Is it the chance to win a large fluffy animal at the sideshows? Is it the test of love and endurance for partners and parents? At the end of the day laden with a knife that is so sharp that it cuts through tomatoes and steel, that big fluffy toy, bags with brochures for a tractor you will never need on your urban section, a red balloon, a hat with a naff slogan, dreams of a bigger chainsaw, a beer cooler that you won, a gadget so useful you will never use it, a large blow up hammer that was a bargain at $5, and a bad case of sunburn, you head home with a car full of scratchy children hyped on sugar and adventure, swearing to yourself that next year you will stay home and work in the garden.

These are the joys of family day at the agricultural show.

And then you look back at the photograph you took and you remember what it was really about

Chicken

Cheers

Johannes

One of the truly special gifts was a book called a Welcome to the Zoo by Alison Jay.

It is a wordless story book. Alison's work is rich with stories within stories, intriguing personalities, and beautiful imagery.

The thing that struck me the most was the unspoken freedom I had to create my own stories. This is partly due to the lack of words but more-so to the rich content of the illustrations.

Albums can be like this.  In fact they should be!   We want our albums to tell many stories  so that they will endure time and fashion to become the catalyst for many memories but still be personal to the viewer.

Cheers

Johannes

Christmas with Ida Valentina

It has been a challenging year for all of us.  At Moda we were very lucky to have Susie working behind the scenes to keep the wheels turning whenever we were distracted by our new project (Ida). We quietly introduced our new entity (The Wedding Assassins). Even more quietly we released our  'Cherish Photography' project.  We are proud at what we have achieved in what has indeed been a difficult year and we are excitedly looking forward to whatever comes our way for 2010.

We have a couple of special projects in the think tank. (A deep - almost bottomless - vessel full of crazy ideas, hopes, and wishes.) One involves travel, and the other is about education.  Actually they are both about education because we always want to learn new things.

... and then of course there will be Ida Valentina .... currently a two tooth ... who will add her own brand of unpredictability to our chaotic lives.

Ida Valentina ... the beginning of the joys of teething.

Anyway I just wanted to say a big 'thank you' for any part you may have played in this exciting year.

All my love

Johannes

... but we are really excited ... as if you couldn't tell.