History of Photo News
I have been taking photos and promoting Timaru for free since 1983 when my son Gus and I first published a photographic newspaper. We made a mistake we gave all the copies away for free. Photo News was a popular newspaper but once the local businesses stopped supporting it we had to close it down. I continued taking photos of local events and publishing them on the Timaru Directory website for free. We tried to get people to sponsor the photos online but no one seemed interested. In the end I travelled from Bluff to Invercargill in an attempt to promote all the towns and businesses along State High Way One. It was an interesting exercise that was not profitable but I did build a website for each main town and promoted all the small townships between Bluff and Christchurch online
Photo News Books
I love photogaphy work and promoting the Timaru District is my passion so this year I decided to put my photography work into books and sell the books online as ebooks. The first book I did was on Caroline Bay and it covered 0ver 20 subjects on all the things that happen on Caroline Bay. It is the only pictorial book of its kind ever published about Timarus number one icon. It is now for sale on line as an ebook but we have not sold any because very few people know tha it is there and those that do don’t want to pay anything for it.
The Timaru Herald promised to review the Caroline Bay book and give it a write up but after I sent the Editor his free copy he decided not to tell anyone about the book.
The former Mayor of Timaru Wynne Raymond and his wife Nan both feature in Rose Garden section of he Caroline Bay Book and Mr Raymond purchased a hard copy of Caroline Bay from me after I had sent him an ebook online for free. The price he paid hardly covered the cost of printing the book not to mention the thousands? ?of hours of my time and thousands of dollars I have spent putting it all together over the past 6 years
Exclusive Books
The books that I am publishing are different because they record history in a way that has never been done before. I am going to limit the number of books that I publish on each subject and this will make them more valuable over a period of time. I have just updated the Caroline Bay book so that it now includes the wonderful coastal scenery at dashing rocks. At the moment each book will be going on the market for $1000 and once the full cost of publishing the book has been recovered then no more copies of that paticular book will be printed.
Timaru District Council
Many of the books published promote property that is owned by the Timaru District Council and unlike other property owners they have refused to make any contribution
towards the publishing of my photographic books. This is one of the reasons why the books are being offerd for sale at such a high price.
Geraldine 150 years
In 2007 I photographed the Geraldine 150 year celebrations and put them on the Timaru Directory website. Geraldine people have told me they dont appreciate my photos so I am going to take them off the website and publish a history book of Geraldine which will go on sale with a limited number printed. The pictorial book includes photos and captions of the History of Woobury and the Woodbury School in 2007, Geraldine Patchwork, Geraldine Primary School Art Exhibition, Geraldine Primary School Big Night Out, Geraldine Street Parade and Aviation Day on Rangitata Island feature in the book.
More Books to Come
Scenery walks in South Timaru, Rural and Lifestyle Farming in South Timaru wiil be on the market shortly. I intend to photograph all things of interest in the district in order to record history and each book will have a limited number of copies at a price that reflects the cost of production without any subsidies. Each book will be 40 x A4 pages and be presented in a clear plastic folder. I will also photograph special events such as weddings and reunions and present in a book both as a hard copy and as an ebook
