The Art of the Personal Project is a crucial element to let potential buyers see how you think creatively on your own. I am drawn to personal projects that have an interesting vision or that show something I have never seen before. In this thread, I’ll include a link to each personal project with the artist statement so you can see more of the project. Please note: This thread is not affiliated with any company; I’m just featuring projects that I find. Please DO NOT send me your work. I do not take submissions.
“People are afraid to merge on freeways in Los Angeles.”
—Bret Easton Ellis
Los Angeles could be described as Surrealism in full sunlight.
The physical debris of Los Angeles—sooty palm fronds littered along crooked sidewalks, a maze of intertwined freeways, electric LED sunsets—is reminiscent of Ray Bradbury’s “city of the future.”
As a follow up to Cerro Gordo, David Black’s debut monograph from 2017, The Days Change at Night explores the paranormality of everyday life in Los Angeles. Part two of an LA trilogy, Days Change picks up where Cerro Gordo left off, evoking the early 1980s punk aesthetic projected in Alex Cox’s Repo Man—a city on edge of an existential threat.
The images present a cyclical, day-to-night narrative, using the city’s landscape as a depository of our collected dreams. These visual glitches suggest the point of view of a passenger in a fast-moving car, racing past on LA’s expansive freeway system, capturing the stark polarity of the city’s opposing forces: light and dark, commercial and artistic, micro and macro—and they fuse together to pose questions about illusion, mortality, and truth.
As Raymond Chandler famously wrote, “A city rich and vigorous and full of pride, a city lost and beaten and full of emptiness.”
APE contributor Suzanne Sease currently works as a consultant for photographers and illustrators around the world. She has been involved in the photography and illustration industry since the mid 80s. After establishing the art-buying department at The Martin Agency, then working for Kaplan-Thaler, Capital One, Best Buy and numerous smaller agencies and companies, she decided to be a consultant in 1999. She has a new Twitter feed with helpful marketing information because she believes that marketing should be driven by brand and not by specialty. Follow her at @SuzanneSease. Instagram
Success is more than a matter of your talent. It’s also a matter of doing a better job presenting it. And that is what I do with decades of agency and in-house experience.
Heidi: Along with giving agency to the local and relevant photographers, how and why did these guides come about? Paul: Well the purpose of my instagram account @support.photojournalism is to promote the work of photojournalists, documentary and street photographers from around the world and to strengthen our community as photographers. These photographers are generally over worked and under paid so my goal is to spread appreciation for the important work they do. I try to set a good example of being generous on Instagram: sharing, reposting, saving, liking, commenting, all the little things I can do for free to uplift photographers. I repost about 10-15 posts a day on Instagram stories, all from photojournalists, documentary and street photographers. I’ve been doing it for about a year and half now. I’ve gotten to know our community really well and we have photographers from around the world. When events happen, I usually see the pictures on Instagram before they are published anywhere else.
How are you leveraging Instagram tools?
When Instagram rolled out the guides feature (basically a self contained, numbered list, made up of Instagram posts, with text fields for a title and a caption) I started using it right away because one of the options is to make a guide from your saved posts. I was already saving around 250+ posts a week to consider for reposting on stories so I had the idea to make a weekly guide of what I thought were the best posts of the week. Instagram limits guides to 30 posts, so it’s basically a roundup of my 30 favorites from the week called “Weekly Faves.” It’s very easy to share a guide on your instagram story so this gives people a really easy way to share the work of 30 photographers in just a couple taps on their phone. Hopefully when people see the guide they click through and follow the photographers and start engaging with them.
Tell us about your Weekly Faves
I’ve never said it out loud, but in my mind these Weekly Faves are kind of an alternative to the “Photos of the Week” slideshows that most major publications do. I say alternative, because of course I have my own subjective ideas about what makes a good picture or story, but also because I’m not limited to photographers that work only for one agency or another, or one publication or another, or even limited to pictures that have been published anywhere besides Instagram. My Weekly Faves also differs in content because I mostly follow independent photographers. It gives me a reason to look back at the previous week and be a little more considerate. I’m always in awe of how much amazing work is posted each week from our community. It’s really hard to only pick 30.
How did the Ukraine guide come about?
Making the Ukraine guides came on kind of a late night delirium actually. I could barely keep my eyes open after listening to coverage on TV and scouring Instagram for hours on the day that Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine. I knew several photographers on the ground in the weeks and months leading up to the invasion and they had already started posting work from the invasion. I was reposting their work and they were reposting the work of other colleagues on the ground. I knew we were about to see an avalanche of posts and I wouldn’t be able to keep up reposting all of it. So before I passed out with my phone in my hand around 3am, I had the idea to use Instagram guides to make a list of all the photographers I knew working in Ukraine, and then I’d just post that guide on my story and people could go follow all of those photographers and keep up with what was happening in Ukraine on their own. The community did the rest, sharing the guide generously and sending me messages with more photographers that were in Ukraine, especially Ukrainian photographers. I updated it with new photographers and it quickly reached the 30 post limit for guides. By then, it had already started going viral thanks to our community for being so supportive of their colleagues on the ground in Ukraine.
What is the intended goal of the guides and are they acting like an agency of sorts, or is this more of a grassroots collective? The immediate goal was to provide a resource for spreading reliable information from Ukraine. I want @support.photojournalism to be useful to the people who follow it, helping them stay informed about what’s going on across the world. There is a lot of misinformation out there. Photojournalists provide the antidote to misinformation. I want people to be able to get their information straight from the photographers themselves, including photographers who are from Ukraine. I believe in the power of pictures to show the world through another’s eyes. Pictures share different perspectives on what’s happening. In order to make a picture, the photographer has to be there, on the ground, bearing witness to whatever is in front of them and that gives pictures an element of persuasion that few other mediums have.
I also wanted to let everyone within our community know who was already on the ground so we could all start promoting their work and hopefully they could get their work licensed, published etc., so they can earn a living and be able to keep going. We really need to pay photojournalists more so they can focus on making pictures and not worrying about how they’re going to make ends meet or cutting corners on their health and safety. If nothing else, I hope we got their work some love and it lifted the photographers spirits during difficult times.
But the broader goal is always the same: to promote photojournalism, documentary and street photography, and to build community. These photographers put their lives on the line to cover dangerous situations and inform the public about what’s happening in the world. To me they’re like rock stars, or better yet, super heroes. They play a very crucial role in our society but they’re under appreciated today. They work hard to make amazing pictures under the toughest conditions so I think the least we can do is thank them for their service to society and spread the love for their work.
Lastly, as photographers we’re stronger together. We can use social media to promote each other and the stronger our community is, the better off each individual photographer will be. Individually we may only be able to reach a few thousand people, but together we can reach millions. So I try to use social media to connect photographers and foster a community of lifting each other up, sharing each other’s work. I also host a weekly audio-chat room on Clubhouse for all of us to get together and talk about anything and everything photography related. Hearing each other’s voices on Clubhouse has helped us become closer friends over the last year and many of us have met up in person as well. Our core group is very strong now and we all help each other and our community however we can.
I saw you held a 2 hr conversation on Clubhouse, what were the most salient points from the discussion? We have a weekly audio-chat room on Clubhouse every Tuesday at 5pm PST (Wednesday mornings on the other side of the world). We talk about all things photojournalism, documentary and street photography. Every week we are joined by some of the leading photographers today, along with editors, photography students and non-photographers who want to learn from the discussion and ask questions. It’s very casual and everyone is welcome. We usually go for two hours and people come and go as they can. Last week we had Nicoló Filipo Rosso stop by after he had just won a staggering four awards at the Pictures of the Year International (POYi), one of the most prestigious awards in our industry. The previous week we were joined by Gabrielle Lurie, who had just won back to back Photographer of the Year in a Small Market along with three other awards at POYi (she might be the only person to have ever won back to back years like that). Natalie Behring and Raquel Natalicchio co-moderate it with me and they are both outstanding photographers too.
How do people get involved?
For Ukraine I’ll defer to Ukrainians who know best. Marta Iwanek has been sharing a lot of useful information and has helped me with the guides so I would start by following her. For our community, the best way is to follow along on Instagram and you’ll always be informed about what’s happening with us. I use Instagram stories to share the work of many photographers everyday, so I would love it if people go follow those photographers and show them some love by liking and sharing their work and supporting them financially when they can. People can come to our Clubhouse room to learn more about the people behind the pictures. There are several photography organizations that do good work for photographers that people can donate to such as Women Photograph, Diversify Photo and Black Women Photographers. I highly recommend people in the US to join or donate to the National Press Photographers Association because they do a lot specifically for photojournalists. Beyond that, subscribe to a newspaper or magazine or buy a photo book.
The first piece of what is considered modern journalism was published in 1703 by Daniel Dafoe, (Great Storm of 1703 in Britain) 317 years later we have the same need for journalism, but why is this even more important now? I think it’s more important than ever now. Democracy and journalism are co-dependent so the erosion of journalism also erodes democracy. Journalism is essential to democracy because it informs the public, a necessary precondition for holding leaders accountable which is really the essence of democracy. Funding for journalism has been in decline for a long time now, with newsrooms and bureaus closing at an accelerating pace in the 2000s. I think we’re starting to see the political consequences as data show that democracy is weakening around the world for the last several years. It’s impossible to know to what extent, but I think it’s pretty safe to say that strengthening journalism will strengthen democracy along with it, so it’s more important now than ever.
What are the benefits of the smaller footprint photography has over video, aside from speed and isolating a single moment? When it comes to making pictures or videos, there are some practical advantages for photography in that it requires less/smaller gear, less storage, less computing power, editing time, etc. Video cameras are getting smaller and smaller though and many photographers make video with their cameras now too. But yeah if you have a smaller footprint then you can be a little more nimble and get into more situations.
