Hi ,

Welcome to the latest edition of my Friends' Catchup, and a big hello to those of you who've recently joined up 👋

I must apologise, but this is going to be a somewhat stripped-back edition, as I contracted covid a week-and-a-half ago, and although I think the initial infection has gone, I'm utterly, utterly exhausted, and with the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, I need to make sure I pace myself very carefully if I don't want to do (more) long-term damage to my health.

However, there are a couple of things I wanted to update you on, so rather than put off what's already a rather late newsletter, I'm sending out a version with just the Updates section.

In this month's newsletter:

• EES's 1000 Miles up the Nile book launch
• Photographing statuettes at Manchester
• New Tiny Egypt merch
• New annual memberships for the Tiny Egypt Society and additional perks

1000 Miles up the Nile book launch

On 26 August, The EES launched the new edition of Amelia Edwards' 1000 Miles up the Nile. As you already know, I designed and typeset the book, so I headed on over to Bristol to join in the festivities.

The launch itself was held in Storysmith, an independent book shop in Bristol, and we had an absolute whale of a time. Four of us gave talks about Amelia and the production of the book. I talked about how printing practices and technology have changed since the book was first published in the 1870s, and ran through my workflow for designing and typesetting the book. I'll be turning that into a blog post at some point soon, so I'll let you know when it's up and published.

Earlier in the day, a few of us visited Amelia's grave at Henbury on the outskirts of Bristol to pay our respects.

The grave itself has an inscribed obelisk (which were popular during the Victorian era anyway) along with a massive stone ankh on the ground in front of it.

You can read The EES's news item about the launch on their website, and find out how to get yourself a copy of 1000 Miles up the Nile too.

Photographing statuettes at Manchester

Anyone who's ever visited Manchester Museum will likely be familiar with the beautiful objects from the tomb of the two brothers, Khnum-nakht and Nakht-ankh. The collection includes two magnificent coffins, usually on display in the centre of the main gallery, as well as Canopic jars inside a wooden chest, model boats and statuettes.

I decided that I really wanted to get my hands on them before they go back into the galleries later this year, so I started off on 1 September photographing the two statuettes of servants carrying baskets of food on their head.

As some of you might have seen me mention on social media, I very stupidly forgot to bring my lights with me, leaving me with just a single, very small light that I keep stored in my camera bag 😩

Still, the session wasn't lost, as you can see in the screenshot above, and in this one showing one of the photos I worked on the other week:

As the late artist Bob Ross would say, "There are no mistakes, only happy accidents" 😊

New Tiny Egypt merch

The other week, I shared this photo of myself with a Tiny Egypt t-shirt and mug that I'd got as samples. I wanted a t-shirt to wear to photography sessions, and the mug ... well ... it'd be rude not to really, wouldn't it!

Some of you said you'd like to be able to get your hands on them, so I've added to my online store a mug, a t-shirt, a fitted t-shirt and a long-sleeved t-shirt.

If you're interested, please do have a look. I've added a coupon code to give you 10% off for just one week (until end of the 27th). This discount works across the whole store, so if you do decide to buy anything, put tinyegypt10 in at the checkout to get your discount.

See the Tiny Egypt merch

Tiny Egypt Society: updated membership levels and perks

I've made a few adjustments to the membership levels and perks for the Tiny Egypt Society.

Annual subscriptions

I've added annual memberships for those of you who might not want to be paying out every month. If you'd prefer to pay annually, the options are now there now on the registration page and the Support Tiny Egypt page.

Shop discount

All members now have a discount code for my shop, and they go incrementally as follows:

• For those on the £1 per month subs, you get 5% discount
• For those on the £3 per month subs, you get 10% discount
• For those on the £5 per month subs, you get 15% discount
• For those on the £10 per month subs, you get 20% discount

The codes are valid the whole time you're a member (i.e. they're not a one-use only perk) and apply to both monthly and annual subs. However, they can't be used alongside other coupons - just one at a time!

(I'm planning, by the way, to do some work on my shop over the coming weeks to add new photos - including some from Tiny Egypt - and print options. I'll be keeping you updated as we head towards Christmas.)

Annual thank you gift

I've also adjusted who gets the annual gift. From today, it kicks in at the £3 per month level. I've done this because I could otherwise end up finding myself somewhat out-of-pocket in the long run.

Just one caveat, though: you need to have been a member for at least 3 months before you qualify, if paying monthly, or have completed your first (free) month if paying annually.

I usually send out the gifts at the beginning of December. I know that's less than 3 months away, so as this email is going out a little later than I'd intended (thanks, covid!), if you join the Tiny Egypt Society on a monthly plan before the end of September, you'll still qualify for this year's thank you gift.

I've also added a little extra in for those on higher subs. So, the annual gifts are as follows:

• £3 per month: a postcard featuring one of the year's photos
• £5 per month: a photographic print featuring one of the year's photos
• £10 per month: a photographic print, plus a complimentary copy of the year's edition of Retrograde (first one will be coming out either at the end of this year, or at the beginning of the next)

Again, these all apply equally to both monthly and annual subs.

If you'd like to be one of those project patrons who see my new photos before anyone else does, get behind-the-scenes news, member-only content, and help shape the project, you can do so by joining the Society from only £1.00 per month (and you get your first month half price). You can find out more on the Support Tiny Egypt page:

Visit the Support Tiny Egypt page

Remember: anything you buy in my shop, or those of you who join the Tiny Egypt Society, helps fund the photography I do and share with you here, as well as being able to continue with Tiny Egypt as we go into the winter. So, a huge big thank you to those of you who support me in this way.

If you'd like to help out, but don't have the financial means, you can still be an awesome person by:

• sharing my social media posts and accounts, and pages from my websites with your friends or online groups;
• forwarding this email to someone you think would enjoy it;
• putting something from my shop on your birthday or Christmas list. As the saying goes, every little helps ... 🙏

Well, that's it for another month. The next newsletter will be out late October, when I'll hopefully have more news about the photography at Manchester.

Feel free to hit reply and let me know what you've been up to, or share your Egyptology and heritage photos with me. I'd love to hear from you!

Until next month,

Julia