#100: Offline Journal Newsletter: 17 July '25
Photobooks, Photozines and Festivals
Hello again
This Newsletter includes a couple of (hopefully informative) pieces for your listening pleasure, and an update on the SIGNATURES Photozine & Print Day coming up in September.
And with Friday 1st August fast approaching for the switchover to a new Offline Journal website and new version of this Newsletter, just a quick reminder that two new Subscription bundles are now available on Offline’s BigCartel store in readiness for 1st August.
Or if you’d prefer to subscribe to just the new Newsletter and also access articles online via the new website, you can do that from 1st August.
Brian
VALLEYS: Crowdfunded… and some!
I’m sure more than a few photographers were watching the days tick-down and the money rack-up on Jon Pountney’s recent Crowdfunder campaign for his VALLEYS self-published photobook.
Seeking £5,500 but raising an impressive £13,258 (from which Jon has stated he’ll donate 10% to a Valleys charity), the campaign offered anyone the opportunity to get a copy of the 72-page printed book via one of seven rewards tiers, some of which offered postcards and prints alongside the book.
Intrigued by this as ‘Volume One’ of his photography made in the South Wales Valleys over twenty-odd years, I asked Jon if he would record a conversation with me to delve into the background to, and content for, his new VALLEYS title.
You can listen to the the first of a two-part interview between Jon and myself below, with the second part included in the next Newsletter coming 1st August.
VALLEYS by Jon Pountney - Part 1
Here’s the video produced for the funding campaign.
Contact @jonpountney on Instagram for any enquiries on book availability following the Crowdfunder campaign.
PEERING INTO THE EYE FESTIVAL 2025
Another impressive lineup of guest speakers will be appearing at The EYE International Photography Festival speaker weekend this October in Aberystwyth.
Information on the speakers and the festival programme are available on the website link below, but EYE Festival director Glenn Edwards (himself a photojournalist) took some time to discuss the speakers and festival weekend with me in the audio segment below. Have a listen.
Reduced price ‘Early Bird’ tickets (priced £50 or £30 for students) are available for the weekend festival until 31 July 2025. There is also some availability for accommodation in the student blocks on the Aberystwyth University campus, close to the Arts Centre venue for the festival.
PHOTOZINE & PRINT DAY: Update
Since announcing the Photozine & Print Day last week, I’m pleased to say ten of the twelve tables available have been snapped up by photographers!
The Turner House lower gallery will host this next event in the SIGNATURES series that focus on photobooks and self-publishing on Saturday 20 September 2025 from 11am - 3.30pm. And with The Turner House' 2025 Open Exhibition on the walls in both the lower and upstairs gallery, there will be a wide variety of visual art to keep visitors creatively stimulated, beyond just photography, on the day!
The Photozine & Print Day will be a great opportunity for photographers and photography fans of all ages to come along and see numerous printed photozines and photographic prints being created today in South Wales. And with the ever-expanding ‘Box of Zines’ also available to explore on the day, the collection includes photozine self-publishing produced from across Wales in recent years.
If you have an idea for a photozine of your own then why not aim to have it completed as a rough mock-up, or even have just one or two printed, by Saturday 20 September as your loose deadline?
If you don’t want to take a table but would instead like to bring along a photozine or two of your own to show or discuss with other attendees (or add your finished photozines to the ‘Box of Zines’ collection) , feel free!
The Photozine & Print Day will be both an opportunity to purchase photozines and prints, and a relaxed social event to chat with myself and other photographers.
Tables at this event are COMPLETELY FREE - so if you have a photozine, photobook or photographic prints you would like to offer for sale, you can reserve one of the two remaining tables by emailing me at: offline.journal@gmail.com
SIGNATURES PHOTOZINE & PRINT DAY
Photography zine & print sales day
11am - 3.30pm, Saturday 20 September 2025
The Turner House, Penarth, Cardiff CF64 3DH
www.turnerhouse.wales
SIAN BONNELL – TALK PHOTO
Next in the series of guest talks at Oriel Colwyn is photographic artist Sian Bonnell.
TALK PHOTO
Sian Bonnell as guest speaker
7.00pm (doors 6.30pm) Saturday 19 July 2025
Oriel Colwyn, Colwyn Bay LL29 7RU
orielcolwyn.org/en/events