Blog

A Sweet Goodbye to La Jolla

sun-star-pierSun Star Pier, La Jolla, California, August 6, 2009

Within days of moving to La Jolla 3 1/2 years ago, I discovered this local landmark – the Scripps Pier, and immediately was drawn to it photographically.  I didn’t have any previous connection to pier’s or other of man’s constructions along the water’s edge, but that would change living in La Jolla – and in large part because of this pier.  I returned every sunset for nearly 3 weeks to get my first successful image of this pier – Time.  That particular photograph really started a new direction for my photography and made my work more personal.  It would be fair to say that that image marked the beginning of working on my own aesthetic and creating my own images, as opposed to looking at others and trying to replicate.  I imagine that most photographers and artists go through similar stages – it begins with trying to make the work you look up to and respect, and once you feel capable and have learned the techniques involved and the process, then you can begin to find your own aesthetic and create a new style that is more unique.  Well, this photograph – Time, and the process of making it and having to be patient and go out night after night before I got everything right, had much to do with getting me on my own path as an artist.

Prior to this time, once I had a successful image of a location, I would generally not return to shoot it further.  Why mess with a good thing?  That too changed in La Jolla, and again, in large part because of this pier.  After several months, I had began to learn much about this tunnel-view composition and what I was drawn to about it.  It hung in the front of the gallery that I spent much time in and had the opportunity to speak with the public about the photo.  This furthered my feelings and understanding of the piece.  A desire to shoot it again arose and within a year, after many visits, I had made a second image that I felt to be a success – Fog.  

Through the first 2 years, I made, what I would call – 2 successful images that were “gallery worthy”.  In my third year, I went through a major aesthetic change in my work and went from shooting primarily bright Fuji Velvia color panoramic work to dark and moody black and white squares.  There were a number of reasons behind this – a darker mood and life outlook due to events in my life; a feeling that color was too often distracting the viewer of more clear communication that didn’t seem to be the case with black and white; finding myself more drawn personally on an artistic level to cleaner, simpler works; feeling that the most challenging image to make, yet perhaps most rewarding, is the one that is most simple in it’s elements yet still holds a dynamic with the viewer, this leading to continually eliminating elements which eventually led to eliminating color – to name a few.  In the end, this transition came completely naturally and with ease and my shooting was invigorated like never before.  I began to re-shoot many of the compositions that I had become familiar with in the area, and found many new ones and ways of making images.   At the end of a string of, yet many more visits, I had made my third successful image, and perhaps my best (favorite) yet – Passage.

Through 3 1/2 years in La Jolla, I would say it’s safe to say I have photographed the Scripps Pier over 100 sunsets.  I have certainly thought that it would be cool to capture an image with the sun setting down the center of the corridor, and at one point, I made some conscious pursuit at it, but my timing was off and I never really followed through with it and never got closer than a week of the right time.  I guess it wasn’t so important to me that I find the exact day or two of the year that it’s do-able.  To be honest, I’m really not that much of a planner and it goes against my style completely to turn the art into a science and research as to the exact time and earthly coordinates blah!  That would be one quick way to take the joy out of photographing, for me.

So, you could call it sweet karma, randomness, coincidence, dumb luck, or whatever you’d like, but on my final evening in La Jolla before moving away, I decide to head out one last time to shoot Scripps Pier at sunset.  I’m super-busy packing and cleaning, and generally waiting until the last minute, like I do.  As I arrive at the pier, it’s 5 minutes from sunset and I can see that the sun is lining up better than I have ever seen.  This is pretty cool, I think as I set up the tripod.  Just as I get the camera set and my settings in order, the sun clips the upper right corner of the frame at the end of the corridor.  Sweet!  I take about 8-10 exposures, bracketing and trying different f-stops before settling on f/22 to get the more dramatic starburst.  The sun is visible in the frame for about 3 minutes before it moves north out of sight in this composition.

