Impressions Gallery Photo Book Day

On Saturday 12 October 2024 I drove over to Bradford for the 10th Annual Photo Book Day at Impressions Gallery. It was a great chance to catch up with friends and to share ideas about printing and self-publishing. Of course, I came home after a long day with a bag full of new photo books for my collection. My Football is Life zine was also for sale on the self-publishers table.

There were four excellent talks throughout the day, all of which were very well attended. Anuhya Saxena spoke about her Coconut Zine, which explores and celebrates themes of identity and heritage in British South Asian culture. Diane Bielik then shared the trials and tribulations of producing her first self-published book Halo Tango. After lunch the sell-out audience heard from pioneering documentary photographer Daniel Meadows, whose work includes Free Photographic Omnibus 1973-74, a summer working as a Butlins holiday camp photographer alongside Martin Parr, and a fascinating documentary of a Lancastrian cotton mill in the 1970s. The final talk was by Craig Atkinson, founder of Café Royal Books, whose zines highlight the social history of British life. Craig has been publishing photo zines on a weekly basis since 2005.

The photo book event coincided with Impressions Gallery’s current free exhibition of all the Café Royal Books, now covering over 700 issues, as well as several walls of pictures from many well-known photographers whose work has been featured in a CRB zine. Although the book event has sadly finished, the exhibition continues until 30 November 2024, and is well worth a visit.

Lastly, a big shout-out to Simon Robinson of Fistful of Books, who has always been supportive with his time and experience in the world of self-publishing. Oh, and he also sells some great photo books.

All photos © Derek Taylor