Thousand

Responding to @Liveresse’s prompt for Love Blippin’ Books #LBB14: ‘A picture is a worth a thousand words.’

I selected these three books, which are mainly just full of pictures, from my shelves and have enjoyed revisiting them. The unifying theme is that I think collecting these books in the first place is a direct outcome of blipping. Blipping has encouraged me to pay more attention to the world and through that I have become more curious about features of the neighbourhoods I live in and visit. These books each help me learn about, or celebrate some of these features.

Walls, by Deidi von Schaewen (Pantheon, 1977) is a photo book comprising pictures of walls around the world (extra). I was put onto this book by the online Ghost Sign enthusiast community as many of the images feature faded signage. I will keep keeping my eyes open for ghostsigns.

Brutal North, by Simon Phipps. (September Publishing, 2020) is a photo collection of distinctive brutalist and modern buildings in the north of England, It features many favourites from nearby (e.g. Shipley Clock Tower, extra) and offers prompts for things to look out for on my travels.  I will keep keeping my eyes open for interesting #architecture.

Going Postal, by Martha Barry (Mark Batty Publisher, 2009) is crammed with photos of sticker street art (extra), mainly in New York, that the author gathered in the early 2000s. A great archive of an ephemeral public art form. I will keep keeping my eyes open for #stickerart.

So thank you again, @Livresse, for the prompt, and as always, @squatbetty for founding Love Blippin’ Books.

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In other news, my Leap Day was marked by finally finishing and submitting the full batch of documents for a new course proposal that I’ve been working for many months, but in particular over the last few weeks. Phew! Now just a few weeks to wait for the grilling by panel that is the next step in this process. 

Although worn out, I treated myself to some live music at the Topic Folk Club in Shipley. I was bit disappointed that the published headliner had called in sick. Still, there was plenty of good music from the support promoted to headliner, Abbey Thomas, and the late notice support from locals Mockingbirds.