Hi ,

Welcome to July's slightly belated edition of my Friends' Catchup, and a big hello to those of you who've recently joined up 👋

In this month's newsletter:

• Updates: Tiny Egypt update; another photo in Nile magazine; launch event for The EES's 1000 Miles up the Nile book reprint
• Photo of the month: A well-known face at the Garstang Museum
• A dose of inspiration: Egyptology makes it into a leading photography magazine
• Wise words: from Harry Burton, the godfather of archaeological photography

Updates

Tiny Egypt has been a little quiet while I was working at the Garstang Museum. Now I've finished the project, I'm getting back on track.

First things first. As you can see here, I now have a proper logo for the project. Hooray!

The logo's a winged scarab holding a camera aperture, bringing together my two passions. But, I've thought a lot more carefully about the design beyond 'I want to combine something Egypt-y with something photography-related', and I explain my thought process in more detail as to why I chose the scarab in particular over on the Tiny Egypt website About page.

I also got back over to Manchester Museum last Tuesday (2 August) to start catching up with some photography. I worked with three amulets from that box I shared with you a few months back, and members of the Tiny Egypt Society have already had a little sneak peek at some of the preliminary images.

I'm aiming to get over to Manchester regularly over the next couple of months, before objects start going back in the gallery in readiness for the museum's reopening next February.

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

Another photo in Nile magazine

I'm always excited to see my photos around the place, so I was really pleased to see Christopher Bebbington's article about Predynastic 'raised arm' figurines - which features one of my photos - has been published in the current issue of Nile magazine.

Christopher was working at the Garstang Museum in 2019 as curatorial assistant, when the museum showed its Before Egypt exhibition.

As well as photographing artefacts for the exhibition, I also went along and documented the team putting the exhibition together, which is when I got this photo of Christopher looking at two figurines on loan from the British Museum.

If you have your copy of Nile, the article's well worth a read. And if you don't have it, then ... WHY NOT?! 😁

Also, the title of the article is an awesome geek pun ...

PS, I rather like his t-shirt ... 😉

1000 Miles up the Nile book launch

(Image courtesy of The EES)

Later this month, I'll be heading down south for the launch of The EES's reprint of Amelia Edwards' seminal travelogue, 1000 Miles up the Nile.

This edition is more than just a reprint. Not only does it have a brand new introduction written by Dr Carl Graves and Dr Anna Garnett addressing Amelia's writing in the context of the modern age, it also sees some of the old wood-block illustrations replaced with images of Amelia's original watercolour paintings. And, it features a new cover designed by Egyptian artist Deena Mohamed.

As book designer and typesetter, I'll be saying a few words at the launch, along with Carl, Anna, and Prof. Aidan Dodson. I'm really excited about it!

The launch is in Bristol, where Amelia spent the latter part of her life. If you're interested in attending, you can find out more on the EES's website:

Find out more about the launch

If you've already got a ticket booked, please do hit reply and let me know.

Photo of the month

This month's photo of the month comes from a very recent set of photos I made, featuring a well-known face in Egyptology: Prof. Salima Ikram.

Salima's working on a project with Juliette, one of the PhD students at Liverpool. The project team visited the Garstang while I was doing photography in June, so I grabbed my camera and got permission to document their visit.

They were all very lovely people, happy to chat and be photographed. I have more photos to edit and share with you (including one of Salima standing on a chair with her arms in the air, demonstrating the movement of bird wings), as well as more information to gather about the project and the people working on it. But, in the short time I've had, I've done this one for you as a little taster.

A dose of inspiration

This month's dose of inspiration is a short but interesting article in Black+White Photography magazine about Harry Burton, the photographer who documented the opening, contents and emptying of Tutankhamun's tomb.

I was particularly pleased to see this article, because Burton's work isn't just archaeology; it's also photography, and I think it's important to get a photography perspective on his work as well an archaeological.

The photographs, we can all agree, are just beautiful. But, the conditions Burton worked under with the equipment he had available at the time makes his images all the more extraordinary, and I think we can forget that sometimes.

Black+White Photography is available to buy in the UK in newsagents, such as WHSmith, or via their website. I'm not sure what other countries it's sold in, but you can but can order a paper copy or a digital version from their website:

Black+White Photography magazine

Wise words

This month's wise words come from Harry Burton:

Few people realise the importance of photography in archaeological research, but if it were not for the camera much evidence would be entirely lost

He actually makes a very good point here. Even today, we still use cameras in one form or another to help us document ancient sites and archaeological excavations. We photographers are actually quite important ... 😁

Well, that's it for another month. My next newsletter will also be a little late, as I'll be away for the book launch when I'd usually be writing and scheduling the email.

Feel free to hit reply and let me know what you've been up to, or if you have any recommendations for the Dose of Inspiration and Wise Words section of the newsletter. Or share your Egyptology and heritage photos with me. I'd love to hear from you!

Until next month,

Julia