Friday, July 18, 2008

A birthday nudge

My twin sister and I have had a longstanding agreement that we don't buy each other birthday gifts.

 

Lunch or dinner; maybe. But gifts; NO!

 

So imagine to my horror when she told me that she had a gift for me. I was incredulous. I was irritated. And I was slightly excited.

 

Never in my life has Nikki gotten me a 'normal' present. Generally it is a piece of artwork or something like that, which I can display in the house. Sometimes it is something un-identifiable, that I simply thank her for and spend a few days pondering over. So I knew I was in for something of a treat. And since she hasn't been doing any artwork for a while (to my knowledge) I knew that I didn't have a clue what it would be.

 

After some coordination issues (Nikki is living in Jerome, and up until last week was riding her bike to Prescott on occasion) I finally got my present. It turned out to be a book of photography from one of her friends who lives in the area: Thomas Kuiper's Photographs from 2007.

 

Overall the book is interesting, eclectic, and slightly disturbing. Lots of mannequin photos, some Jerome mine waste sites, and cicrus photos all sit together between the covers. It is just one amateur photographer's selected prints, set down in coffee-table book style.

 

This reminded me that I had been working on setting up my own photo book a few months ago (coincidentally, through blurb). A week's worth of tedious layout creation was destroyed by a head failure on a hard drive, and I lost all motivation to complete the project.

 

Well after seeing this book, I have decided to rekindle that fire of creativity and give this whole book idea another go.

 

And I think I found the perfect way to do it. :)

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