Updates

23 Dec 2022

I have been postponing this blog for the longest time. I have progressed my end-of-year photo project with my first iteration, and let time slide in order to digest the process, hear the feedback and think about the approach for the next iteration.

There are a lot of things to consider.

The process

I followed the process of printing my candidate photos at the local Office Works given the price is right. I then laid them out on the ground to narrow down my selects and also to find patterns in the photos that would work cohesively. After I finished that exercise, I bundled all the photos back together and kept them for storage until I revisit the process at the end of the year.

However, since all good things take time, I thought it would be prudent and in my best interest to start the process early and iterate, as in, edit what I have now, publish a first version, circulate and get feedback from trusted people, revise and refine. Very lean startupy and the best way to produce a book that I’ll be happy with and that will resonate with others.

I started this in September.

The usual suspects

And so I listed down all the places that created photo books.

Blurb

Mixam

Momento.

There were probably a few others.

And I do have a cousin overseas whose family runs a printing publication. I might have to go down that route in the future (but this means creating photobook template myself, more on that shortly).

Blurb

There was Blurb. I’ve used them before for my zine. I was happy with my zine, but that’s easy to say when you have no basis for comparison.

The software for arranging your photos was easy enough, easy templates, drag and drop, and view before publishing are all there. I don’t recall having any issues putting my zine together.

The downside was the price; I found the zine to be on the expensive side. Like most places they provide volume discounts but you do have ability to print one at a time, obviously will work out to be more expensive that way.

As I mentioned above, this might work out to be the same with other publishers, however, I still thought it would be better to try something else.

Mixam

There was Mixam which I thought to try. I’ve seen what their output and I thought it was worth a go. The gotcha with Mixam is that you have to provide them with files for printing, i.e. they have no interface for layout and design.

Despite that, I began the process of laying the photos out in Sketch - I must be the odd one out in the photography community that does not own Adobe suite, Lightroom and all, not a fan of the subscription model and exorbitant price does not work for me.

Momento

And there was Momento which came highly regarded by a few fellow photographers and was the eventual one I went with. The software they provided is quite similar to Blurb. I went ahead and designed my first book which I was quite happy with, but after working on it for a couple of weeks, I decided to try a different approach and started a new project. After doing the redesign I came up with a product that I was happier with and I thought I was going to stick to this design..until I sat on it even more and after some time, I decided to do yet another design.

Now I was really happy with this 3rd and final design. It’s the kind of book that I would want to pick up myself which is always a good sign.

Upon uploading the file and going through the checkout process, I discovered that the book was going to cost $200 dollars (105 pages, small portrait orientation, all-up cost including shipping). I am happy with the book but will not be making this available to the public.

Feedback

Receiving feedback can be the most uncomfortable thing but if you sit through the process with an open and understanding mind, and a willingness to improve then everything will work out fine.

Some of the more memorable feedback I’ve noted

“You cover a wide range of styles with your photography”

“Oh that’s great” (to a photo that most would skip over - and I appreciate that)

“There are ghosts in this photo”

“Bump up the saturation by 5-8% when printing as the colours bleed into the paper” (a very useful tip from a mate with a number of years in printing)

“What’s the story here?” (as there are no captions).

I still want to show a few more people my work before putting together the final iteration, however, I do really appreciate the feedback I’ve received so far which has caused me to shift things around.

And the funny thing with the feedback is I now have a lot of things to consider given everyone has a unique point of view. And so yes I will make the final result available to interested parties (but there won’t be any mass marketing for the book).

Where to from here?

True to the plan, I will keep shooting til the end of the year and perhaps include some of the shots that I have taken since the first iteration.

In terms of the book itself, it will be a far more condensed effort than the 100+ pages in the initial.

There will be a lot of culling.

There may be more consideration towards colour.

There will be a sequential overhaul.

And I still need to land on whether the final will be hardcover or a zine, portrait or landscape or square, and even whether I continue with Momento or with some other place.

I’ve got some time off during the upcoming holidays and I’m finally ready to finish this project.