Book Announcement

Well, the announcement says it all.

I would like to let you know that my very first hard bound book is now available for advanced order. It will ship around the 11th of November.

This book has taken some time to prepare. It's been an interesting project for me for many reason. Firstly, there is, perhaps, the issue of how does one prepare their work for print? Which images should I use? and how should the book look? Well, it turned out that this was the easy step. Bringing an idea, a concept into reality, is something that comes slowly, and this one has been coming together for more than one year.

I would therefore like to express my deepest gratitude to the wonderfully inspirational Michael Kenna for being so kind and generous with his time. Michael opens the book with a humorous and gentle reminder of what it is to be a landscape photographer.

A preview of the book is now available, along with the option to make an advanced order at the Half-Light Press web site. The first orders will go out on the 11th of November.

In the meantime, here are some nice shots of the book, made by my friend Darren in his studio:

Please visit the Half-Light Press web site for more information and to make an advanced order. The first orders will go out on the 11th of November.

Advanced copies of my book arrived

Yesterday I received four advanced copies of my book. I just thought I'd write a short post today to tell you all that the book printing quality has far exceeded my expectations.

I've heard so many scary stories of people having trouble with printers and the book quality not matching what they were looking for. I'm now of the opinion this is perhaps due to one of two reasons:

1) The photographer did not have a colour managed system

2) The printer is old-school and is not colour managed either

My printer is well regarded for making high end art books and their process conforms to the FOGRA ISO standard. The proofs I received were very accurate - matching what I saw on my calibrated system at home, and the final books match the proofs, but exceed in terms of final paper and contrast quality.

The book is going to be photographed this week, so I will post some images as soon as I have some to show you.

Edward Burtynsky - Manufactured Landscapes

Many years ago, when I first decided to venture out there, and conduct my first photographic workshop, I set it up in Torres del Paine national park in Chilean patagonia. My clients included two Canadians who spent their time talking to me about many photographers. One of their idols was Edward Burtynsky. I'll admit that at that point in my photography, I'd never heard of him.

But the world is full of talented individuals.

After the workshop, I parted company with my Canadian clients, and went home for a long earned rest. A few weeks passed, and one morning the door bell rang. The post man stood outside my door holding a large cardboard carton. I took it inside and wondered what might be inside. Upon opening the box, I found a copy of 'Manufactured Landscapes' but Edward Burtynsky. It had been sent to me by my Canadian clients, I'm sure, as a response to our conversations during the Patagonian workshop. The gesture blew me away because I realised that what we had been discussing during the trip had resonated with them in such a way that they felt inclined to send me a copy of one of Canada's most prominent photographers.

Also included inside the box, was a copy of Pico Iyer's short story about visiting Iceland. I had discussed Iceland with my Canadian clients, and in particular - Mary, had felt a connection with my stories of the country, and the short story of Iceland by Iyer, and had decided to include a photocopy of the story for me. It was a great read and it reminded me very much of my first time visiting Iceland in 2004 (I now own a copy of Pico Iyer's book of short stories about his travels - thanks to Mary).

Anyway, I digress. I'd been sent a present! And that present was the result of some engaging conversations during the workshop in Patagonia.

I wasn't familiar with Burtynsky's work, but when I looked through the finely printed coffee table book, I became very engaged in what I saw. I had no reason to read the text, because contained within the pages were high detail (large format) photographs of mass-scale ecological production / waste management throughout the world. I had simply no idea, for instance, that there exists rivers of molten steal, landscapes of worn out tires, sky rise blocks of mined chalk, all consumables, all on a mass scale, all which could be easily interpreted as some normal landscape, until I looked a little closer and realised that this was all the product of a race that consumes and discards with little or no thought for the finite resources of the planet. Burtynsky was spelling out mass-scale environmental issues simply by using his large format camera to capture the finer details in a massive landscape of consumable, or discarded, material.

This week I dug out Manufactured landscape by Burtynsky. It is an absorbing volume. A large scale coffee table book, beautifully printed, the cover gives the illusion of a natural landscape (I thought lava flows, only to discover that it is a man-made landscape of molten steal)... sometimes we need to look at industrialisation in its rawest form. Landscape photography is not just about capturing the essence of natural beauty in the word, it can also be a valid way of throwing up a mirror and exposing ourselves to who we really are, and how we treat our environment.

Highly recommended.

You can, of course, get it from Beyond Words here.

