This is a personal project developed for my family and friends for the 2013 christmas as present. I moved from Wiesbaden to Hamburg to live and I felt in love with this city. Only my mother could come to visit me so I decided, since "I'm poor as a rat", to make with my hands a present for my beloved ones on which they could see the things I saw without them, so the next time they'd see the book we would be somehow closer.

 

When I visit a city I like to chill, I don't need to visit all places at once. I love to walk around and discover the most hidden places of it. In fact I hate tourism, you see a lot of everything, you learn a lot of names and stories but in the end you don't really enjoy any of them properly. I wanted to represent that in the book. I didn't want to have pictures of the good side of the city, I wanted to put my small journeys in all kind of neighborhoods and dirty streets. Damn! I love the decay in the most alternative parts of Hamburg. That's why I have many stupid pics and of course, no information at all. This is because when I walk around I don't know where I am, I don't know the names of the streets, I just try to enjoy the moment and if I like a particular place I will figure out how to come back the next time. This might sound a little bit weird but that's my concept of travelling... 

 

The final result was 12 books, 104 pages each, handbinded with hardcover and a self produced gold sticker for the cover. Took me 4 and half (ish) months to complete everything: 3,5 computer + pictures, 1 produce(kind of. Using around 3-4h after work).

I made a lettering for "Hamburg" to put into the cover, but my printer is really crappy so I decided to use a different approach for the cover and use the gold letters, which are also quite representative of the city.(or atleast as I've seen so far). I love to play around with after effects so I decided also to animate to practice a little :)