To get this on my last night in La Jolla!  Pretty cool indeed.  Now, I suppose I’m ready to move on outta here and go start over in a new area -

Maui will work…

time1Time, 2006

 

fogFog, 2007

 

pier-placewebsitePassage, 2009

 

 

 

 

SPAMMERS – BEAT IT!  COMMENTS MODERATED.  

EVERYONE ELSE – YOUR COMMENTS ARE WELCOME.

Aug 10, 2009 | Categories: LANDSCAPE WORK | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Time Running Out on the Mainland

coronadoWith just over a week left in Southern California before being homeless for a month and relocating back to Maui, I find myself revisiting some of the spots around San Diego and La Jolla that I have shot over the past 3 1/2 years.  Not that there is much time!  My sweetheart and I are not only moving, but we’re getting married!  Either one of these events unfolding in a relatively short window would be a lot, but putting them together has made everything quite exciting – to say the least.  Like now, for example – I’m pretty sure there are about 127 things that I should be doing to move forward with all of this, but here I sit, adding a blog entry.  Well, that’s how I roll.  And I’m gonna make more efforts to add blogs along the way – I am really curious what will happen with my shooting and aesthetic returning to beautiful Maui after being away for nearly 5 years.  Will my year long stretch of seeing the landscape in black and white revert back to color?  Will I shoot both?  Who knows?!  We’ll see..

I have been opening up my photographic skill-set to a whole new area – people and off camera lighting.  Talk about feeling like a total and complete rookie again – Wow!  But, it has been fun and feeling green with a camera has been an interesting feeling – and I have managed to put together a number of images that I am quite happy with…but, more of that later.

This image is of Coronado Bridge in San Diego.  Shooting from this location can feel a bit sketchy at times – I remember the first time I came here alone and it was getting dark and there were a bunch of shady characters lurking about, and here I am with 10k of photography equipment on my back!  This is usually the type of scenario that gets me to visualizing full-on Jackie Chan scenes unfolding in my head – 10 bad guys chasing me around while I use my tripod to catapult from this pier to that and otherwise defend myself with dance-like precision and fluidity.  Last night, it was a little earlier in the evening and there were families and kids running around while dad’s were fishing from the end of the pier, so no dramatic action scenes going on – just a quiet observer enjoying the path of life, with a bridge ahead leading from one destination to the next.

 


Aug 02, 2009 | Categories: LANDSCAPE WORK | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | Leave A Comment »

Mono Lake…in Color

mono-lakeThis is why you have to set the alarm to 4-something and get up out of your warm sleeping bag and get out there!  It’s called Sweet Light and it is always a sight for the eyes and makes the heart giddy – or is that the  sleep depravation?  Either way, it’s well worth waking for, even after a late night of cold-adult-beverages and the company of good friends.  Hell, you can sleep during the day when the light sucks! and if you’re a little slow (aka. hungover), there’s nothing like the Sweet Light to lift you up.

We camped at Oh Ridge Campground for a couple nights which is the perfect place to stay to shoot at Mono Lake.  It overlooks the scenic June Lake and is a 20 minute drive from the campsite to the parking area at the State Natural Reserve along the north shore of Mono Lake.

I went down three times to this area over the couple days and walked away every time with shots I was happy with.  Sure, I was lucky with the stormy skies, but even with clear skies, I think you could make some compositions work here – it’s just that interesting of a place!  This image is looking west with the sunrise at my back.  Most of my efforts of late have been with a black and white aesthetic, but for this 10 minute period, it was imposiible to ignore the color version of this amazing scene.

 

 

CLICK ON LEAVE A COMMENT BELOW TO LEAVE A MESSAGE  -  MODERATED TO WEED OUT SPAM!

