DETAILS
Bailey Books' Special Event Series with featured guest Tim Osborne
Bailey Books
29B Rowland Cr.
7 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 8
Tickets are $25 each or 2 for $40
Each single ticket comes with $25 in Bailey Bucks ($50 for the double ticket purchase) to be used for any purchase of any Bailey Books goods or any Tim Osborne photography prints that evening only.
7 p.m. – doors open for wine tasting and hors d'oeuvres
7:30 p.m. – Short presentation and Q&A with Tim Osborne
8 – 9 p.m. – Mingling, wine tasting, shopping and camaraderie
Visit either baileybookman.com or timosborne.ca for further details or to purchase tickets.
Tim Osborne has gotten some spectacular nature shots and he wants to share some tricks of the photographic trade with you. The former city councillor turned wildlife photographer extraordinaire has teamed up with Barry ‘The Bookman’ Bailey for a special evening event next Friday. The venue: Bailey Books in Riel Park.
“It's always been a thought and ambition that I would love to share the store with other folks. I mean, I haven't really advertised or marketed the store in the past, but now I'm going to take that next step and I'm going to open it up for regular retail hours and be open to the public, if you will. So I thought that this might be a good way to introduce it to some new people,” Bailey explained.
Bailey has held the location for approximately 17 years and uses it as a joint store/workshop space. He not only sells secondhand books (specializing in signed, out of print, rare and collectible editions, among others), he also takes poor copies and fixes them up using his bookbinding skills.
The store is a wonder of antiques and kitsch, with goofy Bruce Lee figurines on one shelf and functional old Polaroid cameras on another. They only work if you can track down the discontinued film, Bailey noted.
That’s mostly the extent of the bookseller’s photographic advice. That’s another reason why he’s bringing in Osborne to offer a dedicated snapper’s knowledge.
“I've been following Tim’s photography for awhile. We went out at Art Walk one night. It was the first time he was taking a stab at ‘I'm going to see if I can sell some of my work.’ We got yakking away and we were talking about this. I said, ‘Would you be interested in coming out? What do you think?’ We'll combine the two together and see what we see.”
For Osborne’s part, the event offers him a chance to formalize his passion for nature photography. He admits that it’s something that he has had a longstanding interest in but has only had the time to pursue since leaving council chambers.
“This is a new thing for me. I get asked a lot about my photography and ‘How did you get a shot like that?’ It's a neat chance to come and maybe share a few stories and talk to people just about some of the amazing wildlife that's right here around St. Albert,” Osborne said.
If you follow his social media feeds (look for all the links through his website at timosborne.ca), then you’ll soon see why he’s capturing a lot of attention. His self-guided tours of Lois Hole Provincial Park and other natural areas have afforded him the chance to get some great shots of creatures and the scenery in general.
He says he has spent a good deal of time figuring out how to get those great shots, but he doesn’t want to keep all of those secrets to himself.
“I'm happy to answer any questions people have and certainly talk about just some of the simple things you can do to increase your likelihood of getting a good shot.”
“I've always been an amateur photographer. I admire Tim's skill or patience ... I'm not sure which one it is to get those shots. Wildlife photography is, I think, a lot of hurry up and wait,” Bailey guessed.
Osborne added he really likes the idea of collaborative events like this: small businesses supporting artists, and vice versa.
“I think my hope is that if it goes well, Barry can do this again with maybe some other artists and other interesting speakers from around St. Albert.”
Bailey agreed, noting his venue brings a fairly unique site to the table.
“I'd love to see it develop into a regular St. Albert-centric event that we can do on a semi-regular basis. I'm the only used bookstore in this neck of the woods. There's not a lot of us.”
