A journal of Nocturnes

Nocturnes - a composition, or piece of music that is inspired by, or evocative of the night.

My 2nd book project has been evolving over the past two months.

Initially, I just knew I wanted to do a second book, and had slated some time in for a trip to Iceland this December / January with the hope that something might come out of it. I had no idea at the time if the 2nd book would be about Iceland, but I did hope that it might be.

I've learned, that things don't always pan out the way you intended them, and to have a fixed idea of what it is you want to do - is too rigid. Certainly, having something to focus towards is a great motivator, but I also need to leave some room for change, and be able to consider that what I'm working on might not be the right fit, and something else might be better.

My 2nd book is taking shape quite strongly now. I originally had the idea of putting a book together about the south coast of Iceland and my ventures there to photograph the black sand and ice bergs. This brought me on to think about how to merge two different shoots - one from last Summer when I created a lot of very dark, monochromatic images of the black sand and ice bergs, and the more recent shoot this December/January, where the images are much more optimistic, light in tone and as a result - have a very different feel. This created a bit of a problem for me, and I felt the book was not gelling as well as I'd liked.

I felt that I wanted to add in some stories too, and give the viewer of the images some context, an idea of what I was feeling at the time. So over the past few months stories - some almost like poetry have been creeping into the book. It started to feel like it was coming together, gelling in the way I'd hoped. So until maybe a few weeks ago, I felt the book was on the right track and that it was mostly done, just the finer points like spelling, grammar, layout to be worked on and finalised. But the peace didn't last long. I was aware over the weeks that I felt a little like something was missing from the book, and I didn't feel it was complete. I can only get to this point if I give my work some time to sit, let it be absorbed and get comfortable with what it truly is, as opposed to what I think it is. In other words - a sense of distance is required, and so I'm always happy to give things some time, to see if they are indeed ready or maybe need some work.

Someone asked me if I were going to put some of my older images from Iceland into the book. I'd be hesitating about doing it, because I feel they represent who I was in 2004, and don't really have much correlation to how my photography style has moved on. But I reconsidered, decided to have a go at putting them into the book, and found that I was wrong - they worked. So much so, that the book is a sandwich of three parts - the first section starts of with coastal shots that were shot during the night, while the middle section deals with inland areas of iceland shot during the summer months and much warmer light. The last section goes back towards the coast and deals with a more lighter ending feel to the days work. It was conceptual and I didn't even know it until I'd put the thing together and a friend commented on how it seemed to work more as a piece now.

So the book has been retitled too. I had never really been happy with the title, but since I now have a collection of images, all mostly shot during the nocturnal hours of the day (I'm a low light shooter mostly), and since all were created during pre-dawn, post-dusk, even sometimes around 3am for instance, I feel the images have an otherwordly feel to them. The stories that I've written have been put together from the journal that I sometimes write in. So all this kind of wraps up to give me the title of 'a journal of nocturnes'. Nocturnes is defined as 'a composition, or piece of music that is inspired by, or evocative of the night'. I feel my images are compositions that are evocative or inspired by the night, so I feel it's a perfect fit.

I feel the book is much stronger now. So all that needs to be done now, is get the preface written - as I type this, my special guest whom I've asked if he will write something as a way of an introduction to Iceland has responded and said yes. So I'm delighted by the news.

I'll be traveling down to Nottingham this April to put the book together with my friend Darren, and expect to have something finished and ready for release later on in the year.

I hope my posting today has given you some food for thought regarding the creative process. It is always flowing, changing. It is never static and when someone says the work is done, what they really mean is that it has reached a conclusion for the moment.

ISBN Registration of 2nd Book

Today I just registered with Nielsen's (the ISBN people here in the UK), my second book. Here is a mock-up of the slip case cover for the book. I stress that it's a mock up, because I'm scheduled to go down to Nottingham to see my friend Darren Ciolli-Leach (who should really have a web site for his work), who is a graphic artist. Darren helped me put my first book together in Quark Express. It was a very enlightening experience for me to watch him do things very quickly, and his input was invaluable regarding layout, typeface and overall presentation. So I'm sure there will be some changes to the look and layout of the book once I've spent time with him (and his terrific two little boys), in April.