Jun 15, 2009 | Categories: LANDSCAPE WORK | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Yosemite Falls -and- It’s Not Cold…It’s Invigorating!

yosemite-fallsYosemite Falls is the highest measured waterfall in North America. Located in Yosemite National Park in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California, it is a major attraction in the park, especially in late spring when the water flow is at its peak.
The total 739 metres (2,420 ft) from the top of the upper falls to the base of the lower falls qualifies Yosemite Falls as the sixth highest waterfall in the world, though with the recent discovery of Gocta Cataracts in Venezuela, it appears on some lists as seventh.
Although often referred to as a “two-stage drop”, the falls actually consist of three sections:
Upper Falls: The 1,430 ft plunge alone is among the twenty highest waterfalls in the world. Trails from the valley floor and down from other park areas outside the valley lead to both the top and base of Upper Yosemite Falls. The upper fall is formed by the swift waters of Yosemite Creek, which, after meandering through Eagle Creek Meadow, hurl themselves over the edge of a hanging valley in a spectacular and deafening show of force.
Middle Cascades: Between the two obvious main plunges there are a series of five smaller plunges collectively referred to as the Middle Cascades. Taken together these account for a total drop of 670 ft, more than twice the height of the Lower Falls. Because of the narrow, constricted shape of the gorge in which these drops occur and the lack of public access, they are rarely noted. Most viewpoints in the valley miss them entirely. Several vantage points for the cascades are found along the Yosemite Falls trail. Several hikers climbing down from the trail towards the cascades have required an expensive helicopter rescue due to steep and slippery terrain and features.
Lower Falls: The final 320 ft drop adjacent to an accessible viewing area, provides the most-used viewing point for the waterfalls. Yosemite Creek emerges from the base of the Lower Falls and flows into the Merced River nearby. Like many areas of Yosemite the plunge pool at the base of the Lower Falls is surrounded by dangerous jumbles of talus made even more treacherous by the high humidity and resulting slippery surfaces.
In years of little snow, the falls may actually cease flowing altogether in late summer or fall. A very small number of rock climbers have taken the opportunity to climb the normally inaccessible rock face beneath the falls, although this is an extraordinarily dangerous undertaking; a single afternoon thunderstorm could restart the falls, sweeping the climbers off the face.
The Lower Falls are easily accessible near the Yosemite Lodge in Yosemite Valley. The top of the Upper Falls may be reached via a steep, strenuous, and usually crowded 3.50 mi hike beginning near the Sunnyside Walk-in Campground. The Upper Falls may also be reached via several routes from the Tioga Road to the north.    (from Wikipedia.org)

I had hiked Half Dome the day before and today was happy to be chillin’ with family and friends down along the Merced River in Yosemite Valley.  This area is called swinging bridge, though the bridge there doesn’t swing much.  Perhaps an old bridge that is no longer there had a little more swing to it??  Anyways, this was a perfect place to spend the better part of the day barbecuing, biking to nearby scenic spots, playing with our nieces and nephew, and simply enjoying the river.  This view is from the bridge and I liked it very much.  I mean, come on – it’s incredible!  I waited for the afternoon clouds to form and then used my dark filter to lengthen the exposure along with a nd grad – and voila! – here it is, one of my favorite images from the trip!

I’m not sure if I was just coming off the high from climbing Half Dome the day before or being wooed by the river, but I soon got in my mind that I had to swim across this – the Merced River.  It certainly wasn’t for others.  That was actually the main deterrent – the number of people that were around and on the bridge throughout most of the day.  There would generally be a couple dozen people lingering around most of the time and I didn’t want this to be a “stunt”, but I decided I had to do it regardless and I’d have to just block them all out.  Most every sane person would tell you the water was “freakin’ cold”!  In fact, coming down from Half Dome the day before we stopped around Little Yosemite to enjoy the river for a spell and I put my head in the water for 10 seconds only to get severe brain freeze.  Yes, you could say it was VERY cold, but my experience with cold water is that you can’t tell yourself it’s cold – so I blocked those thoughts out and rephrased them in my mind to use words like refreshing and invigorating.

