Finding photography in a book market in an old Peckham car park

After years of flux, much has been made of the newly prosperous photobook market, with newer, more nimble outfits breaking out of the default modes of the industry. These diverse, more personal ways of working with photography is why Chaplin, who co-founded Fourteen Nineteen, the former publishing project focused on young photography, is bullish on the the state of independent publishing.

“People assume that these are these two discreet realms, [that] there’s big publishers and there’s little publishers. I just don’t see that being the case. Modern photobook collectors don’t [only] buy what Steidl or Thames & Hudson come out with — at least, not the intelligent ones.

“The market thrives if there is an interdependency between any form of print output; that plurality is good for everyone,” Chaplin says. “There are different ways to consume photography. Some projects are made to be published by Steidl and some projects are meant to be published by me.”

While Copeland Book Market represents the kind of creative entrepreneurship necessary for many young artists, for Chaplin and the team, the goal is much simpler. “The thing that’s great about [it] is that the formula is fairly simple, it’s the same location, same tables. There’s no plan laid out on the table, and I hope that’s why Copeland is quite a refreshing event,” he says.

“There isn’t another pretence there, we’re not trying to make a statement about the world of publishing — we’re just trying to host people who do stuff with books in the same space to talk and have a drink together.”

Copeland Book Market is running from the 31st of July to the 2nd of August 2015. Further details are available here.