Publish your Photography Book

A few weeks ago, Neil from Beyond Words Books gave me a copy of the book 'Publish Your Photography Book' by Darius D Himes & Mary Virginia Swanson. Which I will now refer to as PYPB in this review.

Before you decide that this article is not for you - stop. There is no reason why you shouldn't put your own book together, as I'll explain further down.

I remember thinking 'oh, perfect timing', as he surprised me with it, as I've just finalised the proofs for my own book, paid the remaining amount due to the printer and am now eagerly awaiting some advanced copies of the book.

So yes, I thought the timing of receiving this book was a little off. But perhaps because I've gone through the process of putting my own book together, it's been really interesting reading PYPB. I think there's a lot of useful information in here if you're considering publishing, or getting published because it has plenty of case studies from publishers and also photographers on how their book idea came about and how it moved from being an idea into something real.

I don't think this book would have helped me get published, or help me get round to self publishing - that kind of thing really needs you to have a sense of drive and determination to overcome plenty of odds. What this book does though, is help plant some seeds, make you think more about why you want to publish a book and perhaps the most important question of all: what market the book should be about - who is it aimed at.

In particular, what I found most interesting was that 'best of' books aren't a good idea. Books that sell have a strong theme rather than being a collection of all your best images into one bundle. I can appreciate that this would be true for most photographers that no one has heard of - sure - the photos should speak for themselves, but most people want to know what it is they're buying and why would you want to buy a collection of nice photos from anyone if there's no solid theme or message contained within?

This caused me a little panic at first, since my forthcoming book is more or less a retrospective of images I've shot over the past 10 years. But I soon calmed down when I remembered that I also decided my book should have some form of teaching and message contained within for the reader. Each image has a text that explains the making of and also thought processes I went through. But I also realise that most of the people who will be buying my book, are buying it because they know who I am, and they like my work.

Anyway, if you are considering making your own book - and it doesn't have to be a grand affair - some of the examples discussed started off life as inkjets bound together in to hand made volumes to sell. I think it's a really fascinating thing to do. If you print your images and like to frame them, then putting a hand made book together is no different from this - it is a way of collecting a body of work together and giving a form of closure as well as a final purpose for the work.

There are many book project case studies contained within PYPB to make it an interesting read, simply because of the creative decisions. Everyone is entitled to think about putting a book together - many people do it via Blurb for instance. PYPB helps you think about reasons for publishing, what your market is, and what type of photography book might be the best idea for a project.

Putting a book together is like working on any concept. It's an inspiring adventure and it can also bring a lot of purpose to your photography. If you are suffering from a lack of ideas or direction in your own photography, then I would urge you to consider setting up a project of some kind - and a book is a great way of visualising the final outcome. Having that final goal in mind can do wonders to spur your creativity into action and give you something to get your teeth into.

Above all else, it's a fascinating read as I love to hear about people's creative decisions.

You can get it from Neil's Beyond Words book store.

Last batch of book proofs

Today I received the last batch of proofs from the printer of my book, and I'm very happy with what I see.

They are printed on FOGRA approved paper. Which basically means that the paper is certified to be within a certain ISO colour standard. The have also been printed using one of the best CMYK simulation RIP's available (GMG). In a nutshell, the proofs give a very accurate simulation of what the final press output will be like.

It's been a very exiting and interesting project, working on this book, and I feel I've learned a lot in the process too.

Once I've approved the proofs, the next stage will be onto printing the book. I'll give you all more details about the expected arrival date of the book once we're past the proofing stage. Until then, I can't really say for sure just when the book will be here, but I'm hoping for sometime around October or November.

Ideology in Paradise

This week I spent a small fortune on books at Beyond Words Edinburgh festival stall. I thought I'd go for a visit, catch up with Neil and see what he has to offer.

I came away with an exhausted bankers card, because I bought:

Hiroshi Watanabe's 'Ideology in Paradise' Paul Caponigro's Meditations in Silver Editions 1,2 & 3 of Brooks Jensen's 'Single Exposures' series Michael Kenna - images of the seventh day.

All are excellent books, but I'd like to talk about Hiroshi Watanabe's Ideology in paradise book.

A beautifully put together book, I found it on Neils book shelf at the back of his display purely by chance. I think I was intrigued by the front cover and of course the title. What could 'ideology in paradise' mean?