I tried to recruit another to take on this challenge but couldn’t find anyone to make that tweak in their mind from cold to refreshing!  I was on my own.  It’s fine, no one has ever died from 90 seconds of cold water, I told myself.  As the time neared and I stripped down to my board shorts, I tried to remain focused and just not think much about it.  I got Rebecca setup with the camera so she could take pictures (this could be great stock) and then headed over to the beach to the left of this scene.  The idea was to swim from there, straight out into the middle of the river and let the current take me under the bridge and exit a little down river by the bbq area.  I didn’t wait long and I ran into the water and began to swim quite hard.  The refreshing and invigorating water stung my skin and where I initially wanted to keep my hand down and stroke, I quickly found that I had to breathe more.  Putting my head up, I saw that the current was taking me, maybe a little quicker than anticipated, toward the middle pylon of the bridge and a log jam-up.  I stroke harder and missed it by a couple of feet.  By the time I was 3/4 of the way across, I was getting tired and my freestyle stroke turned to a sidestroke, and of course this happened right where there was a circular current in the river that was stopping my forward momentum.  I was ready to be out!  20 seconds more of strong swimming and I was at the edge.  My skin felt like it was on fire and I had a bit of a headache – but no goose-bumps!  That’s because I never told myself it was cold.

Later I began to recollect, a thought from deep within my memory banks (or made up completely..), that my brother had swam across this river as a boy.  I would have been too young to attempt it at the time, but I wondered if this were why I had felt such a strong desire to swim this.  To match him on something that I couldn’t have done at the time.  I’m still not sure if I am remembering this right or not – I’ll have to ask him, but I thought it interesting anyways.  What compels us to do the things we do?  Are all our thoughts and compulsions rooted in some previous experience?  

Anyways, it was a wonderful experience and a challenge.  I find when I’m in nature I come up with these challenges for myself more frequently and naturally than I do in the “real world”, and that is certainly one of the things I love about nature.  I am absolutely positive in saying – I am happiest while in nature!

scott-swim

 

 

CLICK ON LEAVE A COMMENT BELOW TO WRITE A MESSAGE     –     MESSAGES MODERATED TO WEED OUT SPAM!

Jun 11, 2009 | Categories: LANDSCAPE WORK, SNAPSHOTS & STOCK | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Bodie Ghost Town Church

bodie-church

In 1859 William (a.k.a. Waterman) S. Bodey discovered gold near what is now called Bodie Bluff. A mill was established in 1861 and the town began to grow. It started with about 20 miners and grew to an estimated 10,000 people by 1880! By that time, the town of Bodie bustled with families, robbers, miners, store owners, gunfighters and prostitutes of all kinds. At one time there was reported to be 65 saloons in town. Amongst the saloons were numerous brothels and ‘houses of ill repute’, gambling halls and opium dens. Needless to say that there was entertainment for every taste.

After a long day working the claims, the miners would head for the bars and the red light district to spend their earnings. The mixture of money, gold and alcohol would often prove fatal. It is said that there was a man killed every day in Bodie. Presumably, the undertaker never had a slow day.

There are records that say that William Body took a ship from New York, around the horn to end up in San Francisco. The name of the town was changed at some point in time, before the majority of the people made their way to Bodie. There are different stories as to why – one says it was to keep the correct pronunciation of town’s namesake. Another says that the sign painter didn’t have the room for the tail of the lower-case “y”. 

There’s a story about a little girl whose family moved from San Francisco to Bodie. She wrote “Goodbye God, I’m going to Bodie”. 

(above written on Bodie.com)

An average of one murder a day!?  What a wild place!  Was the church empty or was it a safe haven and packed with those seeking refuge from the dangerous streets of drunken greedy miners?  Perhaps Sundays the church pews would fill with those seeking forgiveness from the prior weeks blurred late nights of gambling, drinking and violence.  In any matter, I was most intrigued by the church in this old ghost town of the wild west.  As my mind often works with making images, I wanted to make a time exposure in hopes of getting some movement in the clouds – and therefore a further dynamic to the image.  Once I put on the dark filter and started my 60 second exposures, I realized the possibility of achieving the “ghost affect” with the other tourists visiting Bodie.  Then, of course, it clicked!  How perfect to try and have a ghost-like affect in a ghost town!

