Gerry Yaum Daybooks

I am planing to do my version of Edward Weston's daybooks for the coming projects. The book will be a collage of information (like a scrap book) similar two wonderful books I have Diane Arbus's "Revelations" and Bill Burke's "Mine Fields". The daybook making of idea would be for both the "Forgotten Laughter" and "Lost Innocence" projects. I would do them concurrently then when the time comes divide them into 2 very different books, as the projects are very different in subject matter and would necessarily work as one unit.  These photographic projects will take many years to complete, probably 5 or more, so who knows where this will lead. I think thou that it is important to try!

The eventual books will be a collage of information spliced together from various sources. With the current desktop publishing abilities available to me I can do up a sample book myself. If the work created for the projects is strong, maybe the making of those photographs, the back story so to speak will be of interest to some. If not, f-ck it! I will do it for the joy of doing it! It will just be fun!

I plan on collaging this daybook like project from a number of sources.

- a detailed hand written diary of the creation of the work (photograph and insert the look of the written pages in the eventual book). I can be more totally honest and heartfelt writing in this form as compared to an online blog. I want to detail the create process, the physical and mental difficulties, joys, etc. I want to let everything hang out, open up in every way.

- online blog entries

- the names ages and background information of my subjects

- historical and background info where necessary

- emails

- film and digi photos

- video still captures

- receipts from the creation, boat/plane/buss tickets, passport stuff and artifacts of all kinds, from newspaper clippings, found objects, to money, to whatever is fun and adds to visual excitement of the book. Sort of all the behind scenes fragments.

- copied audio files

- quotations

- contact sheets, printing of the work stuff.

-post production stuff

-back story stuff

-self portraits and photos shot from other observers of the process

-show opening stuff, things from the galleries

I want this proposed creative process scrap/day book to be very intimate, to show all that is involved with the making of the photographs. Show the difficulties, the joys, the traumas, the creative impulses, the failures and successes. I want to show my subjects, the people, tell their personal stories my relationships/connections to them. Getting ready to start producing these volumes, less than 4 months until I will be in Thai starting work on "Forgotten Laughter".

Note* Will have to think of a different name than DAY BOOKS, that belongs to Mr Weston!