When it comes to the output, photography and video are similar in their believability. When people see video or picture evidence of something, they tend to believe it because they know the person who made it was actually there. They’re both important and effective at visual communication and have their strengths and weaknesses. One benefit of still photography is that it can be printed and widely disseminated in print. Once printed it’s permanent and it doesn’t require electricity or internet to look at it. Through newspapers, magazines and books the still image has further reach and more staying power than video. Even when you’re looking on a phone, a still picture takes less time to look at. It has immediate impact. I think that’s another benefit of still photography in an age where the average attention span is extremely short. I have a lot of respect for video too though, ideally we’d have both and a lot of people in our community do both.
This global network of photo journalism provides a POV and firm ground for objectivity and lived experience. How has social media opened the aperture for creators to share their images free of traditional media institutions. I believe one of the goals for journalism should be to provide as many perspectives as possible. Social media has given us access to more points of view than ever before, so it has had a democratizing effect on the images that are being made and seen. The types of stories we have access to now is unprecedented. Our ability to find talented photographers anywhere in the world through social media is really incredible for telling stories with more nuance. You’re right, many of these stories might not have ever made it through that institutional shaping you’re talking about with the major publications out there. Social media has removed the gate keepers, to an extent. But the gap between the work that is being made and the work that is being published by these institutions is still massive, and these institutions still have enormous reach, far more than individual photographers. It’s a double edged sword, photographers can reach more people than ever but their chances of being paid a reasonable wage are lower than ever too. So there are many more pictures out there today but there are also many more unpaid photographers out there now too.
Can you speak to your personal connection to journalism? My mentor was a photojournalist. I know a lot of photojournalists and I’ve studied the work of many of the great photojournalists in history, so I would say I’m an admirer. I don’t call myself a journalist, only a photographer. I’ve done a few journalism assignments over the years but it’s not my career. I’m connected to it now as a freelance photo editor, curator, and community builder.
To connect with Paul please email him at paulbellinger@gmail.com
I’m currently on my 4th coffee, at 11am, because I didn’t sleep well.
My daughter climbed into our bed, in the middle of the night, as she’d had a bad dream.
Right now, she’s sprawled on the rug, just outside my bedroom door, lounging in her pink, Hello Kitty pajamas.
(It’s a snow day. Again.)
It’s disorienting, as if I’ve traveled back to March 2020, when all of us were on top of each other, 24/7.
Remember that time when you didn’t go anywhere for a year?
(I sure do.)
If it weren’t for the pandemic, having the kids home today, happy, while snow glimmers on the ground outside, would be the best thing ever.
Who doesn’t feel nostalgia for snow days?
Staying home from school.
Sledding.
Drinking hot chocolate.
Watching bad re-runs on TV.
(The Brady Bunch, The Munsters, ChiPs, Leave it to Beaver, The Addams family, The Andy Griffith show… man, did they some have cheesy programs, back in the day.)
Image courtesy of TV Guide
But just as 9/11 was the seminal event for Generation X, cleaving reality into the before and after times, the last two years have been exactly that, for much of the world.
A turning point, where everything seems to have changed, and both new and old rules apply.
Look no further than today’s news to know it’s true: Russia just invaded Ukraine, with a goal of occupying and then assimilating a separate country, the first step in re-building the Soviet Empire, under Russian dictator Vladimir Putin.
Everyone keeps writing it’s the biggest European invasion since WWII, so the expectation of national sovereignty, which was taken for granted for decades, is no longer realistic.
Yet conservative Americans, the ones who drove the Red Scare under Joe McCarthy, are now actively siding with Russia, against their own country, because Vlad represents the AlphaChristianWhiteMale, and they all want to be like him.
He’s physically tough, personally ruthless, fabulously rich, answers to no one, hates everyone who’s different, and takes what he wants, when he wants to.
That’s as old school as it gets, and when half of America prefers the dictator model to a democratic republic, we are in deep shit.
(Sorry, guess a lack of sleep has damaged my optimism today.)
Or, more likely, it’s that I just looked at a depressing, almost nihilistic photo book. (Though I doubt the artist sees his own work that way.)
“Past Time,” by Paul Shambroom, was published in 2020, by Fall Line Press in Atlanta, and showed up in the mail a year ago.
While it would have made for good viewing then, (with Trump barely out of office,) the fact it marinated on my book pile for a year is beneficial to us all.
Because boy, does it feel relevant today.
To be honest, I didn’t “like” the book very much.
It’s well-made, with a strong concept, but wasn’t created to engender happy feelings.
(No sir.)
The book is built around a project in which Paul Shambroom photographed in small towns across America, as metaphors for nostalgia towards our country’s white-bread, MAGA past.
While everyone was talking about what the Trumpers wanted to return to, (a world where they could say and do as they pleased, without worrying about anyone’s feelings; where people of color were a permanent underclass,) Paul went out and documented what those places were actually like.
Make America Great Again?
What was so great, according to the Putin-loving-hordes?
Well, we see a lot of hometowns.
Ronald Reagan.
Andy Griffith.
Walt Disney.
Mark Twain.
Laura Ingalls Wilder.
Norman Rockwell.
Thomas Kinkade.
(It reads like a list of idealized Americans, if your version of ideal is White, Christian and Dead.)
Interspersed with the photographs are historical images, jigsaw puzzles, and even a racist coloring book.
Surprisingly, though Paul Shambroom is a very talented artist, whose work is in the biggest collections, (like MoMA,) and showed in the Whitney Biennial, the image quality here is intentionally scattershot.
Bad light throughout, a lack of high-resolution-sharpness, and a heap of lazy crops.
But with an artist of this caliber, we can’t assume the crops are lazy, but rather the images are designed to be off-putting.
Gursky proved you can take bleak light and make a masterpiece, but I think the anti-aesthetic here is being used on purpose, as a way of showing how low America has sunk.
Andreas Gursky, “Schiphol,” courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art
How sad are its quaint little towns, the places people wish were still like Mayberry, or Pleasantville?
“Pleasantville,” 1998, courtesy of RogerEbert.com
There is a well-written essay at the end, by Tim Davis, and an in-depth interview between Paul Shambroom and publisher Bill Boling, and both texts suggest this book is more positive than I gathered.
There is talk of all Americans having the desire for safety, and housing for their children in common, and they mention the book by that dude everyone always references, which states people are safer and better off now than at any point in human history.
I get it.
But looking at this book, I came away feeling like the nostalgia bubble was being popped, because things were crap back then, and they’re still crap.
Not hard to feel that way, after the last two pandemic years, but these images predate that.
If you’d like to submit a book for potential review, please email me at jonathanblaustein@gmail.com. We are particularly interested in books by artists of color, and female photographers, so we may maintain a balanced program. And please be advised, we currently have a significant backlog of books for review.
The Art of the Personal Project is a crucial element to let potential buyers see how you think creatively on your own. I am drawn to personal projects that have an interesting vision or that show something I have never seen before. In this thread, I’ll include a link to each personal project with the artist statement so you can see more of the project. Please note: This thread is not affiliated with any company; I’m just featuring projects that I find. Please DO NOT send me your work. I do not take submissions.
This mother wanted her son to have photos to understand her breast cancer journey
Photographer Angelica Edwards met Keyla “Nunny” Reece when she took an assignment to cover a story about hospital parking fees for her student newspaper at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
In 2015, Reece, of Hope Mills, N.C., felt a lump in her breast, got it checked out and was told it was a benign cyst. Two years later, she felt an additional lump, this time under her armpit, while simultaneously experiencing skin blotches and extreme back pain.
In June 2017, doctors diagnosed Reece with stage 4 metastatic breast cancer. It had spread to her ribs, lungs, spine and pelvis.
After the initial photo assignment, Edwards contacted Reece to see if she would allow her to document her journey.
Reece was excited to share her story. She said she wanted her son, Ryan, who was 10 years old at the time, to be able to look back and understand what his mother went through as he got older, and she was no longer here.
Originally this NPR story ran in October for Breast Cancer Awareness month and takes an intimate look at Reece’s breast cancer journey through pictures.
Angelica Edwards is a photographer based in Chapel Hill, N.C. Follow her on Instagram@angelica_edwards2
APE contributor Suzanne Sease currently works as a consultant for photographers and illustrators around the world. She has been involved in the photography and illustration industry since the mid 80s. After establishing the art-buying department at The Martin Agency, then working for Kaplan-Thaler, Capital One, Best Buy and numerous smaller agencies and companies, she decided to be a consultant in 1999. She has a new Twitter feed with helpful marketing information because she believes that marketing should be driven by brand and not by specialty. Follow her at @SuzanneSease. Instagram
Success is more than a matter of your talent. It’s also a matter of doing a better job presenting it. And that is what I do with decades of agency and in-house experience.
Heidi: How did this series come about?
Jeffery: I have been working on this series for a few years now as it has slowly evolved from a separate series I pioneered utilizing flashes and LED lights on drones back in 2015. It has since evolved into these landscapes just before the pandemic began as an exploration of space, light, color and my involvement with nature.
How long does the set up take? My setup times are fairly short, I have become very efficient in preparing for an image, setup of my light sources and creating them in the field takes a few minutes but times to create the final image range anywhere between 15 minutes to an hour total depending on which “Light Brush” I am using: ie; if I am using a large drone, or shooting multiple variations/ locations in one outing.
Are you scouting at night as well?
