The Book of Cardiff
Buy a signed copy of the book direct from the author and publisher.
The Book of Cardiff is a personal portrait of the Welsh capital told through over 350 full-colour (and black & white) photographs.
Hard-cover bound, and printed on high-density, archival-grade paper, the book is the culmination of many months work photographing Cardiff, through its people, places and events. Published by Moonlet and due for release October, 2016, it will be available through local retailers, Amazon and direct from the publisher.
The Welsh capital is fast becoming one of the great post-industrial cities of Britain. Full of optimism, open spaces, and renewed foreshores, it’s taking its place beside so many urban centres which have emerged, finally, from the collapse of industry, manufacturing and mining that so brutally shook the Kingdom in the 1980s and 90s. It’s also a city that’s changing quickly as the industrial spaces disappear to make way for new retail commercial, and residential projects.
As an expatriate Australian, I don’t pretend to understand the history of Cardiff in any detail. Nor do I have the cultural ties that would give me an informed, insider’s perspective. But I do bring the eye of a resident tourist still delighted with just how pleasant it is to live in city that can be covered largely by foot or bicycle.
In that detail, Cardiff reminds me of two cities that I’ve enjoyed in recent years: Hobart, the capital of Tasmania (Australia’s small southern island) which, like Cardiff, is a post-industrial port town of similar proportions; and Amsterdam, that great social experiment and pearl in the oyster of progressive, permissive democracy. But Cardiff is unique in other ways and seems to take at least some of the best from both those towns and many others like them – albeit without the canals of Holland or the breathtaking beauty of Tasmania’s wilderness.
At the time of writing, I’ve lived in Cardiff less than a year although I’ve been a visitor much longer, having spent the previous three years in Aberystwyth – just a few hours up the road. It’s not such a long time really but to delay this book any further would be to miss the opportunity of seeing the town as a fresh outsider. As a photographer, it’s important to grab that new car feeling and breath it in before the sights that seems fascinating now should become commonplace.