 

 

CLICK ON LEAVE A COMMENT BELOW TO WRITE A MESSAGE     –     MESSAGES MODERATED TO WEED OUT SPAM!


Jun 08, 2009 | Categories: LANDSCAPE WORK | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Mono Lake

mono-lakeWe were leaving Yosemite and coming back across the Tioga Pass. Unlike the day a week prior when we had beautiful blue skies with the occassional puffy white cloud, on this day it was stormy, cold and wet. It certainly did not dampen my mood and I was pulling the truck over every few miles for “a quick 2-minute shooting stop” – as I explained to my friends – their patience reached sage-like-levels this day…thanks!

We came down the other side of the pass on our way to Oh Ridge Campground along June Lake, our home for the next couple of nights. It was dark and stormy out over Mono Lake and it looked perfect. I was so anxious to get there and knew that this could be the best chance I get over the days, but all my companions just wanted to get to camp and there was no way they were gonna allow “a quick 1-hour (!) shooting stop”. We checked in to Oh Ridge, found our campsite, switched it to a better one (#61…nice view of the lake), and unpacked the vehicles. Thankfully, my sweetheart knew how antsy I was and once the truck was unloaded, told me to go and her and her sister would setup camp. My buddy Dale and I jump in the truck and go.

Oh Ridge Campground seems to be the perfect place to camp if you want to shoot Mono Lake, and we were parked and walking down to it’s shores within 20 minutes. You could see the rain falling down over the lake. I love this weather! I thought to myself over and over.

I had shot only 6 or 7 minute long exposures when the wind hit us in the face. The storm and rain was nearing us and we knew we had better get headed back to the car. After finishing up the exposure, we quickly packed up and headed back, having been there shooting for only 15 minutes. But I was ecstatic already because I knew I had something very cool! Our hands literally were reaching for the doors when the rain unleashed and began to downpour.

The next couple of days were fairly wet, though I did shoot Mono a couple more times. I don’t remember getting so many images from one location in such a relatively short period of time that I love so much! It’s going to be difficult for me to edit these down to 5, let alone 2 or 3! Well, there’s certainly worse problems to have and I’m okay with this one!

This image is on of my top favorites from the trip. I loves it’s simplicity-while-remaining-dynamic, and it reminds me of an iceberg – which I long to photograph. The light is perfect with the stormy backdrop and the late afternoon light coming in from behind to light up the tufas. I couldn’t have choreographed it any better!

 

 

CLICK ON LEAVE A COMMENT BELOW TO WRITE A MESSAGE     –     MESSAGES MODERATED TO WEED OUT SPAM!

Jun 07, 2009 | Categories: LANDSCAPE WORK | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave A Comment »

Half Dome and Storm

HALF DOME AND STORMI have just returned from an EPIC trip up the Eastern Sierra’s to Yosemite and back. It was an amazing trip and perhaps one of my more successful photographic trips. The first couple of days offered clear skies and then we were lucky with striking (literally) thunderclouds and stormy weather the rest of the week. I climbed Half Dome early in the week with a couple of friends. What an experience! It took us 11 hours to get up to the top and back down and was approximately 18 miles with 4800′ of elevation gain. I’ll post more images from this trip in the coming weeks.

We had a group site at Hodgdon Meadow and there were a good number of family and friends there in Yosemite for the 4 nights. This image was while spending the day running around with my parents, showing them what it is I do. It was a kick and both of them took to “the chase”, especially my mom who I am convinced is a closet storm-chaser! When we were amongst the lightning and hail, she was hootin’ and hollerin’.

We stopped here because we saw a bolt of lightning over Half Dome. I got so excited already visualizing a final image with Half Dome, storm clouds and a lightning bolt! I tried for nearly an hour with one 60 second exposure after another but never had saw another bolt. I was happy with this capture, but man did I want that strike!

