My collection of Errata Editions' Books on Books series is growing! Two new ones arrived for Christmas: Ed van der Elsken's 'Sweet Life' and Ked Helmer Petersen's '122 Colour Photographs'. Both beautiful. I hadn't seen either before. This is a wonderful series well worth checking out. There are currently sixteen in the series and some of these are already going into second editions. Will be interesting to see what comes next... http://www.errataeditions.com

I am loving this series Books on Books published by Errata Editions. It's an ongoing series presenting complete reproductions of classic photobooks. Some, such as Walker Evans' 'American Photographs' and Atget's 'Photographe de Paris' are well known, but very hard to find original copies. Others are less well known and even hard to find in this series! I've been looking for the Books on Books edition of Krass Clement's 'Drum' for some time now and finally found a copy in Arcana Books in Los Angeles. This is a wonderful book. The majority of the pictures were taken inside a shabby old pub-cum-grocery in the small County Monaghan town of Drum one night in early 1990 (or 1991 - the book is a little confusing as it claims both dates, but my guess is 1990!). Krass Clement was staying at the Tyrone Guthrie Centre on a grant when he happened upon this pub. The layout of the book is fascinating. Its pivotal movement around the room and use of repetition is more akin to cinema and reminds me of Bela Tarr's 'Werkmeister Harmonies' - though these pictures were made and published long before Tarr's film. It is well worth reading the story of how the pictures and book were made. That's another great feature of these books: as well as including all the original text (very little in this case) there are essays reflecting on the making of the books and details about the original first editions such as print run (500 in the case of 'Drum'), paper stock, printer etc etc. One of the most extraordinary aspects of 'Drum' is that this was a Protestant pub. Other books in this series include Chris Killip's 'In Flagrante', David Goldblatt's 'In Boksburg' and Paul Graham's 'Beyond Caring'. http://www.errataeditions.com

A crisp frost. We give my step-mother a big send off in All Saints' Church, Faringdon. A beautiful service. The choir sing the sublime The Shepherds' Farewell from 'L'Enfance Du Christ' by Berlioz. There are several readings including my cousin Mary reading Mathew Arnold's 'Requiescat'. I read from Corinthians 13, "Though I speak with the tongues..." - a wonderful piece, amazing language.

Arrived back at my parents house in Faringdon this morning. My step-mother, Gay, died on Sunday 2nd December after a short battle with cancer. She has been part of my life since I was in my early teens - my mother having died when I was eleven. She will be greatly missed. Tomorrow is her funeral. It's a misty day. And freezing cold. 

Last day in Los Angeles. Sitting on the terrace of the Sunset Tower having breakfast. Shoot went well and yesterday evening I got to visit Arcana bookstore for the first time at it's new location in Culver City - having recently moved from 3rd street in Santa Monica. Amazing collection of photo and art books. Well worth a visit: http://www.arcanabooks.com

It's always a treat to wake up in the Sunset Tower Hotel and look out over the city of Los Angeles. Up bright and early this morning. It's a beautiful day. Shooting for D magazine over the weekend and heading out shortly on a recce.

My uncle, Tony Ogden, died last week and we buried him yesterday in St. Martin's church graveyard in Bladon - the village where he lived in Oxfordshire. It happens to be the same cemetery where Churchill is buried and I couldn't help noticing Churchill's grave.

Was shooting last week for Town & Country magazine at Ashford Castle in Co. Galway and was inspired by this tree.

I will be in Nottingham on Thursday 8th November for a special screening of Pavee Lackeen (The Traveller Girl) at the Nottingham University Social Work Society. The screening is at 7pm at Lee Rosy's. There will be a Q&A following the screening. http://www.lee-rosy.co.uk

Just been shooting for Mr Porter at one of my favourite places: Luggala in Co. Wicklow, Ireland. Worth having a look at 'Luggala Days: the Story of a Guinness House' by Robert O'Byrne which has just been published: http://www.amazon.com/Luggala-Days-Story-Guinness-House/dp/1908170786