One chilly afternoon not last autumn but the autumn before, photographer Kim Daly and her husband came to our farm to shoot some photos for Alphabet Journal. Our family with our tangly hair, our mismatched boots and our raggle-taggle clothing got to work amongst the autumn leaves making a campfire in the garden and cooking damper on a stick.
At that stage we didn't know a lot about Luisa Brimble's dreams for Alphabet Journal. We didn't know if it would be an online magazine or print, we didn't know when or how often it would come out and we didn't know what it would look like when eventually it did. But we adored all the little scraps of info we did know about it all the same; a few favourite contributors, stories of families, stories of real life unstyled and true.
The Alphabet Journal photo shoot felt like the first magazine shoot in a long time that we didn't have to clean up for, that we could just be ourselves, that we were enough.
We had a gorgeous time together cooking and eating, feeding the fire and knitting, and just hanging out enjoying each other's company. And Kim wandered around us snapping photos on her proper film cameras, answering all of our questions and politely tasting all the camp-fire cooked tasty morsels she was offered.
By the end of the day our bellies were full, our clothes smelled of smoke, we all felt like old friends and we were dying to see what this magazine would look like when it came out.
One year later, and with our Jazzy on the front cover!!!! Alphabet Journal the magazine was sent in hand wrapped brown paper packages tied up with string, to homes all over Australia and all over the world.
Alphabet Journal feels beautiful in my hands, smells comforting when I bury my face in it and is filled with 160 pages of inspiring, real, gorgeous, messy, interesting, true stories. Alphabet Journal is such a treat. Our family feel absolutely thrilled to have played a little part in helping Luisa Brimble's dream come true.
On the very first page there is a bit that reads ;
Alphabet is a magazine for people who make a home together. We believe that a home is a lived space and not a showroom. We believe that when families return to the basics - acts of gratitude, curiosity, collaboration - they are writing the kinds of living stories that are meant to be shared. This is where we share them.
Thanks for the photos Kim, thanks for the beautiful magazine Luisa, congratulations to everyone involved in Alphabet Journal issue A. We love it and can hardly wait for the B issue.
Big love to your family from ours.
xx
What a wonderful day and a great snapshot of life right at that moment! I have resisted ordering this magazine but I think I will probably just have to! x
ReplyDeleteI think you'd love it Jane. xx
DeleteIt's a divine mag - I agree, it smells delicious!
ReplyDeleteIt's funny but the smell of the ink and paper really does make such difference to the enjoyment factor. x
DeleteHow lovely not to have to wash up, and to have life celebrated in all its messy, unstyled glory. I wish that I could smell that damper through my screen (I am guessing the magazine hasn't gone so far as to have a scratch-n-sniff bread fragance). We might just have to make our own on our backyard fire. x
ReplyDeleteI've only got as far as the intro and a quick flick through, it's beautiful, I can't wait to sit down and take it all in more closely x
ReplyDeleteThree cheers for celebrating the beauty of real family life.
ReplyDeleteYes my magazine came last week and I loved seeing your pics of making the damper on a stick in there. I felt like we were old friends. Just thought you would like to know I received a text from my sister about 5 mins ago (I am sitting on the deck knitting and rugged up with my new scarf and my beautiful beanie, I love it..) Brisbane is cold today so the Beanie is on and she's very happy. She is still amazed at the generosity so it's keeping her head warm now as there's no hair. Regards Kathy A, Brisbane
ReplyDeleteIt's lovely to see a moment in time captured so beautifully. The magazine itself sounds absolutely fascinating - how fortunate you are to have been able to play a part in its development!
ReplyDeleteGorgeous photos! Well done to all involved! xo
ReplyDeleteWhat wonderful photos, it looks as though you all had a wonderful day. And I love the idea of a magazine full of pictures of actual real life, not perfectly styled ones.
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ReplyDeleteBeautiful images that elicit all my senses and happy family memories by the fire. I'm off to order my copy of Alphabet. Thanks for sharing the links.
ReplyDeleteAll of these photographs are so beautiful! I love all the little moments that were captured.
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to read mine (it will be waiting when I get home!)
ReplyDeleteLove that your Jazzy is on the cover!!
Love that you can just toss out the line "the only magazine shoot...." :-))))
I didn't know about Alphabet Journal and now I am intrigued. A beautiful story has been captured here. Those simple pleasures are always the best. Happy days.
ReplyDeleteLovely photos Kate of a lovely family! I love 'real' magazines like these! x
ReplyDeleteLooks like it was just a lovely day. What a great look back at it!
ReplyDeleteSounds lovely...I would love to buy a copy. Where is it available from, as I had not heard of "alphebet journal" before reading this post? I'm in Adelaide, South Australia.
ReplyDeleteIt is lovely! Click on the Alphabet Journal link in the last paragraph and it will take you to the site where you can order. Or you could google it. Enjoy. x
DeleteThank you Kate. I have followed the link and bought a copy of the "A" issue :-) Can't wait for it to arrive!
DeleteOh I can almost smell that smokey loveliness! What a wonderful day you all had.
ReplyDeleteOff to check out Alphabet Journal now ... am very intrigued!