Unless you’ve been living under a rock or exploring foreign waters for the past couple months, you’ve probably seen or maybe even purchased Tofino’s dear homegrown photographer Jeremy Koreski’s new book titled This is Nowhere.
The pages of the black hardback reflect 15 years of Koreski’s work in surf, fly fishing, and nature photography. He tenderly hand plucked each photo for the project, which he said was a time sucking process that included going through old slides from images shot on film.
“I really just wanted to make something that could last; that someone could hold in their hands,” Koreski told the Westerly from his cabin in Cowichan Valley.
“And hopefully, at the end of the day it makes people think, whether you’re a 10-year-old kid or 65 and retired, that what we have here is pretty special and we need to do more to protect it.”
This is Nowhere was printed on 10 per cent post consumer paper, and as remittance to Mother Nature for being so providing over the years, Koreski has pledged one per cent of his sales to the Raincoast Conservation Foundation and the Central Westcoast Forest Society.
“It’s about these nowhere places not being considered of value, and for me these out of the way nowhere places should be valued more than the urban setting,” he said.
Malcolm Johnson, Koreski’s good friend and well-published surf writer, was tasked with composing the text debossed on the cover of the photo book.
“I asked him to write about what nowhere meant to him and that’s what he came out with,” said Koreski.
“I didn’t have one photo that summed up my work in a way that the cover text does.”
The title of the book came about in a sort of tongue-in-cheek manner.
“I do a lot of fly fishing photography and surfing photography and the number one question from pretty much anyone when I photograph something and post it online is Where is that?”
And of course in surf culture, it’s a widely known faux pas to disclose the whereabouts of a good wave. Koreski created the hashtag ‘thisisnowhere’ as a response in jest to the many inquiries he received on Instagram.
“I want nowhere to be a positive thing for people to go out and find. And it sounds kind of cheesy, but to find their nowhere. Wherever that may be,” he said.
Currently, there are 3,000 copies of This is Nowhere floating around bookstores and surf shops, or making themselves at home on coffee tables and nightstands throughout B.C., Canada, and the world.
Koreski is undecided as to whether or not he will do a second print run. He did however mention the possibility of printing 100 white bound limited edition copies.
nora.omalley@westerlynews.ca