Offline Journal Newsletter
New developments coming 1st August!
Hello again
This Newsletter is solely focussed on new Offline Journal developments - including a new website, Newsletter and Subscription options to the printed Offline Journal.
It’s a bit of a long read (so grab a tea or coffee!) but I wanted to provide some detail on each of the new changes. You can jump to the section relevant to your own interest in Offline Journal, or read all the way through.
There has been a slight delay in sharing this information with you as there has been work to do behind the scenes in arranging servers and website setup for changes coming in a month’s time, detailed below.
Enjoy the warm weather - and make sure to stay hydrated!
Brian
I mentioned in the introduction to the new printed issue #014, that Offline Journal will no longer appear twice a year but instead be published as a single issue each May…
“My primary reason for making this change is that more timely coverage of many photography projects, news, and exhibitions around Wales is better served through the speed and reach of the online newsletter, which continues to attract subscribers and visitors in and beyond Wales. The irony in this change with the title of this publication isn't lost on me but I'm ploughing ahead regardless!” - from the intoduction in #014
I'd like to expand on this further, particularly for the benefit of those who have supported Offline Journal’s efforts, and the invaluable efforts of its many enthusiastic contributors, since 2018.
Through previous two-issue subscriptions or purchasing single issues, supporters (especially the Subscribers) have helped me produce a tangible, printed document that has attempted to cover many developments in contemporary photography across Wales these past seven years in Offline’s fourteen issues thus far.
As much as I love print, there are many instances where a non-print solution is simply more effective in the here and now of the information-everywhere 21st century. A primary (and perhaps blindingly obvious) example, touched on earlier, is time-sensitive content such as important news and announcements. These are far better suited to a newsletter delivered straight to your email inbox and/or online, rather than waiting to read about it six months or a year later later in the next printed Offline Journal—my same reasoning for starting the monthly online Newsletter back in early 2020.
In those five years of delivering the Newsletter, it has attracted over four hundred subscribers to date, with approximately 20% located outside of Wales and the UK—a positive indication of interest in Welsh photography beyond these shores. This makes it all the more frustrating that high shipping costs (and the Brexit mess) continue to keep the printed Journal firmly grounded in the UK for the time being, but I believe putting further development into the online Newsletter will help extend its reach and continue to grow the audience for photography in Wales.
With this in mind, the Offline Journal website and Newsletter are both moving to a new online platform that will go live on the evening of Friday 1st August and provide a single online destination for all things Offline. This will allow development of the Newsletter and other plans moving forward (see section 3 below).
If you are already subscribed to the Newsletter, and the email address I have for you is up to date, the shiny new Newsletter should appear in your email inbox as before.
Newsletter aside, for me, the fundamental importance of Offline Journal in printed form remains unchanged, and I suspect many others also appreciate holding a physical publication, turning real pages, and experiencing photography through a tactile medium. Print leaves a lasting impression—something online platforms simply can’t match. I like to imagine Offline Journal on a shelf as part of your own personal collection on photography in Wales—immune to server crashes, hacking, and forgotten passwords.
What’s changing…
1. A new collaborative printed publication
To replace what was previously Offline’s October issue, a new A4-sized printed publication is currently midway through production and will showcase a selection of photography projects underway in Wales. As yet untitled, I will refer to it here with it’s working title: The Chaos Project.
Each 48-page issue will have a different cohort of up to seven photographers collaborating with me on all planning and production. Readers can expect a diverse range of photographic themes, styles and approach, alongside experimentation in sequencing, design, and binding. I’m confident readers will find the quality and themes in the new work being shared of interest, and I’d be surprised if some of the projects don’t appear on gallery walls at a future date.
Importantly, this first cohort of participating photographers have embraced the idea of sharing new work in its early stages and being open to actively participating in discussion on their work with the new publication’s readership and supporters.
Collectively, we hope to grow an audience in and beyond Wales who will engage in constructive discussion and critique on early photography projects being shared. With each new cohort and their respective Chaos publication, we’re aiming to stimulate more engagement with, and discussion around, contemporary photography across Wales. Look out for more information on how you can take part in discussing the new work with the photographers when their publication appears in September.
