well as his trademark black and white. The beautifully lit, formal nude work remains prominent however, Freeman’s style has evolved and he includes many ’snapshot’ or ’street’ photography style images. The work has travel and rootlessness as its theme.

For the last two years, Melbourne photographer Jesse Marlow has been documenting in black and white people who have been affected by superficial injuries as they go about their daily routine out on the street. Like an obsession, he followed the walking wounded as they awkwardly manoeuvred their way through seas of commuters. Thirty nine of the images have been collected in his self published book Wounded.

Marlow is one of the contemporary photographers currently revitalising street photography. Other Australian practioners can be found at the photo agency Oculi. The book has been extremely well received internationally and won a major award for the designers. Click here for a review of Wounded that also reviews some American self published books.

For those interested in colour photography, Australian photographers Louise Mann and Ken Ball have both self-published books that can be considered art photography. Joy of Light is the first book from award winning Western Australian photographer Louise Mann, the images featured perfectly capture the joy of light. The work has a painterly quality and subject matter includes landscapes and figures.  Ken Ball has three books out that are impressionistic in style: Impressions in Passing, Impressions of Nature and Impressions of the Female Form. He has also published a book of portraits: Happening Women in Australia & New Zealand.