I typically do my scouting during the day while out on walks or while I’m driving to or from a shoot. I try to take different routes as much as possible to possibly discover something that feels right. I will mark the locations, take photos on my phone, figure out when the best lighting may be, go home and then sketch out a concept in my notebook and go from there. I try to setup to shoot around twilight to capture some ambient and then continue until It’s too dark to see, which can be tricky at times navigating out of the woods or through the fields while trying to avoid holes, puddles, thorns, spiders, anthills etc.
What shapes are the light sources?
My sources are a variation of LED panel lights, tubes and other “light brushes” I have created over the past couple years to achieve different results. Some are square. Some are large rectangles, others are spherical, I have a couple I can attach to my heavy lift drone and fly, others are color changing.
Is this commission or personal work?
As of now this has been a personal endeavor which I have began to intertwine with commissioned work when applicable.
Will you continue this series? Yes, there is a larger gallery here but even that is a small portion of the collection that has been created and continues to grow and evolve.
Who printed it?
Rebekah Smithson at My Clear Story https://myclearstory.com/
rsmithson@myclearstory.com
(858) 526.3600
Who designed it?
Richard Haynie : he’s designed a few books for me over the years. http://www.hayniedesign.com/
(480) 734-4371
I think it’s important to note that 50 year Grand Canyon veteran guide, author, boat builder and Grand Canyon historian Brad Dimock contributed the opening. He’s story teller and gives great interviews. https://fretwaterboatworks.com/
(928) 853-2007
Tell me about your promo.
I’ve been working on this project for 8 seasons in the Grand Canyon. I didn’t plan on it. It just sort of evolved once I discovered that I could hold on, stay in the boat and shoot the drama of these veteran rowing in the biggest whitewater in North America. I’ve been perfectIng the equipment and my technique on each trip.
These days I use a Sony A7 R III with an Aquatech Housing.
Most rapids have 8 to 15 seconds of high drama and I typically shoot 50 to 150 frames looking for one moment. Serendipity and making my own luck play a key role in the outcome.
I spend a whole day with one guide going through a number of rapids just trying to get one image of them.
Now many of the guides I’ve photographed have become friends and they support my project by giving me opportunities. I typically do 1 to 3 trips per season. I usually drop everything when someone calls me to be an assistant on a Grand Canyon River trip.
How many times a year do you send out promos?
One promo distributed throughout the year as needed.
Do you think printed promos are effective for marketing your work?
Yes but I can’t tell from this particular promo. It has generated awareness but not any tangible jobs.
It was called, “When ‘Keeping It Real’ Goes Wrong.”
Man, was it twisted.
The gist is, sometimes you dig yourself in so deep, worrying about how you’re perceived, protecting your rep, that you can go down with the ship, rather than saving your skin.
(Or so I recall. I’m posting a Youtube clip here.)
The skit pops into my mind, because Dave has been in the news again recently, this time threatening to remove $65 million in proposed investments, from the Ohio town in which he lives, because he was opposed to the low-income portion of an impending housing project.
Was it really that it was going to be near his backyard?
Overall, just a bad look, and another picked battle against groups he could just as easily support, if he were still cool.
(Like the trans community. Give it a rest trolling them, please, Dave.)
Still, a buddy recommended I watch Dave’s most recent Netflix comedy special, so I could see what all the fuss was about.
(I haven’t done it yet, because I just remembered the suggestion now, as I was typing.)
The same friend told me to watch the Italian mafia show “Gomorrah,” since I was re-watching “The Sopranos,” and he thought the former show to be superior.
Courtesy of IMDB
Speaking of superior, that was the attitude I took with him, in our conversation.
“How could ‘The Sopranos’ not be better? It’s art! One of the best shows ever!”
Mea culpa.
I already sent the apology text, as “Gomorrah,” set in Napoli, (where I once got robbed,) is flat-out-dynamite.
Gripping stuff.
My buddy had implied characters on “The Sopranos” were really caricatures, over-acted or under-acted parts that conform to our stereotypical beliefs.
The killers in “Gomorrah” are more clearly anti-social, but also victims of larger cultural circumstances.
The life is both more brutal, and less glamorized, if that makes sense.
This friend was always telling me the guys he grew up with, in a Mafia neighborhood, were proper hard men.
And that’s how these dudes roll in the Camorra, if this show is to be believed.
They “Keep it Real” for sure.
The subject’s been coming up a lot for me lately.
Just a few weeks ago, my son began making Hip Hop music on the app Rap Chat, and his younger sister followed.
At this point, the stuff he’s recording is pretty amazing, and I say that as an honest critic.
He wanted feedback, and I gave it, because a couple of his early efforts, (after a charming breakthrough song,) were seemingly written by another person.
Theo rapped about things that were simply untrue, and touched on inappropriate subjects, which did not come from his own life.
He earned it, by being self-reflective, taking criticism, and then working hard on his craft, 7 days a week, since he discovered the passion.
When you find your voice, in art, it can come in an instant, or in a slower gurgle.
Speaking of “Keeping It Real,” this morning, as I was groaning about being super-brain-fried, Jessie joked I should “Keep It Real.”
Just review a good book; one that didn’t need me to say anything at all.
For something new, just go with:
“Here’s a good book.
Enjoy!”
(I mean, there’s a first time for everything.)
Imagine me, doing a simple, short article and leaving the book to speak for itself?
I grabbed a book from March 2021, assuming it was about as old as I’ve got in the stack, and sure enough, it connected directly to last week’s column.
(I had no idea what it was about, so it’s just good luck.)
Thankfully, I unboxed “Party Pictures,” a terrific 2020 production, featuring a lesser-known series by long-time Philadelphia artist, and college professor William Earle Williams, published in honor of a solo exhibition he had at The Print Center back in 2011.
I was unfamiliar with the work, but the book offered context right away, both with a compact, well-written, info-dense opening statement by Print Center ED Elizabeth Spungen, and then a longer, academic-style-essay by John Caperton, who’d curated the 2011 exhibition.
The reading set the scene, and also gave historical info about William Earle Williams, as he was a history major in college, who then went on to get an MFA at Yale, upon the advice of his one-time friend Walker Evans.
If ever there were a book to present, without all the bells and whistles of my review style, this would be the one.
The pictures are great.
The cover is gorgeous, and the writings set up the awesome plates.
Who wouldn’t be fascinated, in 2022, by a stark, contrasty set of images of Philadelphia, Main Line, Blue Blood, old-money-high-society-types, at the apex of their power, in the 70’s and 80’s?
(All made by a young, Black photographer wearing a tuxedo.)
The artist set up a long-term project by sending out introduction letters, getting offers to photograph the parties, and then tracking the scene through the society page in the newspapers, so he’d know where to turn up.
Some affairs crossed cultural lines, but most did not.
Is that Frank Sinatra?
Brooke Shields?
Andy Warhol?
Yes, yes, and yes.
As to the connection to last week’s review, the opening text tells us Philly had, and has, a long history of private clubs, and The Print Center, in fact, used to be The Print Club.
Some were anti-Semitic, so Philly news magnate Walter Annenberg, and his buddies, needed to open up their own clubs, having been rejected from others.
That said, after the writing, and the well-constructed images, there is also the design to note, as the photos change size, and some layouts create a sense of movement by using repetition.
The end brings us an informative Q&A between the artist and Edith Newhall, a famed Philly art critic, which gives a sense of his personality, history, and connection to his forebears.
(William Earle Williams definitely comes across as a humble, cool guy.)
The caption pages at the back give additional context, (for those who care to keep reading,) and are organized by cute, little thumbnail photos.
If you’d like to submit a book for potential review, please email me at jonathanblaustein@gmail.com. We are particularly interested in books by artists of color, and female photographers, so we may maintain a balanced program. And please be advised, we currently have a significant backlog of books for review.
The Art of the Personal Project is a crucial element to let potential buyers see how you think creatively on your own. I am drawn to personal projects that have an interesting vision or that show something I have never seen before. In this thread, I’ll include a link to each personal project with the artist statement so you can see more of the project. Please note: This thread is not affiliated with any company; I’m just featuring projects that I find. Please DO NOT send me your work. I do not take submissions.
In February 2020, the world as we once knew it, ended. We began to interact with family, friends and loved ones differently because of COVID-19. First emerging from the city markets in conurbation Wuhan, China, the imposing new city of nearly eight million people, the COVID-19 virus, a highly contagious new strain from the microbial family coronavirus, wreaked havoc with the human body. Coronaviruses range from the common cold to more exotic diseases such as Severe Acute Respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS). COVID-19, discovered and identified in 2019 (hence its number), targets the cells of the major organs, brain—heart—liver—kidneys and, most particularly, the lungs. The lung is immunologically defenseless against the destructive strength of the virus and the lungs are quickly destroyed. By the end of December 2020, Covid-19 is estimated to claim between 2 to 2.5 million victims worldwide.
From the beginning of time, millions of lives have been mortally affected by this-flu-strain or that-virus-strain. Recent pandemics that have included the Hong Kong Flu, the Spanish Flu, the Asian Flu, Swine Flu, the Black Death Flu as well as infections linked to Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) and Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). Covid-19 is our generation’s life changing war against microbes. The contemporary world is suffering the mental, emotional, physical and financial scares and losses of Covid-19. As scientists, leaders and intellectuals continued scrambling for answers, the death projections will expand deep into the millions. Fear outlined the mindset of most sensible human beings. In 2020, all children, all adults, everyone from every country speaking every language, learned to spell QUARANTINE.
