As You Were is OUT NOW!
The big day is here! As You Were is now out in eBook and softcover formats! The hardback book will be released a little later on, as with most books, so no worries. If there's a call for the hardback one before I want to release it, I'll think about doing an earlier release. Keep an eye out on my social media pages for that. Before I tell you where you can grab a copy of the book, I'd like to share a little background and some thoughts on the book.
I'd never planned on ever doing a photography book or a travel book ever, despite my love of travel and photography. I went on my first solo adventure in 2010 and I've never looked back. It's been almost 10 years since I started exploring the world around me and I've never regretted it. Sure, there have been some not so stellar moments, moments of anxiety and not so great experiences, but overall it's been an amazing adventure. I never thought that I'd leave where I grew up and do all the things that I've done. Sometimes when I look back I find it hard to believe that I've been to all these places, on my own no less, and have seen so much of the world. There's still so much more I want to see and all sorts of adventures that I want to have.
Inside the book, there are gorgeous colour photos from all over Europe, information on the cities, historical facts and snippets from my travel journals that span over 6 years. I had the idea for the book a year ago when I was in Stockholm and was writing one of the travel blogs that I've gotten into the habit of doing. I love writing the travel blogs and people really have responded to them. They love the photos that I take almost as much as I do. I don't want to lose these memories and all the hard work that I put into writing the blogs. I wanted to have something that I could physically hold in my hands; then it hit me that I could do a book. Throughout my time travelling through Scandinavia last year I started to write out the framework for the book. I didn't have a working title, but I knew what I wanted to do with it. I didn't want it to be just a travel book or just a photography book. I wanted to include my thoughts as well as information about the cities I'd been to.
The trouble came when I was trying to pick the cities and countries that I wanted to include. Some of the photos I took on earlier trips weren't that good in quality since I took them on an iPhone 4 and some of them I couldn't find through all my files. It was frustrating because I have so many amazing memories from Finland, Northern Ireland, The Netherland, Iceland, The Czech Republic, Poland and Switzerland and of course, England that I really wanted to include. It didn't feel right to write about the cities that I visited without the pictures. I figured people would find it boring.
I worked so hard on the layouts, building each page myself. I went through hours and hours of photos, journal entries, pouring over books and web pages. I had to research the things I wasn't sure on but still really wanted to include in the book. While I was writing, I realised just how much I knew about the history of all these cities that I had visited or had called home for a short while and just how much I didn't know. I've always been passionate about history, but this sparked something new. Writing I ached to return to these places and research more in person; due to personal restrictions, I couldn't, but it's left me with a greater desire to travel as much as I can. I think it's more than just my love for exploration, it's a lust for escapism. I'm thankful for the therapy that travel has provided me with. It's helped me with social anxiety, depression and seduced my manic thoughts with the utmost of love. I hope that I can do another book like this somewhere down the line. It will take a lot more travel, but eventually, I want to do another thing like this. Maybe something by country. Who knows?
I had posted a behind the scenes blog as I was starting to write the book or was near the middle of the book, I can't really remember. I wanted to show you guys just how much goes into writing a book the way that I do. I probably do it a little different from other writers, but I love how I do it. I have complete control over it. I work so hard to try and bring my creative vision to focus with every project that I do. With this book, I had so many people comment on the photos that I'd showcased as being a part of it and I was already selling my photography here and there so I decided to do a 2019 calendar that ties into the book! Photography that's featured in the book and some that are not is featured in the calendar. It's still available via the links below. Merchandise featuring the photos of the store and some that are not is featured in my RedBubble store. Don't see an item that you want? Contact me and we can see about making it a thing. I'm hoping to release a line of postcards this year from many of the cities featured.
Inside the book, there are gorgeous colour photos from all over Europe, information on the cities, historical facts and snippets from my travel journals that span over 6 years. I had the idea for the book a year ago when I was in Stockholm and was writing one of the travel blogs that I've gotten into the habit of doing. I love writing the travel blogs and people really have responded to them. They love the photos that I take almost as much as I do. I don't want to lose these memories and all the hard work that I put into writing the blogs. I wanted to have something that I could physically hold in my hands; then it hit me that I could do a book. Throughout my time travelling through Scandinavia last year I started to write out the framework for the book. I didn't have a working title, but I knew what I wanted to do with it. I didn't want it to be just a travel book or just a photography book. I wanted to include my thoughts as well as information about the cities I'd been to.
The trouble came when I was trying to pick the cities and countries that I wanted to include. Some of the photos I took on earlier trips weren't that good in quality since I took them on an iPhone 4 and some of them I couldn't find through all my files. It was frustrating because I have so many amazing memories from Finland, Northern Ireland, The Netherland, Iceland, The Czech Republic, Poland and Switzerland and of course, England that I really wanted to include. It didn't feel right to write about the cities that I visited without the pictures. I figured people would find it boring.
I worked so hard on the layouts, building each page myself. I went through hours and hours of photos, journal entries, pouring over books and web pages. I had to research the things I wasn't sure on but still really wanted to include in the book. While I was writing, I realised just how much I knew about the history of all these cities that I had visited or had called home for a short while and just how much I didn't know. I've always been passionate about history, but this sparked something new. Writing I ached to return to these places and research more in person; due to personal restrictions, I couldn't, but it's left me with a greater desire to travel as much as I can. I think it's more than just my love for exploration, it's a lust for escapism. I'm thankful for the therapy that travel has provided me with. It's helped me with social anxiety, depression and seduced my manic thoughts with the utmost of love. I hope that I can do another book like this somewhere down the line. It will take a lot more travel, but eventually, I want to do another thing like this. Maybe something by country. Who knows?I had posted a behind the scenes blog as I was starting to write the book or was near the middle of the book, I can't really remember. I wanted to show you guys just how much goes into writing a book the way that I do. I probably do it a little different from other writers, but I love how I do it. I have complete control over it. I work so hard to try and bring my creative vision to focus with every project that I do. With this book, I had so many people comment on the photos that I'd showcased as being a part of it and I was already selling my photography here and there so I decided to do a 2019 calendar that ties into the book! Photography that's featured in the book and some that are not is featured in the calendar. It's still available via the links below. Merchandise featuring the photos of the store and some that are not is featured in my RedBubble store. Don't see an item that you want? Contact me and we can see about making it a thing. I'm hoping to release a line of postcards this year from many of the cities featured.
A massive thank you to everyone who bought their book on the release date yesterday! This year I'm going to be doing some dates in support of the book! There will be a blog coming up this week for some dates for June so stay tuned. I can't wait to meet some of you guys! There might be a March release so follow me on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram for all of the most update information. Thank you guys so much!
BUY IT NOW!
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