From cbonney
It was kind of spooky: right in the middle of researching what great new photography books would be at the top of my list for this holiday season, I stumbled across the above post, on cbonney’s page. Christopher, a longtime Fotolog member and excellent photographer, had just self-published his own book of 65 photos from Martha’s Vineyard, the storied island getaway off the Massachusetts coast. Chris created Vineyard Impressions on the very cool site blurb.com, and you can see from this book preview that his volume looks really fantastic.
So that got me thinking: how many other Fotolog members are closet photo-book authors too? A quick search produced a quick answer: a good handful, probably more! Turns out at least 7 other members have recently put together their own photo books on Blurb, showing off their work to great effect, and hopefully selling a few copies to the photo-loving public.
Here’s a brief rundown of the books I found mentioned on Fotolog. Let me know if you find any more. Great work everyone!
Jorb’s first book, titled Momenten, chronicles his time spent on sojourns in South America in 2003-04.
Roll Out the Red Carpet LONDON, by red_carpet, aka independent press photographer Caroline Bonarde Ucci, brings you right up to the edge of some of the flashiest celebrity events. “The pictures were taken from the crowd,” Caroline writes, “therefore there is a different depth than those pictures done by paparazzi and press photographers.”
With no fewer than four published books, pandanative, who is also ambiance, records, in both digital and film formats, life in his native Paris, “its urban environments, walls, buildings, Métro, innocuous places, all that inspires me each day that passes.”
Minimalism, aka Alberto Antoniazzi, published Istanbul, a 78-page travelogue of photos by himself and a traveling partner.
Only in Japan is vale_placebo’s chronicle of a recent family trip from Argentina to Japan.
Seattlesound, who is from Milan, seems to have founded an ongoing travel series, of which Berlin Report and Paris Report are the first two entries.
And finally, aspiring professional photog chibikitsune’s first book, Dolls, showcases her eerie shots of the menagerie of Asian ball-jointed dolls she has fanatically collected over the past several years.
No Tags
6 Responses to “Book Makers”
Isabelle Ribeiro Photography Blog » Fotolog Blog @ 2008-11-26 09:51:14 PM says:
[…] Check out their Book Makers post! […]
Isabelle Ribeiro @ 2008-11-26 10:16:16 PM says:
Thanks for mentioning me guys!
Chris Bonney @ 2008-11-27 08:57:51 AM says:
Thanks for the note and corrected link.
The early quality of many of these self-published photo books was passable for the lay viewer, but not acceptable for most art directors. In 2008, though, most of these publishers are now using a new printer–the name escapes me at the moment, but I’ve read that most of them are using the same kind of printer–that produces a much better product. Blurb has additionally just started offering a paper upgrade, as well. Other printers are offering a wide range of paper textures, shades, etc. I think they all offer a variety of flexible layout formats. For most people, particularly amateurs, the point of differentiation between the different publishers (Blurb, iPhoto, Kodak, Lulu, etc.) is in their interface with customers. Some are completely dummy-proof. Some assume you have a little more design experience. There’s also flexibility in binding and jacket design.
Of course, the price of these self-published books makes it hard to do them as anything but a vanity project. (I tend to use them in place of traditional portfolios, and have had success using one-out books created with specific editors/gallery owners in mind.) To get a more commercially marketable price, though, one probably has to look to offshore printing.
Thanks again for your kind comments,
Chris
along @ 2008-11-27 01:18:56 PM says:
thanks for the great detailed info Chris!
vale_placebo @ 2008-12-01 10:16:16 AM says:
:D
iiop @ 2008-12-15 11:28:24 AM says:
buenaz fotoz