I first met Rhiannon Adam after she had recently arrived in England to live with her aunt and attend school for the first time in her life. She was, as I recall, fourteen and had never had a formal education. Her mother and father had sailed the world and, when they split up, Rhiannon remained in the Caribbean where her father was building yachts. We talked briefly about her interest in photography at that time. Self taught as they sailed the oceans of the world Rhiannon soon caught up and went to Cambridge where she got a first in English and then to Central St Martins School of Art and Design in London where she took her interest in photography to a professional level.

Since then Rhiannon has been recognised in many ways with commissions and travel across the world, work in the National Portrait Gallery Taylor Wessing's Portrait exhibition in 2019 and Portrait of Britain, the publication of Thames and Hudson's Polaroid - The Missing Manual and with the book of her Big Fence / Pitcairn Island photographs, originally commissioned by the BBC and Royal Geographical Society in 2015, due anytime now. You can listen to her talk about the project on the BBC's Journey of a Lifetime series now. She has been published in numerous places including NYT, La Monde, Art Re3view, The Guardian, BBC, BJP Harper's Bazaar etc.

Over the years I have kept abreast of her work and development and we have even managed to catch up at photographic events ocassionally. The thing that I have always appreciated most however is her first publication, a set of Polaroid works called Dreamlands/Wastelands. This was published in 2014 by the small press Jane and Jeremy (worth a visit) in an edition of 100 and is now sold out. Rhiannon was good enough to mount an exhibition for the launch at the gallery I then ran in Beverley (Creation Fine Arts) , a fabulous show over two rooms which sadly few people attended much to my frustration.

The book can be appreciated in either direction, one end starting with a quotation by TS Eliot and the other with a Ted Hughes. One set of Polaroids is of Margate and the other Benidorm, both places associated with our nostalgia for fish and chips, warm beer, deckchairs and relaxation. The photographs were mainly shot on old film so the results were never going to be certain and the colour and chemical degradation are clear to see and provide a wistful patina in the discussion with the British obsession with the sea and seaside.

As well as Rhiannon's take on both places, an original, signed print in the centre of the book of Arlington House in Margate shot on SX 70 film) makes it a special one for me. The personal connection, the use of expired film which carried an uncertain yet magical outcome in its final glory, the fact that this is a limited edition of just 100 copies - now long out of print - and the keen demonstration of a photographers eye, a knowledge of the chemistry of film, the refusal to allow Polaroid to die (The Impossible Project launched a replacement instant film more than a decade after it promised to keep Polaroid alive) and Rhiannon's huge knowledge of the film and the ability and ways to change and manipulate an image made with it  just mean that I treasure this book especially among the many others that I own. The fact she has signed it for me with a lovely personal message is icing on my bun! So small can most definitely be beautiful...