Several days later, while at Mono Lake (images coming soon) I was fortunate to catch a strike during my exposure, only to discover that it didn’t register through the 10-stop dark filter. :(   Well, check that off as a learning experience – I had no idea that that would happen! I guess I’ll have to buy one of those expensive lightning-strobe-thingies to attach to my camera so I can get the lightning next time…how else do you catch it in the daytime!?

 

 

CLICK ON LEAVE A COMMENT BELOW TO WRITE A MESSAGE     –     MESSAGES MODERATED TO WEED OUT SPAM!

Jun 07, 2009 | Categories: LANDSCAPE WORK | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave A Comment »

Written by Melissa Egbert for the Dark Coast Series

two-pots

DARK COAST

My constant journey leads me to the edge of the shallow seas.  
Time passes with each fluid motion of the water and I wait, for 
someone or something to capture a moment of beautiful illumination.

The dark coast, where birds settle on the guardrails of the pier, erected by ancient pylons, 
surrounded by crashing waves of salty water brought from the furthest reaches of the Pacific Ocean.  
Waves, gentle and anxious, rhythmically invade the coast, then retreat from the sinking sands 
back into the flood.

I wander the coastline feeling the ocean air as the breeze cools my skin, tasting the salt on my lips.  
I’ve wandered too close to the sea and it tries to pull me in, trapping my feet in the soft sand.  The 
ocean slips away and in that moment, I feel connected to the transforming world around me.  
The world transformed by light and water.  
But the moment escapes me like sandcrabs playing and skipping out of my fingers.  

As I journey toward the sun, setting in it’s night haven, the clouds have surrendered the last of their 
offering to the earth, and given way to a silent calm.  I walk the coast, ever nearer to the water, until it 
surrounds me, moving my body to the sway and rhythms it commands.  
I feel the serenity of the world pour through me.  

The light is leaving but the water remains.




Written by MELISSA EGBERT

CLICK ON LEAVE A COMMENT BELOW TO WRITE A MESSAGE     –     MESSAGES MODERATED TO WEED OUT SPAM!

Jun 02, 2009 | Categories: LANDSCAPE WORK | Tags: , , | 1 Comment »

Blurb books – Is it worth the time, effort and cost?

final-coverThis turned out to be the final cover for the book, but unfortunately, I am not overly thrilled about the results.  This is the 2nd time I’ve put time and energy into making a book with Blurb, and both times I felt disappointed when I finally received the much anticipated finished product.  So, instead of sharing with you my excitement of this new book, I’ll instead give you a little review of the product and my perspective on Blurb so you can know what to expect if you plan on using their services to self-publish a book.

First of all, I do think that self-publishing like this is getting better and better and I strongly suspect it will eventually allow for “bookstore quality” books without having to spend 10-15k to publish a run of books.  Eventually, you’ll be able to make individual books made-to-order that are as good as the coffee table books we pay 50+ dollars for at Borders, but regardless of what they say, these are not yet “bookstore quality.”

The first Blurb book I made, Time Exposed, took quite a number of hours to do.  I’d say I spent at least 30 hours on it.  This time was spent getting the picture files sorted out, sized and ready.  Figuring out which images to include, a layout that flows in a sensible manner, finding and/or writing text to include, and then laying it all out with the software provided by Blurb – it ends up being a lot of work!  After weeks of this, couple hours here and a few hours there, it was ready to publish.  The book was printed and delivered fairly quickly, around a week, and I was very excited to flip through the 158 pages.  But right out of the packaging, I was already disappointed with the cover.  The cover image, which I had done with the “image wrap” style, simply did not look very good.  The image was Cosmic LifeCosmic Life and the deep rich blues in the upper corners were choked and transitioned poorly into black (which no blacks exist in the image!).  I mean, I personally don’t agree with – you can’t judge a book by it’s cover.  Hell yes, you can!  Not to mention there was a scratch on the back cover!  You can certainly come to some conclusions simply by the cover and this wasn’t looking good.  It didn’t get any better from there.  Immediately upon opening the book, I noticed the paper quality was anything but the “bookstore quality” that they claim in their product.  It felt thin and cheap, and just by turning the pages, dents in the paper were forming.  Not good.  To top it all off – the colors were a bit inconsistent throughout.  After spending so much time on this, to say I was disappointed was an understatement.  Sure, I should have slept on it and let myself settle down some, but I didn’t.  Instead, I wrote an email to Blurb and it probably wasn’t the nicest letter.