APE contributor Suzanne Sease currently works as a consultant for photographers and illustrators around the world. She has been involved in the photography and illustration industry since the mid 80s. After establishing the art-buying department at The Martin Agency, then working for Kaplan-Thaler, Capital One, Best Buy and numerous smaller agencies and companies, she decided to be a consultant in 1999. She has a new Twitter feed with helpful marketing information because she believes that marketing should be driven by brand and not by specialty. Follow her at @SuzanneSease. Instagram
Success is more than a matter of your talent. It’s also a matter of doing a better job presenting it. And that is what I do with decades of agency and in-house experience.
Who printed it?
Mixam, a friend of mine printed a mini portfolio with them a couple years ago and I really liked quality.
Who designed it?
A friend and mentor helped me decide the sequential order of photos, and I designed the layout in Adobe InDesign. I have a BFA in photography, but earned a minor in graphic design. I am no expert, but I can design simple things here and there 🙂
Tell me about the images.
The images were from various shoots over the past year or so. Many, but not all, were from test shoots. I love the freedom that testing brings and really enjoy collaborating with other creatives in my field to make our personal visions come to life. I work with prop stylists and food stylists on all of my test shoots and believe the final images are very much part of a team effort. I wanted the images in this booklet to tell a story, not just showcase pretty settings. Story telling through food is so interesting to me. Seeing the farm where it’s grown, to the chef turning into something delicious, to the final product, to the table scene where it’s being enjoyed, to the final crumbs of the last piece of pie is thrilling.
How many did you make?
I printed 100 copies.
How many times a year do you send out promos?
My goal is to send printed promos twice per year and email promos four times per year.
Do you think printed promos are effective for marketing your work?
I do. I acknowledge we are moving faster and faster into a digital world where printed marketing materials and printed works in general are growing obsolete. This saddens me because I appreciate the tangible. I love feeling the coating of the paper, flipping the pages, looking at it in different light, appreciating the way different types of paper accept ink, etc. I believe there are still creatives in the industry who feel the same way, and these are the people I hope receive my promos. Printed cookbooks and printed magazines such as Martha Stewart Living, Better Homes & Gardens, Food & Wine, and Cooking Light are dream clients of mine. I want the promos I send to resemble the type of work I’d like to shoot, in the format that it would be seen.
It’s not surprising, as Trumpism, and the right-wing in general, have been ascendant the last five years, and those cats are big on hating “the other.”
So while we’ve all become familiar with the term BIPOC, and saw the anti-racism protest movement thrive, in the wake of George Floyd’s murder, there has been no concomitant popular movement to combat anti-Semitism.
I wonder why?
The Jews are a small ethnic/religious group, relative to most other cultures in the world.
Though Christianity and Islam were both born from our religion, those two groups actively sought converts, over the last two thousand + years, and grew their numbers with purpose.
Judaism, on the other hand, makes it difficult to convert, as we consider ourselves the “Chosen People,” and there has never been an active movement to grow the religion’s population.
So while Christians and Muslims range in the billions, there are only 15 + million Jews in the world, and we’re a minority in every country on Earth, save Israel.
(All because my ancestors, ever the rebels, were dumb enough to stand up to the Roman Empire, and were kicked out of their homeland as punishment.)
Monty Python’s “Life of Brian” image courtesy of FilmPublicityArchive/United Archives via Getty Images
Like Cain, doomed to wander the world with an obvious mark, Jews tried to make homes in other places, ever the outsiders.
And though contemporary culture deems us “white,” and is therefore skeptical of the roots of anti-Semitism, it’s only recently that most Jews have assimilated, dressing and acting as others do.
The Orthodox members of the religion, however, many of whom dress in heavy black suits, with odd haircuts, big hats, and women who cover all their skin beyond the face, (a slight variation on Islam’s burqa,) stick out like sore thumbs wherever they go.
They’re easy targets, as “the other,” and of course before the 2nd half of the 20th Century, (and into the 21st,) most Jews dressed like that wherever they were.
Which made them targets of pogroms, (murderous riots,) ghettoization, and discrimination, much as so many are mistreated today because of the color of their skin, their gender identity, or sexual preference.
A Jewish Pogrom in Frankfurt in 1819, courtesy of Wikipedia
One would imagine all historically marginalized cultures would band together, but when it comes to the Jews, somehow, we don’t typically make the cut.
Not to mention when I went my cousin’s Bat Mitzvah in New Jersey in April 2019, there was an armed guard at the door.
Honestly, before the last 5 months, I don’t think I’ve ever written about anti-Semitism in the column, and this is now the third time it’s come up since.
(Even three years ago, I was joking I’d rather be know as a Jewish-American than a “white guy,” and I’d have to think hard about that these days.)
From where I stand, all people are worthy of kindness and respect, as long as that’s how they treat others.
It’s easy to demonize certain Red-State cultural traits, (and I have,) but over my decade + writing here, I’ve also attempted to empathize with people who were vanquished in War, and then had to make nice with the victors, as the South did.)
Empathy, kindness and respect are the opposite of hatred, blame, and vilification.
So while I’m under no illusion my column will change hearts and minds, I take this platform seriously, and wanted to challenge the increasingly popular notion that it’s OK to dislike, or denigrate Jews, because we “run the world.”
Growing up, I heard plenty of big-nose jokes, or pick-up-the-penny insults, and everyone knew which Country Clubs were No Jews Allowed. (Not that we belonged to a Country Club.)
They even had a nickname for it: NJA.
These days, my own brother is as assimilated into wealthy, conservative Christian culture as any Jew has ever been, including all the trappings: Catholic School, tennis, golf, Country Clubs, hobnobbing with Upper Class Republicans.
You name it.
But we both began as a couple of Suburban Jewish kids, raised by the same parents, all those years ago.
I admit, this wasn’t the opening I was planning.
But I went for a walk, (as I often do to get the blood flowing,) and this is where we landed.
Right before I left, heading out into the white snow, blue sky, and ice-covered dirt roads, I looked at a photo book.
Walking in the snow
Which one, you ask?
Good question.
This morning, I went to the book stack, and looked for the oldest submission I could find.
I’ve told you it often takes a year for me to review a book, these days, and sure enough, I found a submission from Carole Glauber, in Israel, sent in February 2021.
“Personal History” was published by Daylight in 2020, and features an opening essay by the Israeli photographer Elinor Carucci, (who’s based in the US,) to give immediate context.
Unlike Rich-Joseph Facun’s book last week, this one sets the scene straight away, and then lets the pictures do the rest of the work, until a series of afterwords at the end.
And what is the book about?
Carole Glauber, a photographer and photo historian, raised her two Jewish boys in America, and I believe she is American herself, though she currently lives in Israel. (I could be wrong, of course, as the book doesn’t specify.)
She used a 1950’s Kodak Brownie camera to document her sons as they grew, which lends a dreamy, soft-focus haze to most of the images.
It’s a look, for sure, and represents a structural metaphor for the way our brains represent memories, which are rarely, if ever, as sharp and clear as a top-shelf lens on a medium format digital camera.
That’s the gist of the book, anyway.
But how does it function?
Elinor Carucci’s essay mentions her kids are nearly 15, and she’s begun to fret about how soon they’d be leaving the nest, after her 18 years with them.
My son is four months away from High School, so of course I’ve been having similar feelings of anxiety, wondering how we got here so fast?
(Did we though? The first two years of the pandemic felt like 5 years, so perhaps I’ve gotten extra time with him, experientially.)
In Carole Glauber’s photographs, there are time jumps, of course, as her boys go from very young to young men, and I was able to recognize settings like Italy and Oregon, though I’m not quite sure where they were raised.
(The Grand Canyon makes an appearance too. Who hasn’t created extra-vivid memories with their children on vacation?)
At one point, we see a Bar Mitzvah image, and her son Sam wearing a yarmulke.
They do not hide their Jewishness, though when I was growing up, that was still common, as the scars of the Holocaust were still so evident.
One of my Dad’s relatives had a concentration camp tattoo on his arm, and I never, ever forgot that my people had nearly been annihilated.
(To be clear, the one culture in which Jews most assimilated before the US was Germany, and we all know how well that worked out.)
In general, I don’t care or think much about Whoopi Goldberg, and haven’t since I saw her in “Jumpin’ Jack Flash.”
But I sure has hell got offended when I read her recent words.
One group’s suffering should make them more empathetic and supportive of others who’ve shared a fate, but it rarely seems to work out like that.
(Again, I’ve written several times I don’t support Israel’s apartheid policies towards Palestine, though I don’t think either side has ever looked good, stewing in their respective hatred.)
This book pulled at my heart strings a few times, but not as much as I anticipated, because I think the concept is stronger than the images.
Photographs made in the snapshot aesthetic can still lean heavily on elements of technique: great compositions, lighting, color palettes, dynamism, and such.
I found these to be OK, for the most part, but rarely more than good.
(With a few exceptions.)
In the end, after the artist’s afterword, each son, Ben and Sam, writes a piece about their reaction to the book.
I was amazed how their differing personalities came through.
One was circumspect and brief, the other hyper-specific, and perhaps a tad insecure, wanting the audience to know he could dissect art, and understand its intricacies.
It really is amazing how it works like that.
Siblings, growing up with the same parents, sharing so much genetically, can sometimes become so different, they can no longer relate to one another.
But I suppose the future has not yet been written.
If you’d like to submit a book for potential review, please email me at jonathanblaustein@gmail.com. We are particularly interested in books by artists of color, and female photographers, so we may maintain a balanced program. And please be advised, we currently have a significant backlog of books for review.
The Art of the Personal Project is a crucial element to let potential buyers see how you think creatively on your own. I am drawn to personal projects that have an interesting vision or that show something I have never seen before. In this thread, I’ll include a link to each personal project with the artist statement so you can see more of the project. Please note: This thread is not affiliated with any company; I’m just featuring projects that I find. Please DO NOT send me your work. I do not take submissions.