I am very pleased to announce the first cohort collaborating with me on this new project are:
Marc Arkless, Tamsin Stirling, Mohamed Hassan, Nate Davies, Bartosz Nowicki, Owen Pritchard and David Mayne.
This new Chaos publication will be published in mid-September 2025, priced £15 + £4 P&P
Sales aim to recoup production costs, with any surplus going towards production of the next cohort’s publication. These will be produced in a limited print run, with copies first allocated as part of Offline’s Subscriber Plus subscription bundle, before any remaining being offered for general sale (see section 4 below).
Alternatively…
If you would like to support this new experiment in Welsh photography at an early stage by pre-ordering and securing a copy the first issue, I will be running a ‘crowdfunder’ of sorts on the Offline Journal website starting 6 July until 22 August 2025 in an effort to maximise every single penny raised towards the realisation of this new printed experiment.
Backers of the publication (including new printed Offline Journal Subscriber Plus supporters) by midnight 22 August will be offered the option to have their name listed in the publication in recognition of being much appreciated founding supporters.
Look out for more news on the project in future Newsletters between now and September!
2. The printed Offline Journal
Offline Journal is seven years old and I think worthy of a slight redesign along with a bit more heft worthy of it’s annual appearance.
Physical dimensions from issue #015 onwards will be a slightly smaller 195 x 275mm, allowing less cropping on 3:2 images and make the publication just a bit more comfortable to read in the hand.
To accommodate more images and in-depth articles in this new format, perfect binding will replace staples for an increased 104-pages—more than double that of previous issues—and allow for better identification of individual issues via the printed spine on a book shelf. Work has already started on the next issue and I look forward to sharing the redesign with readers in due course.
In its new and more substantial format, and commencing with issue #015, Offline Journal will be published in the first week of May 2026 priced
£19 + £4 P&P and will continue to be offered on its own or as part of a Subscription bundle (see section 4 below).
3. The Offline (online) Newsletter
The Offline Journal Newsletter sent out via email at least once monthly, and more frequently to paying subscribers of the printed journal, has grown steadily since it started in 2020.
Neither the Newsletter nor Offline Journal has ever carried advertising as I've always felt this independence allows honest, unbiased coverage of Welsh photography without commercial influence and distraction. I’m determined to see this continue but the harsh reality of upward-creeping production costs in printing, storage, and online server/hosting fees need to be met.
Offline Journal’s email Newsletter will continue to be available to free subscribers, however, it will now carry information on a single upcoming or current exhibition or event, along with access to the regularly updated Exhibition & Events page online—which provides a comprehensive listing of photography-related exhibitions and events around Wales (many have commented to me how useful they find this resource).
For those who would appreciate reading, listening to, and watching more content on news, and interviews in the period between Offline Journal's printed efforts, I'll now be introducing two monthly subscription options for a refreshed Newsletter launching Friday 1st August—each option approximating the cost of a coffee a month (depending where you take your brew!).
Support from those who find the Newsletter informative and useful will help continue my coverage of photography across Wales and share more current news and articles with online audiences in, and far beyond, the UK.
Both Newsletter subscription options below will be available on the new Offline Journal website from 1st August for immediate access.
3.1 Newsletter Member subscription
£3 monthly (or £30 for 12 months)
News and articles on photography developments around Wales and close to the border.
3.2 Newsletter Member Plus subscription
£5 monthly (or £50 for 12 months)
As Newsletter Member option 3.1 above but with new articles, new select audio and video materials from interviews, plus articles from a new SIGNATURES series of posts with specific focus on photography self-publishing, photozines, photobooks, and related events.**Note** See point 4 below for much-reduced Newsletter Member rates when bundled with new printed Offline Journal subscriptions.
4. Printed Offline Journal Subscriptions
Available as single issues when published each May, Offline Journal will be offered as part of two new annual Subscription bundles. New subscriptions are available now via the Offline BigCartel store.