Blurb responded promptly and I must say, they do seem to have good customer service.  They began a new book and I sent that one in to be replaced, mainly due to the scratched cover.  I was hoping for some kind of miracle, but the 2nd one was much of the same without the scratch.  I didn’t announce the book to anyone and figured it would just sit on my bookshelf.

With a little time, my feelings settled and I forgot how frustrated I was over the book.  Then, Blurb announced a Premium paper upgrade (that you pay extra for), and I thought – Wow, that could make a big difference.  With Christmas around the corner, I ordered one and had it delivered to my parents.  Now, I guess this is all relative and I’ll surely be more critical of the final product than anyone else because I put in the time and want it perfect, but my parents absolutely loved it and still mention it from time to time.

Months later and skipping up to this latest work – I’m 75% of the way finished with a series of black and whites and I’m thinking – a Blurb book might be worth another try.  Better paper, black and white images so you can’t mess that up, right?  I’ll do a smaller 8×10 book so it won’t cost as much…  So, I get started on it.  This time, I consciously try to stay patient and not rush it to get published.  I work on it a couple hours here and a few hours there for over 2 months!  Definitely, a good amount of time gets invested in this.  In my mind, I’m hoping to use this book to help market this series of works, almost as a portfolio.  I spend much time making sure the images are sharpened correctly.  I make full pages in Photoshop with the images and text and simply plug-in full bleed pages as opposed to using their software, just to have total control as to how each page will turn out.

page-sample

 

I finally send the book to the publisher and there’s no turning back then.  Once again, Blurb is quite quick with getting the book printed and delivered and I have it in a week.  This time, I go with the book cover instead of the Image wrap, because that was sucky last time.  I kept the book to 80 pages in the 8×10″ size so it would be a little more affordable, in hopes to actually sell some books.  Again, the book is packaged well and this time, I am quite happy when I unwrap the book.  The cover looks amazing!  Shiny and perfect and the image looks great!  So far so good.  I open the book and the feel of the paper is better – I’d call it getting quite close to what you expect from “bookstore quality”, but not quite there yet.  Even as a still-new book, the pages are a bit wavy when you lay it flat on a table.  No $50+ book from Borders does that!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

blog-sample-a2It’s new…it has “Premium Paper” which costs more…it’s called “Bookstore Quality”, but it still is wavy???  Oh, and this problem tends to get worse with time.

 

blog-sample-a1The front cover turned out great this time!  If only the whole book had been done this well…

 

blog-sample-1The printing seems to have the most problems in the blacks and darker areas, and in the more extreme transition zones.  It’s hard to see here in this picture, but the pointed out area is highly choked and it really ruins the image.  Over 1/2 the images in the book either have this sort of choking, or lightly colored (!?) blue and purple rainbows (!?!?).

 

blog-sample2Again, this has bad choking, colored rainbows, and a much darker vignette than the image should have.

 

I want to like Blurb as a company.  I like what they are trying to do, but I guess I just have to come to terms with the fact that the quality isn’t there yet.  This sort of self publishing absolutely does not produce “bookstore quality” books and that’s a bummer.  I wish it did because I would absolutely love to have a quality book out there in the world for people to view.  Even if it were more expensive and I wouldn’t make any money on, which is generally the case with Blurb books.  My first Time Exposed book costs me over $90 to make a 158 page book!! and the quality isn’t there.  This Dark Coast book costs over $35 and it’s a small book of poor quality!  What do I do with that!?  I suppose my parents might be able to overlook the poor quality and enjoy it…

I had hoped to enter Blurb’s 2nd annual book competition with this book.  It seems to be a reputable contest with many big name sponsors, but I don’t see how I can enter this.  I had hoped to use this book as a tool to help market this series of images, but I certainly won’t be doing that either.  Instead, I will most likely take both books off Blurb’s storefront, remove the announcement of the books from my facebook page and website, and start saving my $15k to do a real book the right way!  And in the meantime, control the work I put out with excellent quality fine art prints.