Late at night, if you look at the houses, streetlights and silhouetted palm trees on our block in Los Angeles, you could get the impression that it’s 1947 – that our street is a film noir landscape.
The houses in our neighborhood were originally built in the 1930’s and 40’s and many of them have retained their original facades: The Spanish bungalow with the red tile roof, the stucco box with aluminum awnings and the traditional California cottage with oversized plantation shutters. The streetlights are from the 1920’s…single, upright electrolier with fluted shafts and acorn-shaped globes.
And when the fog rolls in, as it does on occasion, the eeriness is magnified. The shadows are deeper, the moon is brighter and the palm trees are even more ominous.
APE contributor Suzanne Sease currently works as a consultant for photographers and illustrators around the world. She has been involved in the photography and illustration industry since the mid 80s. After establishing the art-buying department at The Martin Agency, then working for Kaplan-Thaler, Capital One, Best Buy and numerous smaller agencies and companies, she decided to be a consultant in 1999. She has a new Twitter feed with helpful marketing information because she believes that marketing should be driven by brand and not by specialty. Follow her at @SuzanneSease. Instagram
Success is more than a matter of your talent. It’s also a matter of doing a better job presenting it. And that is what I do with decades of agency and in-house experience.
Heidi: How long did you work on this project, New York City 70s? and what was your process for shooting? ( did you walk everyday? was your camera always with you?) Leland: I never really considered my 70’s NYC street photos of Times Square, The Bowery and general NYC to be a “project”. It is a collection of photos of street scenes that I felt compelled to capture. I moved into Manhattan in 1974 and my main interest was playing drums in a band that was part of the CBGB’s scene. Photography was a hobby at that point. To support myself during this time I drove a taxi and spent hours on the streets observing the different neighborhoods. I didn’t bring a camera with me when I was driving because it would have been an easy target for a thief. Remember, this was the 70’s in NYC. Whenever I was going anywhere outside of driving a cab, I had my camera with me. Often, I would just go out with my camera either on foot or on by bicycle looking for things to shoot. For much of my Times Square work at that time I used a 28mm lens pre-focused at about 5-6 feet, while holding the camera at my waist and firing off shots as I walked by. I also used an 80-200 zoom when I didn’t want to get to close. 40 years later I realized that I had a collection of images of a period time in NYC that no longer existed. Times Square turned in to Las Disney and The Bowery turned into high end condos and restaurants. I showed these images to a curator at the Museum of the City of New York and they took 18 images into their permanent collection.
I loved the umbrella story, did you go out in all rain events in NYC and what drew you to the shape and visual appeal of the discarded umbrella?What attracted me to shoot discarded umbrellas on the street was not so much the shape of the umbrellas but seeing this discarded object on the street while life continued to hustle by this inanimate object. Many of these photos were shot at shutter speeds slow enough to capture the feeling of motion to illustrate this without total blurs usually at about a 30th or a 15th of a second. I would go out and look for these umbrellas after a rainy, windy day when umbrellas would get destroyed. I brought a portfolio of these over to Modern Photography Magazine and they ran a story titled Stormy Weather which was the first time I had any of my photos published.
When do you know a project is “done”? Good question. I know a project is done when I feel like I’ve been there, done that or I feel as if I’ve said all I need to say. I just know when it’s time to move on.
What have you been working on lately? The most recent photo project I finished was a collection of B&W street photos of NYC during the Covid lockdown in the spring of 2020. I titled this project Public Isolation. I have lived in Manhattan for 45 years and I’d never seen anything like this before. The streets were empty and quiet. I tried to captured photos with just 1 person in the frame to illustrate isolation. The museum of The City of NY is currently in the process of making selections for their permanent collection.
I’m currently working a music video of a song I wrote and recorded titled Don’t Know When (2020) incorporating my NYC lockdown photos and NYC Black Lives Matter protest photos shot by Mychal Watts.
What would you tell your younger self about photography as a career? I’d tell myself that it ain’t easy. I’ve been through numerous reinventions and phases over the years and have learned and that one must keep evolving. It’s really important as a commercial photographer to develop a personal style and to shoot personal work to keep the creative juices flowing.
This feels different though. (And on a smaller scale, obviously.)
All week, I’ve been trying to figure out: Why this article?
Why now, after all these years of writing for you?
Last Thursday, on a whim, I decided to write a super-long-read, sharing much of what I’ve learned about the photo-book publishing industry.
I’ve been a critic here for 10.5 years, have produced photo-books for clients since 2017, and made my own book over the course of 2019-20.
I have a lot of experience, from a variety of perspectives, and providing that inside info, for free, seems to have struck a nerve.
The publishing industry is opaque, yet so many artists want books, so shining a light on true practices, while also inspiring creativity, (rather than just focusing on the business-side,) felt like the right gesture to make.
And I did it for you.
Therefore, I was thrilled to know I’d been of help, and my advice was beneficial to others.
That’s always been the backbone of this website.
Industry professionals share knowledge, and try to help the community that supports us.
(Big ups to our leader, Rob Haggart, for building the platform, and supporting his team so well.)
Because photo-books can cost so much money, and take a lot of effort to make, (in addition to resources,) it seemed silly so few photographers know the reality of the industry.
What used to be termed “vanity publishing,” or “pay-to-play,” is now just the way business is done.
If few publishers can make money selling books, artists should not see their projects as profit-generating ventures, in general.
I mentioned there were exceptions, and Iain Sarjeant, of Another Place Press in Scotland, tweeted me that he doesn’t charge photographers for book production, and offers royalties.
I also once heard my former collaborator, Alejandro Cartagena, tell an online audience he’s gamed the system, taking the proceeds from one book to make another, so he manages to come out ahead.
But these are primarily exceptions to the rule.
Many people got excited that I shared realistic $$$ numbers.
By including potential costs, and setting up a ladder, from the cheapest ‘zines to expensive, fabric-bound, European-printed, high-end productions, I wanted to give photographers a real idea of their potential options.
Based upon the feedback I’ve received, folks appreciated the way I laid it out.
(Again, I’m honored to have been of service.)
So today, to get the book-review-portion of the column up and running again, I’ll focus on a really well-made book, that took the now-typical route into existence, and made it worthwhile.
He’s based in the Southern Ohio portion of Appalachia, and Fall Line is in Atlanta, so this is a Southern production through and through.
(I did receive one email from a reader claiming I’m biased against the South, which I believe is untrue. Yes, I criticize “Red State” politics, but Trumpism and the South are not the same thing.)
I told Rich-Joseph I was interested, after perusing his .pdf, but it would take a while to get around to the review.
Fortunately, I had the opportunity to interview him for the PhotoNOLA Virtual Book Fair, and he shared a lot of information about his family, life, and book-making process.
As to the book, “Black Diamonds,” Rich-Joseph built up his photographic practice over many years, first as a photojournalist.
(Making imagery more typically associated with fine art photography was new for him.)
Therefore, he worked like crazy to get things right.
He did a Kickstarter campaign, raised the funds, and printed in Barcelona.
To reiterate, if a book like this is going to cost a lot of money to produce, (as I wrote last week,) you better have a damn good reason for doing it, and give your all to make it as great as it can possibly be.
RJF confirmed, in our interview, that was his approach.
As to the book’s theme, though he is a Southern guy, and has lived all over, Rich-Joseph moved to Athens, Ohio for a university job.
Then he used this series to get out and about in his community, to see what made it tick, to meet people, and have an art project to occupy his time and mind as he drove around his world each day.
From the embossed, fabric cover, replete with a cool graphic, to the catchy poem that opens the book, a viewer is given the expectation it’s a serious offering.
And so it is.
As I wrote last week, one can tell the story straight away in words, to set the context, or wait until the end, once the pictures have led the way.
This book opts for the latter strategy, and I can understand why.
Though I might have trimmed the edit just a bit, (were I in charge,) the square photographs inside are moody, well-crafted, dramatic, consistent, and truly give a sense of place.
They’re stunning, in a grim sort of way.
And yes, there is a lot of poverty, for which Appalachia is well known. (The culture is elegantly described in an ending essay by Alison Stine.)
We see oddities, such as the dancing monkey, and camo-clad boys who don’t seem like the sharpest knives in the rack.
Some subjects confront the camera; others look away.
But overall, the tone is not one of condescension, nor does it seem like the work of a total outsider.
The photographs are quite beautiful, and as there are no design bells and whistles within the edit, they’re good enough to hold one’s attention, which is a hard thing to do.
Then, in the Epilogue, after Alison Stine’s essay, we get a slightly art-speaky statement by RJF, and a heart-felt, loving thank-you page, paying respect to his family and community.
Three historical photos round out the book, and honestly, the whole thing is really well-thought-out.
It’s an example of how to do it right, if you’re going all in.
So to wrap it up today, (as last week’s 2700 words still weigh heavily on my consciousness,) not all photo projects need to end up as expensive books.
There are so many ways to make an artistic, publishing object out of your favorite (or current) series.
Please don’t go broke to make a book, nor do it just to do it.
But if you’re going for it, I’d suggest you make it worth your while.
If you’d like to submit a book for potential review, please email me at jonathanblaustein@gmail.com. We are particularly interested in books by artists of color, and female photographers, so we may maintain a balanced program. And please be advised, we currently have a significant backlog of books for review.