So I opened up the book and browsed the contents. Don't you find you make your mind up about a book in a matter of seconds? Well the image above drew me in. The people dancing, and those vibrant colours, just made me want to find out more.

I wasn't even entirely sure just what the book was about. In fact, I went through it, and wondered just where in the East the photos had been taken. There is nothing in the text or title of the book to suggest it's North Korea. It was only when I decided to read the inside flap that I understood. To quote, it says:

"One is quietly lulled into a sense that life in North Korea might, in fact, be just as it appears within the frames of these images - normal - instead of like the stories of kidnappings, military posturing, and famime. To Watanabe, it is this sense of tension between the news stories flooding the media in both Japan and in the US and his experiences travelling and photographing - that interests him in this topic".

On the surface, looking at a lot of the pictures in the book, which have a very beautifully over-processed look to them, you feel that Watanabe is making casual snaps of friends.

It would be so easy to think that people in North Korea do not do as we do. They do not laugh, they do not go for a walk, they do not live normal lives, but as his book shows, human nature comes through all the while, even if the regime that is above them has a grip on how these people live.

I really enjoyed the book. I was intrigued and I think that's the hallmark of a good book for me. I'd already bought the other books I listed above, and all of a sudden I was breaking the bank and going for this one. I had to own it.

One thing though, I'm sure some of you wonder why I'm so interested in the subject matter. These images look like reportage shots to a degree, and that's not really how I shoot. True, but talking to Neil from Beyond words about this, he has told me that a lot of photographers he sells books from - are similar. What they shoot, and what they like to look at, or enjoy in terms of photographic sensibilities, often is a different world away.

Ideology in Paradise is available from Beyond Words, if, like me, you have an interest in other cultures and a documentary style of photography.

Understanding Light eBook now Available

Stephen Trainor and myself are very pleased to announce the release of  Understanding Light with The Photographer's Ephemeris eBook.

The book explores how to improve your photography through an understanding of natural light. The eBook uses The Photographer's Ephemeris application to explain many of the points presented.

The Photographer's Ephemeris is available free (as a desktop edition) at Stephens site http://photoephemeris.com. It is also available as a great iPad version and also an iPhone version on the Apple app store.

Rather than a point-by-point 'how to' manual, the book explores at a high level some of the science behind natural light, and illustrates key points with a number of case studies where I explain the thinking and planning behind some of my images.

The eBook is now available from my online-store.

Ansel Adams in Colour

I've been pretty quiet of late on my blog, and this has been for good reason. The past few weeks since I returned home, I've been busy preparing my first cloth bound book for printing. It's been a long haul, but I think that anything worth doing, should be done properly.

Doing a book requires a lot of preparation. You may think the choice of images would be the hardest part, but it's been a huge learning curve.

Firstly there is the cost of doing a book, learning about paper types and also, getting past the jargon that printers talk in. There is also the question of storage and distribution to overcome - where exactly do you store 1,000 books?

The good news is that the Quark express file is almost ready now. I spent the early part of this week in Nottingham with my friend Darren putting the layout together. We've got some beautiful fonts in there and the layout is simple yet elegant. The ISBN number has been allocated and the preface has been written by someone whom I admire the work of greatly. The book will be released by Half-Light Press. Estimated release date is the later half of October, early November, but I will preview a proof copy of the book on this blog when the printer sends me one.

So why the title 'Ansel Adams in Colour'? Well, I guess the past few weeks, as I've been busy looking at samples of paper types to use for my own book ( I have settled on a fine Japanese art paper), I've been busy plundering my ever growing collection of fine photography books for comparisons. One such title that I hadn't looked at for a long time is Ansel's book about his colour photography.

Apart from the fact that it's beautifully printed on the finest stock Silk paper I can imagine, I'd almost completely forgotten that Ansel shot colour at all.

This brings up an interesting aspect for me. I feel that photography that is considered 'art' is often black and white. Certainly, I'm in awe of the medium, despite that I don't shoot it myself. But what of Colour? Why has it not been embraced so steadily by the photographic art world? Well, I think if we look inside Adam's book, it's clear to me that Ansel had trouble with the medium. That's not to say his work was bad. It's rather beautiful in fact to see very Adams-like compositions, but done in colour. The thing is though - he was troubled because he lacked the degree of control that he wanted over colour. Ansel was no black and white purist, and is often noted to have looked forward to the digital revolution and the means to control colour the way he wanted to. I feel that perhaps, since the amount of dark-room control that was ever present for Black and White, allowed it to establish itself more than Colour could. Colour has been a late developer (no pun intended).