But I'm pleased to let you know that this book is similar in size to the first one, will come with a slip-case to protect the actual book. The slipcase will have a photo on it, just like the mock up you see above. The actual book will be 60 pages in total.

I'm not going to give you any more detail about the contents just yet, as it's quite different from my first book. But suffice to say that there is text in there, but it's more of a photographic journey diary than the first book.

On the subject of making books, and the finances involved in putting them together, If you knew how much it costs to put something of this quality together, you might have a mild heart attack. But the process of seeing your own work beautifully presented is such a nice thing to do. Books, in short, do not make money, but they are a very beautiful way to present what it is that you do. So if you've ever considered it, be aware that you won't get rich, but the project itself is a great way to give some closure to a particular project or perhaps make you see that you had the material for a 'theme' all along.

The first book has sold really well. We were able to recoup the costs of the book within six weeks of publication, which was a complete surprise to me, as we originally thought it might take around two to three years to do that. Sales are really steady at the moment and I think we're on target to sell out the entire edition in a year or two (my original plan was to try to sell out the edition over three years). Time will tell.

Anyway, the reason why I tell you all this, is that I felt that doing a 2nd book would only be a viable option if we'd had good success with the first one. As it turns out, that's just what's happened, so I'm really excited to tell you about the plans for this one.

Of course, things can change quite dramatically between now and the end of the year, but at the moment, everything is pointing towards a November release.

For the preface, I have someone very special in mind, but they're proving rather difficult to track down just now!

I will keep you posted.

2nd Book Project

Dear all, Last year was a terrific time for me. Had someone suggested that I would have a book out, of some of my best material, and that the book would be as beautiful as it turned out to be, I wouldn't have believed them. Add to that, that the preface would be written by Michael Kenna, and I would have laughed out loud.

But as much as I'm always surprised by how things go from strength to strength for me with my photography, I'm aware that everything is a stepping stone. By that, I mean that one thing leads to another, and by taking the first step, the next step comes into sight, and I'm able to visualise where I'm going.

So I'm pleased to announce, that my 2nd book project is under way. I feel that if I am to continue to produce books, they should be very high end, art books, each with a particular topic in mind. I can't think of any more engaging topic right now (out of my current portfolio) than my Iceland images, for the catalyst for a 2nd book.

So right now, I have the above and below 'proto-type' design's in mind. The image above is of the dust jacket, while the image below is of a proposed clamshell casing for the book.

I have a very strong idea about what it is that I want to create. But I'm sure, as with the previous book, the designs will change over the period that I work on the book. I just want to share this with you, so you can see that creative ideas are never fixed, but things are always fluid, in a state of change. Even right up to the last minute, anything can change, and I just love that.

Creativity requires freedom to do what it's going to do. For that to happen, you need to have confidence in your decisions, and be able to be objective about what you're doing, and happy to change direction if things aren't working. Of course, this does not stop me from having a very strong idea for the book - on the contrary - I have a very strong sense of how this book will look - but I'm flexible enough to understand that ideas evolve, things get more finely tuned as time moves forward, and ultimately, I will produce something that seemed to take on its own identity.

I'm aware that this might all sound rather philosophical, or even 'preachy'. I'm no preacher. Just someone following his own 'instinct' or 'drive'.

I'm not too sure what it is, but I do tend to visualise final ideas in my head and once they're there, it becomes much easier to move forward. I have a visual to work towards. This of course, is something that can (and should) be applied to all aspects of our lives. So if there's something you want to do, visualise it, draw it, imagine it.

Think about it and dream about it.

I'm convinced that the effort directed in this way means that you move towards your goal, without really knowing it.

I'll be in touch about further news about this book. It gives me great inspiration and excitement, and that alone, is worth it.

Perhaps the nicest Iceland photographic book?