The Art of the Personal Project is a crucial element to let potential buyers see how you think creatively on your own. I am drawn to personal projects that have an interesting vision or that show something I have never seen before. In this thread, I’ll include a link to each personal project with the artist statement so you can see more of the project. Please note: This thread is not affiliated with any company; I’m just featuring projects that I find. Please DO NOT send me your work. I do not take submissions.
Today’s featured artist: Kendrick Brinson of Brinson+Banks
NOTE: This is on-going personal project I have featured before as it is so wonderful to see the project continue to grow with this extraordinary group of retirees.
I have been returning to take photos of the residents of Sun City, Arizona, an age-restricted community of 40,000 retirees, since December 2009 now. When Sun City first opened in 1960, it was the first place of its kind–a place for people who had spent their lives working and raising children to move to with the intention of playing and learning and socializing. It offered a new way to grow old. I love this idea of being more intentional with our time, exploring what makes us feel good, and looking forward to life in our later years.
Until last month, my last trip to Sun City was for National Geographic as I photographed and interviewed residents during COVID lockdown in the late summer of 2020. In December of 2021, I decided it was time for me to go back again to see how life had picked back up once residents were vaccinated and the more than 100 clubs had opened back up. This trip, I focused the majority of my time documenting the Sun City Poms—a granny cheerleading squad whose ages range from 59 to 89. I followed the women through a parade rehearsal, their annual holiday luncheon and party, and then as Mary, who is 80 and the current longest member of the Poms at 21 years, got dressed in her sequined uniform, then to a holiday parade, and a performance for a 100 year old’s birthday at a VFW.
While I am always grateful and excited to be taking photos for my editorial and advertising clients, so much of the past two years has been fraught–COVID testing, masking, prioritizing photography outdoors when possible–this has indeed offered beautiful glimpses into life right now, but it has felt more distanced than I’d like. I’ve felt more disconnected from the people I get to photograph and this trip back to Sun City reminded me so much of why I love what I do–I love listening to and connecting and creating with people. Essentially, I sent myself back to Sun City in December to capture joy and community and I found it there while photographing these amazing women. It felt healing in a way.
I hope to make my ongoing personal project on retirement in Sun City into a book in the future.
Sharon Word, 82, drives her convertible VW bug she bought for herself for her 50th birthday years before.Kathy Villa, 65, left, Poms Marching Director, presents Ginger Price, right, with a birthday cake for her 89th birthday at the Pom’s annual holiday party at Sharon Word’s home in Sun City Arizona December 9, 2021. They asked Ginger what her birthday wish was and she replied, “I wish I’m still a pom when Im 90!”The Sun City Poms rehearse before a parade in Sun City Arizona, December 9, 2021.The Sun City Poms, including Sharon Word (center), 82 rehearse a routine together at the The Marinette Recreation Center in Sun City Arizona December 9, 2021. The Sun City Poms currently have 28 members ranging from 58 to 89 years old.
Members of the Sun City Poms hold hands and pray before marching in the Christmas in the Park holiday parade in Litchfield Park, Arizona December 11, 2021.The Poms, including Greta Paulsen, 73, center, march down the street in formation in the Christmas in the Park holiday parade in Litchfield Park, Arizona December 11, 2021. Paulsen said it “feels wonderful” to be able to march and perform together again. Afterword, Majorette Mary Zirbel, 80, said “that’s the best parade I’ve been in since I don’t know when.”
APE contributor Suzanne Sease currently works as a consultant for photographers and illustrators around the world. She has been involved in the photography and illustration industry since the mid 80s. After establishing the art-buying department at The Martin Agency, then working for Kaplan-Thaler, Capital One, Best Buy and numerous smaller agencies and companies, she decided to be a consultant in 1999. She has a new Twitter feed with helpful marketing information because she believes that marketing should be driven by brand and not by specialty. Follow her at @SuzanneSease. Instagram
Success is more than a matter of your talent. It’s also a matter of doing a better job presenting it. And that is what I do with decades of agency and in-house experience.
Licensing: Unlimited use of all images captured in North America for one year
Photographer: Lifestyle and portraiture specialist
Agency: Healthcare marketing specialists
Client: Pharmaceutical company
Here is the estimate:
Fees: At the onset of the project, the scope was based around 4 talent interacting and participating in lifestyle activities in and around a residential property. We anticipated three unique setups over the course of one day, however, we did not have a specific shot list to work with. While the agency requested unlimited use for one year, we knew the images would primarily be used for very targeted advertising, mostly web-based, and likely used within printed collateral pieces. Given the duration of just one year, I decided to price the three scenarios at $3,500 each, and I added a $2,000 creative fee. Based on previous experience, I knew the agency would be looking for a creative/licensing fee somewhere between 10-15k, and we were told the budget was initially tight, so we ultimately landed on $12,500. We included a tech/scout day at $1,000 for the photographer, and we included $750 for them to attend a wardrobe fitting day as well, which was specifically requested by the agency.
Crew: We knew this would likely require some heavy lifting and a lot of moving parts, so we included a producer along with a PA, as well as two assistants and a digital tech, at rates that were appropriate for the given market.
Styling: We included a hair/makeup stylist along with an assistant, and we combined the roles of the wardrobe and prop styling into one lead stylist with two assistants. At this point in the project, it seemed reasonable to combine these roles not only because the photographer had a stylist in mind that he was confident could handle it, but it was also a strategy to reduce the headcount on set, which is a covid compliance protocol we always try to implement. We made sure to include enough shopping time and extra days for attendance of a wardrobe fitting day prior to the shoot. We anticipate two outfits for each of the four talents and based the wardrobe costs on $300 per outfit. We included $4,000 for props but marked it as TBD since we didn’t have a clear sense as to what the exact needs would be at the onset of the project. Additionally, we included $750 for kit fees, shipping, and miscellaneous styling expenses.
Health and Safety: We included a covid compliance officer for both the shoot, tech/scout day and wardrobe fitting day. Additionally, we included one Covid test per attendee, as well as a few hundred dollars for PPE/supplies.
Locations: We had a general sense of the type of house that was needed, however, we also sensed that the client would be quite picky. We included what we felt was ample scouting days plus a location fee that would more than cover such a location in this market. We also included $500 as a location fee for the wardrobe fitting, as we’d need a location for that to take place.
Casting and Talent: I included $1,500 for casting, which was based on local knowledge of a casting agent who I knew would be able to cover our needs for that amount of money. Considering covid, rather than a live casting, they remotely collect virtual auditions that talent record themselves, with our casting director’s guidance. The agency planned to cover all talent fees, so we made sure to make a note of that.
Equipment: We made sure to include photographic equipment along with a workstation for our digital tech and production supplies. Throughout the pandemic, I’ve increased line items for production supplies considering the additional items needed to have a safe set (more tables/chairs to spread out, fans for airflow, etc.) in addition to normal items like tents and walkies.
Vehicles: While the house could possibly serve as a staging area, we included a production RV to help spread out and provide a dedicated styling area.
Catering: I included $70 per person for a light breakfast and lunch that would also conform to our covid protocols.
Misc.: I included $750 for insurance (however we did not know the policy limits at this point required by the agency), as well as added funds for miscellaneous expenses that might arise throughout the production.
Post Production: The agency planned to handle retouching, so this just included the photographer’s time to transfer the content to a hard drive and hand it over.
Results: The project was awarded to the photographer. During the pre-production process, a new concept came to light that would necessitate an additional day of shooting. We compiled another estimate to serve as an overage request that contained similar line items to the initial estimate but accounted for an additional day. The overage request for this new concept totaled approximately $60k, and that estimate was also approved.
Need help estimating or producing a project? Please reach out. We’re available to help with any and all pricing and negotiating needs, from small stock sales to large ad campaigns.
Design Director: Elias Carlson Photographer:Sashwa Burrous Writer: Lindsey Browne Davis
Heidi: How long have you lived in CA and when did your relationship with good fire begin?
Sashwa: I was born and raised in rural Sonoma County, California, Coast Miwok / Southern Pomo territory, and grew up just two ridges over from where I live now in Occidental. A tiny town nestled in the redwoods, not too far from the coast. My interest in “good fire” started in 2017 when Sonoma County saw record breaking wildfires, taking out entire neighborhoods, blanketing the entire county in smoke for weeks on end and waking a lot of us up to the reality that we are all living within a fire adapted landscape here in Northern California. I quickly realized that if I wanted to continue to live here in California I would need to learn to be in better relationship with fire. My interest in fire led me to start shooting a prescribed fire course with Fire Forward in Santa Rosa. Through photographing the course as a personal project, I began to learn both the skills needed to photograph wildfires along with how to reintroduce good fire back onto my own land where I live in Occidental.
Was this a personal project?
A majority of the images you see in this story I made on my own time. I found myself really inspired after every burn. I would come away with a ton of ideas, excited to sit down and edit what I just shot, a feeling you don’t get on every shoot. I have learned that when you feel that spark of creativity, to lean into it. Oftentimes “personal projects” are where an artist’s most powerful work comes from. The trick is then how to integrate this passion into “client work” so you can put food on the table.
After sharing stories with Lindsey Browne Davis, an outdoorswomen writer and good friend, we came up with a story about fire and water and how these two elements interact and relate to each other. We pitched it to Modern Huntsman for their Water Issue, the story got approved and was sponsored by Mystery Ranch.
What was your training like for this? Was the desire twofold; to be of help and gain access in order to document?
After shooting a few wildfires I realized that in order to do this safely I really needed to look into getting some formal training. Not only did I want to make sure I was safe when shooting the fires, I also wanted to be in service to my community and deepen my relationship to the land I am stewarding. I learned a lot from photographing the prescribed fire course with Fire Forward but I wanted to take it a step further. I signed up for and completed my FFT2 (Wildland Firefighter Type II) training in 2020. This course is the first step in becoming a Wildland firefighter and is required for a majority of the prescribed burns I attend. The training was really interesting and helped me understand how to read the wind, clouds, and topography, all important lessons in situational awareness. What are a few of the challenging aspects of photographing fires?
