Small Wonders

I got into photography about eleven years ago when I bought my first DSLR to film this skate video for a friend’s sponsorship pitch.

Having completed the project, I started experimenting with stills as I scoured Flickr and 500px for inspiration. The images that did it for me were often close-ups of the little natural phenomena you’d find in a forest. Eventually, the abundance of such photographs made them feel less remarkable, and thus I moved on.

I love this book because it rekindles my old attraction to this type of photography. With his work, Mr. Lawson delivers his unique style along with variance and a storyline one can rarely get to see in an online firehose of content. I particularly favour his tendency to pick darker scenes that splash the thick, coated paper pages with ink.

The 8¼” by 5¼” booklet features 52 pages, including the covers with monochrome photographs carefully framed within mid-grey borders. The binding is rather simple: two staples in the middle, making the centre open up a bit more than the rest of the leaves.

I love the unassuming nature of this project, embellished through beautiful design and a pleasing layout. There are, perhaps, a hundred or more photos that needed to be curated into Small Wonders, acquiring which I imagine was a blissful series of walks through forests, yards, and parks. A thought that makes me feel happy on the inside.