So what of Ansel's book. It's a great read. It's also interesting to see how he grappled with the problems of working with early colour and how he failed (too strong a word) to reach his vision with the medium. I personally think this book is a very important document, illustrating the trials of colour, how it was perceived by the generation of the 40's and 50's.

Maybe you didn't know that Ansel had made colour images? If so, then I can recommend this book as it's a beautiful edition and I feel, should be part of every landscape photographer's 'core' book collection.

It turns out that the book has been revised and expanded since my early 90's edition, and unfortunately - is now out of print. So if you're interested in this title, my review is based on the 1st Edition, and you can get a copy of it on AbeBooks.com.

Lofoten - a photographer's approach

For those of you who aren't a member of my news letter, I've just released a new eBook - Lofoten - a photographer's approach. This is perhaps my most favourite writing project to date, because it has nothing to do with the technical side of making images, but instead, is about approach. It was great fun to write it because I had to relive the experience of being back on Lofoten and just how everything there - the people, the weather, the quality of light, and how I felt about being there - all came together and resulted in the final images you see within the eBook.

I think how we approach and deal with a subject is more important than knowing which f-stop to use, or what shutter speed to use. I believe that being more aware of our surroundings, and heightening our sense of awareness is vital if we are to improve in our photographic endeavours.

Anyway, that said, I'm sure that the sales of this title will be a lot smaller than the techy books, simply because of the demographic involved. Many people own cameras, but don't consider themselves artists, while proportionally, few artists own cameras.

Learning the technical helps, but it doesn't make us great photographers. If only learning the techy stuff was all we needed, then it would be great wouldn't it? Actually, no it wouldn't, because what makes photographers stand out, is the differences in how they see and how they respond to what they're experiencing.

You can get 'Lofoten - a photographer's approach' alongside a 1080p version of the related podcast here.

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Galen Rowell's Inner Game

Well, I feel I've returned to my roots this week, upon viewing the re-issue of Galen Rowell's 'Inner Game of Outdoor Photography'.

I'm a huge fan of the late Galen's work, as it was he, that set me in motion to get out there and make my first early morning images.

So coming across this book, which is a re-issue, was quite something because it has taken me right back to my own beginnings. Right at the start of my own photographic development, I came across Galen's work in the form of his book 'Mountain Light', which is by most accounts a classic in the philosophy of outdoor photography. Unfortunately, Mountain Light is no longer in print, which I feel is a sore omission. I didn't think I'd see another Rowell book which would come close to what Mountain Light had to offer, but I'm pleased to say that 'Inner Game' is a worthy match to Mountain Light and I've not been able to put it down since i got it a week ago.

Containing 66 essays compiled from his monthly regular column in the USA edition of Outdoor Photography, Galen covers all aspects of outdoor photography.

From the onset, Galen prepares us for what he has to say by giving us a little background to his own upbringing. His mother was a cellist, and as he says, 'my mother didn't didn't teach the cello, she taught people'. Galen conveys this as a way of saying that people are ultimately behind the images that a camera creates. It's something I firmly believe myself.

Inside the book, the late Galen discusses many aspects of outdoor photography as you will see by how the book is divided up:

1. Visions - Mysteries of the creative and cognitive processes

2. Preparations - pushing the limits of equipment, film and technique

3. Journeys - Merging visions and realities

4. Realizations - communicating your world view through photography

There are many inspiring moments within and If I could leave you with one, it would be this:

"The fact that no major publication would print my well-executed photo of Warren Harding hanging on Half Dome, a newsworthy event in which I was directly involved, led me to my local camera store, where in December 1968 I purchased a Nikon FTn with two lenses"

One thing leads to another, and I find that such a powerful statement. We are who we decide to be, and in Galen's case, he made his own 'history'. Driven to get a camera because his friend had been overseen by the local press turned out to be a gift to us all. Galen's work has been hugely influential to me and many others. If you're feeling a little low on inspiration, then by all means, this is a superb remedy as well as a great introduction to the late great Galen Rowell.

If you'd like to buy a copy, it seems that the 'global empire book stores' have missed out on this one and either don't list it in it's reissued form, or the price is downright crazy. Just as well, because my good friend Neil at 'Beyond Words is offering it  here for a very nice price.