Personal safety and health are probably the most challenging and important aspects of shooting fires, especially wildfires. There is a lot of gear (Personal Protective Equipment) that is necessary as well and knowledge on how to get yourself into the right position. This sometimes means driving hours through dangerous roads to get to the other side of the fire because the wind changed slightly.
The smoke alone can be a huge challenge. After 3-4 days of shooting in conditions of 400+PPM in the air you can’t help but think how this is affecting your personal health. As a new father I often question whether or not I should continue chasing these stories. During fire season, I literally have the truck packed and ready to go at all times. If there is a local fire, I often have to leave the family with short notice to get the shots I need. This is exhilarating but also hard on my health and on my family.
In relation to photography specifically another challenge is the speed in which you need to move. Oftentimes you literally have seconds to pull out your camera, compose and make an image before needing to get yourself to a safer place. It’s a stark contrast from the commercial work I often do in studios where we spend hours perfecting every aspect of each image we’re creating.
I know you also have an interest in the power of the ocean, how are they different and similar in your creative approach to meeting them? In my experience there are far more similarities than differences. The first that comes to mind is that with both elements humility is key. When interacting with the ocean and with fires, you learn really quickly that you are not in charge. Instead you learn to slow down and observe. For instance, when I show up to the beach to shoot a surf sequence, the first step is to watch the ocean, observe the wind and current to ensure it’s safe to go out with the camera. Similarly, before a prescribed fire you take time to observe and analyze wind patterns, like wind direction – is it a dry (offshore) east wind or a wet (onshore) western wind coming off the coast. These factors play a huge role in whether or not it’s safe to carry out the burn. What I love about shooting in both of these elements is you never know what you are going to get. They are both complex and unpredictable which keeps me inspired and curious to learn more
Who printed it?
The postcards were printed by Moo and the box was printed by Packlane.
Who designed it? Nicole A. Yang designed the postcards and the box. She did my logo and branding several years ago, so I knew she’d be able to keep things on-brand for me. She’s fabulous and so professional. I’ve already booked her again for my next promo and I don’t even know what I’m shooting yet! I just know that it won’t shine as bring without Nicole’s keen design sense, so I made sure to get on her calendar early!
I creative directed what I wanted the box to look like. I knew I wanted an orange box so that it would be eye-catching, but also evoke the clementine vibe right off the bat. I picked out products to include in the box that was part of the custom cocktail recipe James Beard Award winning cocktail writer M. Carrie Allan created for the project. It was a no-brainer to include the Clementina San Pellegrino, but I did a lot of research on tea before I settled on Tea Forte to include in the promo. Their packaging is so beautiful and also I appreciated the individual packaging of tea bags during covid times. And of course, the tea is delicious and made the promo box smell wonderful!
Tell me about the photos:
I spent an enormous amount of time researching and conceiving my shot list. I also used this time to really hone in on what kind of lighting I wanted to cast. I’m often lighting things based on what my client’s needs are, but this was a chance to define what I want my photographic voice to look like. I settled on the word “punchy” to evoke the kind of lighting and mood I wanted the photos to give off. To me, punchy photos have crisp shadows, vibrant colors, and plenty of fill. The light is contrasty, but not necessarily high key. It also means that every little detail matters because sometimes it’s the littlest thing that makes a photo pop.
I wanted to show clients that I can produce food lifestyle work and produce it at a high level. I felt like my portfolio had been missing the lifestyle side of food work, so I wanted to send out a promo with images showing I can do the lifestyle side of cookbooks, in addition to just food and beverage. Readers connect to cookbook authors through lifestyle imagery in their cookbooks and on social media. These lifestyle moments are critical to set the tone of an author’s book and overall brand. I couldn’t be more proud of how these images turned out.
We photographed 10 sets and Photo Editor Stacy Swiderski chose 8 images for the final edit. Every set was photographed with the cocktail in both an elegant cocktail glass and in the custom Laura Chase de Formigny Photography Tervis Tumbler I had made and included in the promo box. It definitely took extra time to shoot everything twice, but I’m glad we did! I ended up not publishing any of the images with the tumbler because the edit looks so much more elevated shot with the beautiful glassware prop stylist Giulietta Pinna selected.
I ordered 65 boxes and 60 Tervis Tumblers. I wanted room for error if boxes got returned, which is why I ordered a few extra. I ended up mailing 50 promos in total. It was a difficult undertaking because of covid. Since most of the country was working from home at the time, I had to pre-email everyone on my list and ask if they felt comfortable sharing a personal address that I could mail the promo to. This is my first promo ever, so very few of these people knew who I was! I did end up sending several boxes to office addresses with the hope that one day the recipient will return to their desk and find a lovely surprise. This also happens to be the biggest reason I did not include perishable items, like a clementine, in the promo box. That would be a very unhappy package to come back to after months or even years away from the office!
As I mentioned, this was my first promo. Go big or go home, right?! I’m planning to continue doing print promos biannually. Definitely nothing to the scale of Clementine Skies, just a postcard a couple of times a year. I just thought I’d kick off my marketing with a bang!
I’m honestly not sure if print promos are effective marketing anymore. What I do know is that most creatives have a bulletin board of inspiration and I want my photo to be on it, so all I can do is try, right?
This project was conceived while I was pregnant with my daughter, Frances Clémentine. I executed the project only a few months after her birth because I want creatives to know that there are badass female commercial photographers out there producing exceptional work while balancing a family. I want my kids to watch me chase my dreams so that someday they do the same. More on this in the behind-the-scenes video on my website.
I was very clear with the recipe writer that I wanted the recipe to be non-alcoholic. I wanted the drink to be family-friendly and accessible to all recipients. You never know what someone else is going through, so I didn’t want to send somebody an alcoholic recipe if that could be potentially triggering for them. Also, since the inspiration for this project was a baby, it just seemed more appropriate to keep it kid-friendly.
I was very, very detail-oriented while sourcing for this promo. I color matched the model’s nail polish and lipstick to my business card. I also bought a real, live clementine tree to have on set to cast shadows in the background of one of the images. I wanted everything to feel super authentic so I didn’t cut any corners and I’m glad I didn’t! Food stylist Nichole Bryant ended up using some of the leaves from the clementine tree by gluing them to actual clementines on set! Chance favors the prepared, indeed.
It’s become the primary way I make a living, (along with writing,) though I certainly never planned it that way.
In a perma-freelance, side-hustle, gig-economy world, creative types do what we must.
(If it works, it works.)
I walked away from my long-term, adjunct teaching job in 2017, as the salary UNM-Taos offered me, in my last contract, was so bad I couldn’t justify the time commitment.
I remember thinking, so clearly, if I couldn’t generate more money than that, working for myself, I should probably find another career.
My first move was to found our Antidote Photo Retreat program, and it certainly grew, and was on an upward trajectory the first three years of its existence.
Then Covid hit, and having people come stay on my property, eat in my kitchen, and shower in my bathroom, was neither safe, nor practical.
(Shout out to Cliff Claven.)
In those first years, I did a small amount of consulting, trying to help people one-on-one, but certainly didn’t promote myself that way, and was still figuring out how to be an effective advocate for my clients/students.
Private teaching was rewarding, and I helped Rohina Hoffman and Allen Wheatcroft produce photo-books with Damiani, but again, I was definitely figuring things out.
Rohina Hoffman’s “Hair Stories”
Allen Wheatcroft’s “Body Language”
After the pandemic began, I transitioned my Antidote program online, and offered free evening critique classes to my community, before ultimately charging them a nominal amount when it became clear there would be no retreats.
Zoom made in-depth, online teaching possible, and if I’m being honest, the amount of personal growth I endured, due to stress and trauma, has made me a better person, and a better teacher, so more work came my way, and I was able to raise my rates, bit by bit.
I can see how the process evolved, in retrospect, but I’m not surprised how much of the work has centered on one particular area:
Helping people conceive and produce photo-books.
Because everyone wants a book these days, and you likely know I made my first book, “Extinction Party” in 2020, which was released on the cusp of the global lockdown, and was very well-received by the press, and the people who bought it.
“Extinction Party,” photo courtesy of Luminosity Lab
(Of course, we weren’t able to market it at art and book fairs, as they all shut.)
So today, I thought it might be a good idea to give you a primer on how the process works, because if I can do it for my clients, I should be able to share some of that info with you, my loyal audience.
Here we go.
If I were to break it down, the process would look something like this:
*Sometimes, the text comes before the design, it just depends.
Now, that’s how I work with my design partner, Caleb Cain Marcus, as he’s an acquisitions editor at Damiani, so we know they’ll look at the books we create.
In our case, we make the book, then find the publisher.
(I’ve got a network of contacts in the publishing world, so once the digital version of our books are done, we know we’ll get eyes on them within the industry.)
Back in the day, I think they called this process “book packaging,” but I just call myself a producer.
Not everyone needs outside help, of course, and some publishers do like to work on a book from start to finish, though those tend to be more indie, small-batch types, which is also a valid way to go.
Honestly, there is so much to unpack, I’ll do my best to keep it coherent.
At a photo festival in 2010, I met the great English publisher Dewi Lewis, whom I interviewed for the blog five years later, and he gave me some amazing advice, which I took to heart.
He said every artist seemed to want or expect a book for each project, compared to the “old days,” when one or two books in a career would have been an achievement.