4.1 Printed Offline Journal Subscription
£40 per year, which includes:
One copy of Offline Journal latest issue (starting #015) inclusive of P&P
Newsletter Member Subscription (see 3.1 above), including selected articles from a new SIGNATURES series of posts with specific focus on photography self-publishing, photozines and photobooks.
20% discount on any Offline Essay or catalog during an active subscription (subject to stock availability)
4.2 Printed Offline Journal Subscription Plus
£65 per year, which includes:
One copy of new Chaos group publication (Sept 2025) inclusive of P&P
One copy of Offline Journal latest issue (May 2026) inclusive of P&P
Newsletter Member Plus Subscription (see 3.2 above), including articles from a new SIGNATURES series of posts with specific focus on photography self-publishing, photozines and photobooks; plus new Offline Essays as they are released (see 5.1 below).
20% discount on any Offline Essay or catalog during an active subscription (subject to stock availability)
Note: Both of the above Offline Journal Subscription bundles can be ordered now via the Offline BigCartel store, subscribers will then receive email confirmation that their Newsletter subscription will be activated in advance of the refreshed www.offline.wales website and Newsletter platform launching (and their subscription starting) on Friday 1st August 2025.
I have put aside copies of the latest catalog 005, featuring Roo Lewis’ ‘PORT TALBOT UFO INVESTIGATION CLUB’, for the first ten people signing up for a new Offline Journal Subscription Plus bundle before midnight Sunday 3 August 2025. I will email the first ten subscribers to confirm their securing a copy of catalog 005, which will ship together with their copy of the new Chaos group publication in September.
Single copies of catalog 005 are available to purchase now via the Offline BigCartel store
5. Offline Essays & catalog
The Offline Essays and catalog will continue, but no longer be supplements in a subscription bundle. However, new editions of catalog will be offered to all subscribers of the printed Offline Journal at a 20% discount, as will remaining stock of the printed Offline Essays.
Printing costs are one factor in this change, alongside fewer themes (and writers) for Offline Essays, and the increasingly limited number of smaller exhibitions appropriate for new catalogs. Unfortunately this makes planning and scheduling unpredictable for both these printed materials being available as subscription supplements.
Here’s how they will now be published…
5.1 Offline Essays
Going forward, selected shorter-length Offline Essays will be incorporated into the printed Offline Journal and, simultaneously, made available online to Offline Journal Subscription Plus supporters during their active subscription period. Similarly, all new longer-length Offline Essays will now be made available online-only to these same active subscribers.
Note: Due to image copyright arrangements, previous Offline Essays (Nos. 1-8) will not be made available online.
I have the last four complete sets (Nos. 1-8) of Offline Essays available for anyone interested, priced £25 + £2.50 P&P via the Offline BigCartel Store
5.1 catalog
Printed catalog publications will continue to be published as collaborations between Offline Journal, photographers and spaces exhibiting photography. As before, these will be announced in advance of publication and will then be made available for purchase on the Offline BigCartel store
As before, I’m open to suggestions on future exhibitions that might be considered for new catalogs that compliment, and serve as unique mementos of, small photography exhibitions staged in Wales.
Limited stock of remaining catalog publications are available to purchase via the Offline BigCartel store
In Summary
As you might imaging from the above - there is a lot going on in the background in advance of Friday 1st August!
Support of Offline Journal directly enables dedicated photography promotion and information sharing across Wales—helping me cover not just printed and online production costs, but some small out-of-pocket expenses (they all add up!) when attending exhibitions, events, interviewing photographers, and uncovering those deserving stories that might otherwise go untold.
All of the above require time and resources. Your subscription, of any type, helps maintain and expand independent coverage of Welsh photography, free from commercial pressures, while ensuring Offline Journal’s visual and cultural documentation continues to develop and, hopefully, thrives for several more years!
Whether you choose to support Offline by purchasing a single issue, subscribing to the new Newsletter or the printed publication bundles - as ever, it’s very much appreciated!
Thanks
Brian