Pleased to announce that we’re now working with Mark and the team at Western Spirit . I posted some images from the sample book we made for them earlier in this blog and I’m pleased to say that they loved the book and want to offer a photobook option to their clients. Right on! The MonkeyRed word is spreading.

Are you a tour or travel operator that’s interested in finding out more about MonkeyRed and what we can do for you? We’d love to hear from you. All our details are right here .

Adventure Kokoda run overland hiking trips on the Kokoda Trail. For those of you reading this who aren’t Australian, the Kokoda Trail is in Papua New Guinea and was the site of a battle between Australian and Japanese forces in World War II. Nowadays, it’s a pilgrimage site for many Australians, whose fathers and grandfathers might have fought in the war. In recent years, the Trail has seen an explosion in numbers, but unfortunately, many operators aren’t as experienced or prepared as Adventure Kokoda. The company treks are all led by ex military officers, with a keen interest in the history and culture of the region. These double page spread were taken from the first book I did for Adventure Kokoda. We came up with the idea of including some wartime poetry in the books, and I wanted to show them to you to give you an idea of how we can include text in any of our books.

Some more page spreads from our friends at DuVine Adventures , this time from the (very) green hills of Tuscany.

Seriously, I will go on a DuVine tour one day – and not just look at pictures of other people doing so! Here’s a short excerpt from Day 5 of their Tuscany trip.

“From our hotel, we’ll transfer to Arbia, and then ride deep into the hills of Chianti. Passing rows of olives and cypresses, we’ll climb a ridge and break out of the trees as we ride through the gorgeous Chianti Classico estates of Bossi and San Felice before continuing to the Castello di Brolio. A Tuscan landmark for 1000 years, this imposing castle and the surrounding vineyards were given a facelift in the 19th century by the stern Baron Ricasoli who not only modernized local winemaking, but served as one of Italy’s first prime ministers. We’ll stop here for a tasting of the Iron Baron’s famous wine before continuing cycling, fully immersed in vast stretches of vineyards and winding panoramic roads, to Radda where our hostess, Monica, will delight us with her unique antipasti and pastas. Our next stop will be our stunning hotel and winery, Borgo di Vescine, – a serene 13th century hamlet – for an intimate wine tasting with Vincenzo, the winemaker, and our final dinner.”

They had me at the “hills of Chianti.”

Did you go on this trip? Have you been to Tuscany? Why not let us create a magnificent photobook for you?

GVI International runs vacations with a difference – they offer volunteers the opportunity to make a genuine difference through their volunteer projects while having an amazing hands-on experience in over forty countries worldwide. Sounds (and looks) very cool. By the way, we offer a discount for GVI volunteers – head on over to the specials page to find out more.

Want to know more about GVI? Click here .

Mountain biking’s another of our passions, so we were thrilled to recently produce a sample book for Western Spirit, a Utah based company that runs cool looking bike trips. One of the reasons I liked producing this book is that it’s a family run company that just seems to ‘get it’ when it comes to running a business and having fun at the same time. And they really go to some amazing looking places – check out the cave below!

If you want to find out more about Western Spirit, click here .

We recently produced a series of photobooks to give as a gift to a gentleman who was turning 60. The idea for the books came from the man’s wife (our client) who got in touch with over 200 of the man’s friends and asked them to send a birthday wish for inclusion in the book. MonkeyRed than designed the books, using these birthday wishes as well as images of the man’s life over the last 60 years.

Well, the response was amazing and just highlighted how much of an impact this man had made on so many other people’s lives. What started out as a single book (100 pages long) had to be extended into 2 books of 90 pages each – there were just that many messages and images to include.

From our point of view, it was a wonderful book to work on, and we’d love to work on more just like it. We can’t help but to get a look into people’s lives when we produce their photobooks, and to see a life as magnificent and accomplished as this one was quite inspiring.

Honestly, the more photobooks we produce for our tour company partners, the more I wish I was independently wealthy and could just travel the whole year. Take DuVine Adventures for example – based in Boston, they run amazing cycling tours all around the world. We’ve just finished a book for them that covers a private family trip through Tuscany and oh my! The colours are just gorgeous, the roads they’re riding look virtually empty and the food and wine absolutely delicious. Here’s a few of the double page spreads….