Some of you might already know about my handmade travelogue-diary photobook “Rabbit” (and you might possibly — hopefully — already own a copy?). I published it in January of 2023. The great folks over at the Portland Darkroom hosted a book release party to launch the book. By April of that year the edition of 100 copies was “sold out.”

If you’re not familiar with the project, you can view a couple videos and some good photos, along with a description of the project by clicking here. (Thanks to Aaron Wessling for the great documentary photos and video of the completed book, and thanks also to Jason Kaplan for the excellent video at the bottom of the page, showing the hand-making process of finishing each copy). It’s great to see my ex-furry-companion Nala wandering around in the background of Jason’s video.

What you may not know is that I held back 9 incomplete copies of the book to finish later in 2023 (thinking I would want to have that many on hand to distribute later). But then my brother died in November of ‘23, and my plans stalled out.

So in the past month I’ve started working on completing those remaining 9 books. And what I decided to consider, or play around with, is adding some extra supplemental material in these remaining copies (in addition to the what’s already in the other 91). I’ve been playing with the idea of inserting some additional photographic prints, letters, postcard, and ephemera to the remaining copies as I complete them. Some of these may be actual postcards or letters I received or sent, as well as old photographic prints that date to the time of the specific travels, or ones that folks mailed me.

So for this newsletter posting, I thought I’d share some of the content that I’m considering adding to each book. There may be a mix of some unique objects, as well as possibly reproductions of other things (for those things I don’t want to let go of, or feel like they should be duplicated in all 9 remaining copies). I’m imagining a small stack of photos & postcards, clipped together, inserted in the back cover, or possibly dispersing individual objects, or smaller stacks in different places throughout each book. Stay tuned!

It’s likely that some of my subsequent posts will be exploring and presenting more of this content. This is definitely a work-in-progress — but I’ve given myself a hard deadline of July 31st to complete these remaining copies. I welcome any feedback you have to offer!

Here’s a look at some of the stuff I’ve been considering adding (I have 3 large storage bins, along with a dozen travel journals filled with this material, so there’s a lot to consider!):

The image above, and the next few below are from New York City 1994-95, which is the first chapter in the book. The little framed photo with “I LOVE U” is from Julie, whose card to me is on the opening page of Rabbit.

If you’re not familiar with Rabbit, one thing to understand is that while most of the photos that comprise the book are of external scenes while traveling, the narrative of the book actually tracks more of an internal journey — a searching and a longing for lasting connection and peace of mind. That’s why I want to include these letters, personal snapshots, self-portraits, and photos of my friends & lovers.

Speaking of my time in New York, you might want to take a look at my super-8 documentary movie I shot in NYC 1994-95, if so, click here .

*frames from my* s *uper-8 documentary movie “New York” —* *click here to watch*

*A couple of postcards from friends I met traveling in Mexico in 1989 (there are literally hundreds of letters and postcards like this to consider)*

The image above is of me on a ferry in Puget Sound, 1989, with my friends Brett & Bryan (not pictured). We were on a multi-month trip that took across the USA from Atlanta to California, up to Seattle, the San Juans, onto Victoria & Vancover B.C., then back down to Los Angeles, San Diego, then a month from the border of Mexico all the way down to the coast of Oaxaca.

*Above; my brother Frank getting ready to go running in Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Mexico in 1996. He flew down and traveled with me for a couple weeks during my 4-month wanderings in Latin America.*

*Katrien and me in Mexico, 1996 (we first met there; you can find an envelope from a letter she sent me printed in the Rabbit book).*

*Photos of me by someone I met traveling in Latin America in 1996-97*

*riding on the roof of a train in Cambodia, 2002*

*A make-shift ferry river-crossing in Myanmar (the bridge was damaged by flooding), 2002*

The images of me above are from Phnom Penh, Cambodia, 2002. I was traveling for 6 months in SE Asia, shooting only B&W, but brought a few rolls of color to shoot and test out my camera every month or so. I handed my camera to a stranger, and asked them to shoot few shots of me. Then I went into the film lab behind me to get the film processed — to make sure my camera was still working properly. The photos came in that little Konica folder.

*Megan and me in a motel room, traveling from NYC to Atlanta in 2004*

*Saying to goodbye to Megan at JFK, on my way to the Republic of Georgia, 2004*

*near Kazbegi, Republic of Georgia, 2004*

*Batumi, Black Sea, Republic of Georgia, 2004*

*This is a letter I sent to my parents from Laos, 2001*

The two photos above, and the two below are from one of my first “Rabbit” wanderings — after I graduated college in 1988 I traveled to California for my sister’s graduation from medical school, then wandered around Northern California with my brother for a couple of weeks — and then caught the Green Tortoise bus (if you don’t know about it, google it!) on a 12-day trip from San Francisco to Boston. These photos are from our first stop, in Pyramid Lake, Nevada.

It’s also worth mentioning our bus driver lived in an off-the-grid cabin near Estacada, Oregon — which brought me out on my first trip to Oregon in March of 1989. That’s when I fell in love with the Pacific Northwest, and 24 years later decided to move here!