Dewi recommended an artist wait until there was a compelling reason, and a clear vision, before making a book.
(Don’t do it just to do it.)
Things have only gotten crazier since then, as the amount of publishers has proliferated, as has the interest in photo-books, as the recent Clement Chéroux article in Aperture confirms.
However, in my experience, having spoken to publishers, (and listened to them on panel talks), the demand for photo-books, from the collector class, has not grown in concert with the supply, so very few photo-books actually sell well, and create profit for the publishers.
(Unless you’re already a famous art star.)
So how does one explain that supply/demand disconnect?
What I’ve learned, and am sharing here, is the industry no longer functions in a purely capitalistic sense, with respect to sales.
Rather, some publishers do it as passion projects, not expecting to really make money, or more likely, they build profit into the production system, marking up the printing costs, design costs, and things like that.
(They also make money when the artist “buys” additional copies of his/her book back from the publisher.)
One publisher, whom I won’t name, (out of respect,) is well-known for throwing book deals out there like crazy, sometimes without knowing or meeting the artist, because it’s their business model to make money on production, rather than sales, so the more books they take to market, the better they do.
Why does every artist want to participate in this process, if they’re not likely to “make money” off the sale of their book?
Good question.
Glad you asked.
Over the years, every photographer I interviewed considered his/her book to be a marketing object, and I never met one who said it wasn’t worth it.
Sending out books, giving them away as gifts, and asking your network to support you in the pre-sale or crowdfunding effort, means ultimately, a viewer will look at your work, and understand it, the way you want them to.
A book allows you to control the narrative surrounding your career.
And as I reported in an interview with MACK publisher Michael Mack, back in 2012, books have the potential to be art objects.
Meaning, if you create a great book, you can make a piece of art distinct from the photographs that live inside it.
(One benefit of doing this for so long is I’ve picked up great advice and knowledge, which I then pass along to you.)
As artists, if we view making a book as an “art project,” one that also functions as a high-end marketing tool, it will allow an audience to see what you’ve accomplished exactly as you’d like them to.
It’s a very valuable outcome.
The book can create new opportunities, and help you level up in your career.
You might not make money selling books, (at least nothing major,) but you CAN benefit from more jobs, opportunities, and relationships going forward.
Plus, crowdfunding and pre-sales, which are now so common, allow the artist to defray the costs, so even if books are increasingly expensive, you may not have to reach into your own pocket to pay for it.
(If you’re willing to put in the time and effort to raise the funding.)
With me so far?
There is a pretty wide range of costs, with respect to how you can produce your book.
(And all the numbers I’m going to share are approximate.)
On the low end, DIY ‘Zines can be made for next to nothing, but you have to really know what you’re doing to get the production values high enough to make a positive impression.
‘Zine courtesy of Laidric Stevenson
It can be done for a budget in the hundreds of dollars, which is a huge advantage.
Next, we’d move on to self-produced, soft-cover, print-on-demand, (or digitally printed) exhibition-catalogue-type-offerings.
Andrew Molitor’s recent Blurb production
Those might cost in the high hundreds, or low-thousands, and can be helpful, but are normally seen as low-cost marketing objects by the people who look at them, I find.
If you hire a designer to help you, and go the high-quality digital printing, or offset printing route, you’re probably more in the $2000-5000 range, but getting professional help makes a difference.
(As a producer, I tell people the best books almost always have a designer’s fingerprints on them, somewhere along the line.)
David Obermeyer’s self-published “Treasure Beach,” printed by Conveyor Studio, produced with a design team
The smallest run of soft-cover, offset printing of 400 books or so, in Europe, will likely be $7000-9000, though prices are rising with inflation, and tack on a bit more if you go the hard-cover route.
(That’s if you’re self-publishing, but having it professionally printed.)
Finally, we have the costs associated with traditional, mainstream publishers, which typically run from $20,000-35,000, with some high-end, prestige publishers charging $50,000 or more.
That’s a lot of cash, under any set of circumstances.
Small batch indie publishers might well cost more in the $10-20,000 range, but again, these are general figures, so there is variance.
(A tiny handful of publishers still cover costs, but there are so few, I wouldn’t count on that as you plow ahead.)
So let me circle back to that advice Dewi Lewis gave me.
He said, to paraphrase, if you’re going to make a book, you better have a damn good reason, a clear vision of what you want to achieve, and strong need to do so.
I took that to heart as an artist, and waited 10 years to produce a book that wove together four, interrelated projects into one narrative, so I could show “the world” what I’d been working on out here in the boonies, playing mad scientist in my studio/laboratory.
Even so, I needed my publisher, Jennifer Yoffy, to help me with the initial edit/sequence, and to serve as cheerleader and occasional CEO, over the year it took me and Caleb to make the book.
(As Caleb is my friend and partner, he didn’t charge me for the design, which saved me a bunch of money on the overall process.)
Jennifer and I were also friends, so she didn’t mark up the production costs, and I “only” had to raise about $15,000, instead of twice that.
(That amount included going to the Netherlands to supervise production, which I highly recommend, but isn’t strictly required.)
Me and Marco Nap in the Wilco production facility, Amersfoort, The Netherlands, February 2020
But enough about money.
I wanted this article to give you a sense of how the industry works, but also how to make a book become a piece of art, representing the best you can achieve.
How do you do that?
It starts with the concept.
What will your book be about?
What will it say?
How will it present your project, (or projects,) in a compelling, interesting, creative, well-executed way?
What will the viewer take away from looking at, (and reading) your book?
I think every great book, as Dewi said, needs a compelling reason to exist, so if you don’t have a great idea, wait a bit longer, or ask yourself all sorts of hard questions until you get the answers.
From there, it’s time to whittle down all the images you have, which could conceivably be included, into a tighter group.
(When in doubt, start with more, but then edit ruthlessly.)
Cut, and cut some more.
Which are the best images?
How do they fit together?
What stories do they tell when they become a group?
What connections, and repeating motifs, begin to show themselves?
Many, if not most artists find it helpful to work with an editor on this, because outside perspective can be key to finding those through-lines, when we’re too close. (Or if we don’t have expertise in the process.)
I do have expertise, but still needed Jennifer’s eye, back in February of 2019.
After the edit, the sequence comes next, as building the visual narrative out of your best edit is a separate process.
I like to sequence in Apple’s Photos program, where I can see grids, and move things around easily, but most folks prefer making small prints, and moving them around on the floor.
(Whatever works.)
I’d recommend you keep the classic narrative structure in mind: Beginning, Middle, End.
And I always suggest you consider a viewer’s attention span.
(If they get bored, they’ll start to flip.)
50-60 images is a good target, for a non-coffee-table book, and keeping the viewer surprised, and interested, involves varying the emotional tenor, and offering up the unexpected.
That can mean inter-weaving text, changing image size, or breaking up runs of similar images with something totally different.
There are a lot of ways to skin a cat, but just doing the same thing over and over is a bad idea, unless your pictures are so good, and innovative, that a viewer will be enraptured without any bells and whistles.
(Possible, but unlikely.)
It’s totally cool to think about who will write for the book, and where that writing should be placed, from the jump.
No worries.
But in my experience, often it’s easier once the visual structure has taken shape, and you know more of what the book is, and looks like.
Do you want your voice included in the writing?
If so, what do you want to say?
Either way, at some point, you need to get the text right, because more often than not, text provides context.
Do you want to set up the context at the beginning, so the viewer knows what the book is about, or leave them guessing, and answer questions at the end?
(It’s a personal choice, but a vital one.)
Once it’s all put together, the designer has given you your layout, and it looks like a book, (digitally,) you’ll still need to let it sit.
Come back to it, make some changes, let it sit again, and refine it.
Consider everything.
Paper choice, where you captions will or won’t go, what color end paper, your cover design.
All of it.
Don’t rush.
Patience pays off in the book-making process.
As to finding a publisher, portfolio reviews are great for making relationships.
Festivals too.
And research what type of books the publishers are putting out, to see if your work will fit with their program.
(Fit really matters, as does the working relationship.)
Almost all publishers these days expect the artist to come to the table with the production funds, so have a plan to do that, based upon your budget, and willingness to ask the “crowd.”
Finally, when your book is done, few publishers invest a lot of time or money in marketing and PR, so many artists pay the extra cost to hire PR support on their own.
On the one hand, a publisher might send out bulk emails with a list of books.
(Maybe they’ll have a table at a fair, once those return in earnest.)
But if you’re willing to invest that little bit extra, (or not so little,) you get a PR professional sending out individual emails to press people, and following up.
They work hard to tap up their own networks, and in my experience, that really does matter, when it comes to getting great press placement.
If it all sounds like a well-oiled industry, where people throughout each part of the process are taking their cut, it’s because it is.
But that’s what tends to deliver high production values, wide distribution, and successful marketing campaigns.
This stuff doesn’t come cheap.
Remember, though, earlier in the article, I also discussed how to do this on a super-tight budget.
Books don’t have to be expensive.
For quality, very often though, you get what you pay for.
I swear, I didn’t wake up today planning to drop a 2700-word-treatise on you.
But I did spend an hour last night, pro-bono, explaining the process to a photographer friend I met at FotoFest in 2012.
I figured if he didn’t know how things really work, (and he’s a professional artist and long-time professor,) you might want some extra knowledge too.
Hope it helps!
See you next week!
{ED note, 02.02.22: It’s come to my attention this post is being used as a resource, so I wanted to add one final piece of intel that I tweeted in the viral response to the article. I’m told some artists have been able to create a workable edit/sequence/design book maquette, after taking a book design workshop. Yumi Goto, in Japan, has been recommended to me.}