So, if you are looking to make a book as a gift or for mom and dad, then you’ll probably be happy with Blurb.  If you are thinking that you are gonna make a fine quality book of your work to sell, market, or show in public, then I’d recommend not wasting your time with this sort of publishing and start saving your fun-tickets to do it right.  Unless of course, you have a better idea – then, please share it with me.

 

 

CLICK ON LEAVE A COMMENT BELOW TO WRITE A MESSAGE     –     MESSAGES MODERATED TO WEED OUT SPAM!

May 19, 2009 | Categories: ALL ELSE PHOTOGRAPHY | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

DARK COAST almost ready for the world..

cormorants-and-flowersCormorants and Flowers

I’ve been working on putting together the DARK COAST series for a few months and it’s nearing completion.  I had made a decision to approach it as a series which would have an end, a closure to the portfolio, as opposed to making it an endless compilation of like-work.  

Most of the images that were shot for this series were made in a relatively short time of 4-6 months, but it is covering the locale that I have already been shooting for 3 years and am therefore very familiar with.  The last month or 2, I’ve been working on editing the series, designing a Blurb book, creating a postcard as a mailer to galleries, figuring out the sizing/pricing/edition sizes and the rest of what comes with organizing this into a cohesive and strong body of work.

I am reminded as to how difficult editing a project down can be.  I initially had 60-70 images that I felt were strong enough to be included, but kept taking my time with it and trimming it down to what will be around 30-35 images in the series to be printed as limited editions – the book will include most of the original 60-70.

book-cover

  Usually, I’d have a tendency to rush through some of this project, especially the making of the Blurb book, but again, I’ve been forcing myself to slow down and take my time with it.  Initially, I had chosen this image and design for the cover.  Not so much because it’s my favorite or the strongest image, but more because I thought it worked well as a cover shot and tied the book to the local La Jolla area with a recognizable landmark.  But as the weeks went by, I found that I wasn’t loving this cover and I had chosen an image that I didn’t even feel was in the top 20 – in fact, I had contemplated cutting this image altogether from the collection!  How could I choose this as my cover?!  Today, I redesigned the cover with a different image and am now totally content with it.  Not only did I choose one of my top favorites from the series, but it’s probably even more recognizable of a local landmark.  This project is definitely  proving as a valuable lesson in patience.

So, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel until this series is complete.  Finalizing final prints for each image that made the final cut, figuring out the galleries to send mailers, putting the final touches on the book, and always brainstorming as to new and creative ways to market the photographs to possible buyers.  And when I say – almost complete – that really means – ready to go out into the world – which, of course requires still much more work and concerted efforts to make happen!  But it feels good.  And that is why I am diggin’ this new approach to producing a series of work with an end as opposed to more greatest individual hits.  With a project, you can visualize the process and the end result, then go out and make it, and at some point see the fruits of your labor and step away feeling satisfied, moving on to the next project.

Of course, I am already thinking of the next works and already have some images that I’m excited to share!  These will probably be the basis to the next series, but for now – take a peek at DARK COAST and let me know whatcha think.  And if you want to support emerging artists, buy the book – or - a print for your collection.  And for those photogs that are used to working towards making the individual greatest hits, consider creating a series that you can focus on and that has a start and finish – it can really be rewarding and act as a learning lesson in many valuable ways that you may not find when you’re always going from one shot to the next.

 

 

 

May 01, 2009 | Categories: PROJECTS IN-THE-WORKS | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave A Comment »

« Older Entries