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PLEASE NOTE All prices on this website are in US dollars. (RRP $89.95) ISBN 9780980667585

What does the word “garage” mean to you? Did you know it was adopted from the French language in the early twentieth century and means "shelter for a vehicle"? Nowadays a garage can be many more things; a cluttered storage space attached to a house, a man’s retreat, a workshop, or the place you take vehicles to be repaired—what Australians generally call “the mechanics", filled with the hum of tools and the scent of grease and rubber.

Garage explores some of these usages, as well as different eras and styles of the mechanic in his environment. The book features new work shot in old classic car garages in Los Angeles and Las Vegas and in other styles of garage in London, Miami and country Australia. It is also blended with previously unpublished photos from recent years—shot in the same locations—to craft a seamless new narrative, structured in distinct chapters. 

One unique aspect of Garage and Backwoods is that several of the men from the new shoots appear in both books—transformed into distinct characters through changes in location, wardrobe, and setting. While most of these chameleons are new faces, a couple of familiar ones have returned to my lens after years away.

One such return is Tom, who was featured in my 2009 book Outback Currawong Creek. Not a professional model, Tom hadn’t been in front of a camera since then—but to mark the 20th anniversary of publishing for Paul Freeman, he got fit for new shoots. With his real-life experience across multiple trades and outdoor sports, he is the perfect embodiment of both the rugged country town mechanic in Garage (and the untamed frontiersman in Backwoods).

This book seeks to capture the raw, natural beauty of the male form in evocative settings, many of them seemingly bleak and unforgiving. “As with much of my work, the book is a study of elemental masculinity and of men at ease in tough surrounds. These are portraits of resilience, simplicity, and the timeless allure of lives lived menially.”

“It’s also a celebration of craft—both mine as a photographer, and that of the men who travelled to work with me and help me re-imagine these tough lives and shape them into photographic fantasies.”

Garage has a hard cover with dust jacket, is large formatted at 330mm ( 13”) x 265mm (10 1/2”) x 24mm (1”) and has 160 pages of art stock matte coated gloss paper with over 160 photos. The book comes cling film sealed.