A John Whitmore Dedication – Photography Through The Pandemic Book Update

It is with a heavy heart that we share this article following the passing of a beloved member of the analogue community – John Whitmore (otherwise known as TheDarkShed on social media). Hamish and I would like to dedicate our first book, Photography through the Pandemic to his memory.

Hamish and I have been back and forth about how best to do this and, in consultation with the Sunny 16 podcast hosts and John’s family, we will be including John as our 50th contributor to the book. Sharing some of the work he produced during lockdown and working with those who knew him to talk about the contributions he made to the community during the pandemic.

We have also decided to donate any profits made from the book to a charity fund to be shared between the charities which John supported in his lifetime, as well as to go toward a trust fund for Harriet, his young daughter. We will also, of course, be printing an extra copy to give to Anne-Marie and Harriet.

To be clear, this project was never about making a profit and so we will only do so if we exceed our £12,000 target on kickstarter. This has made us more committed than ever to exceeding the target. We are currently just over 30% funded which is brilliant but we ask that anyone who has yet to support the campaign does so and also that you all share this with friends, family and social media contacts so we can meet our goal and give back in John’s name.

A note from Hamish:

John was a lovely bloke, with a lovely family. I know many of us who knew him, and even a lot of people who had just met him through social media are really shocked and devastated by the news. I met John and his family a few times, and this has left me with a feeling I know many people in the community share – we want to do something to help Anne-Marie and Harriet.

Of course, nothing will bring him back, but I know that Anne-Marie is taking some small comfort in knowing that so many of us cared so much about him. I hope by dedicating this book to him, sharing some of his photography and raising a little bit of money we can celebrate John and give a little something back as a community. I’d love to think we can raise some money, but if nothing else, if this project succeeds, I hope the dedication of this book and John being featured in it will act as part of a reminder to Anne-Marie and Harriet about how well loved he was within the community.

We’d also love to hear from you if you have anything, large or small, to share about John for us to consider as part of our entry for him in the book. You can email these to me at [email protected], or you can contact me via DMs on Instagram.

Thank you everyone.

You can back Photography through the Pandemic on kickstarter here.

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