I'm just home from Iceland. It was a great trip, with lots of snow, ice, and hardly any rain. On my way home, whilst sitting in Reykjavik airport, I came across Daniel Bergman's new book 'Iceland Landscapes'. It's a beauty.

I've known about Daniel for some time. He is perhaps Iceland's most prominent landscape and nature photographer, but I've never met him in person. I do however, know a lot of workshop participants who have been on his trips (and mine), and have said very good things about him. I must add, that this is quite rare: I seldom hear good things about most photographic tutors, which is a shame, but it does mean that the good ones stand out. Daniel by all accounts, gives a good expedition throughout Iceland, and since it's his homeland, I've always thought he must know it very well.

So it was with little surprise that I found this book sitting on a shelf in the duty free tax shop in Reykjavik airport. I knew of Daniel as primarily a nature photographer, so I wasn't prepared to see a really beautiful collection of images, covering the entirety of Iceland, so well presented and laid out. Daniel it seems, has been working very hard the past five years gathering this fantastic collection of images together.

For me, it did several things;

1. It made me realise, that being a non-native of Iceland, it would be very hard for me to collect such a great collection of images of Iceland that cover everything from the south to the west fjords, and also the interior, displayed through all the seasons.

2. But because of this acknowledgement, his book gave me a lot of inspiration to realise that I've only just touched the surface of Iceland, and I really must return as much as I can in future.

3. Iceland is an *amazing* landscape. No two ways about it.

Daniel's book is beautifully presented. It is a lovely showcase for Iceland, and if I were in the position to be thinking about venturing off to Iceland to find out more about it, I would consider this a great introduction, with coffee table substance for repeat viewings. It's a beautiful, book.

The foreword is by David Ward, who is, in his own right, a very talented Large Format UK based Photographer. Daniel has chosen his introduction writer well for his book.

If you'd like to order a copy, Daniels' book is self published, and can only be obtained from his web site here.

I recommend it very, very highly indeed.

Thank You!

My first book has been selling well. As of a few days ago, we 'broke even'. We've so far sold quite a lot of the limited edition 'Loch Lurgainn' prints, and quite a number of the Deluxe editions too! For those of you that don't know just how much of a big deal that is, I'd just like to say that it costs an extremely large amount of money to get a book printed, and that's just the printing costs. Shipping cartons, printer proofs all add another dimension of costs to the project, and then there is the amount of time spent on writing, designing the book, and all the additional fine tuning that has to be done. But ultimately, it costs a small fortune to get a book of this quality printed. So breaking even, in just over one month of putting it on sale on my web site (the book is not for sale anywhere else), is a pretty huge deal to me.

so I just want to say a big thank you, to those of you  who bought the book so far.

The entire project has been a huge learning curve for me, and I took a lot of time looking into paper types, quality of cloth, and the layout of the book. I've had a lot of very nice comments from buyers about the book being a piece of art in it's own right. I'm very pleased with that.

The biggest worry for me, was the reproduction of my images. I did a lot of research into this area, and made sure I have a very tightly calibrated system to work on. This year I feel I achieved that, and I now also, as a result, have a very nice printing process at home too. But I went with a printer that I knew does excellent reproductions for other artists, and I think that was the biggest bonus. The print quality did not disappoint me one little bit, and I'm very picky.

So I just want to say thanks once again for supporting my 'art', and buying the book. I'm very pleased to now have a very nice book to offer people on my workshops, and future talks, and also, those that can't manage either of those, but would like to see my work in better reproduction than is possible on the web.

Now off to think about the 2nd book, which I'm already hatching a plan for. Keep your ears pinned back for news of a 2nd book, sometime later in the new year.

Beyond Words Book Stall

If you are in or near Edinburgh this Saturday 3rd December, Neil from Beyond Words book shop will have a stall at 'Out of the Blue Drill Hall' - http://2outoftheblue.org.uk/page10.htm. He will have many gorgeous photography books with him, including (of course), copies of my own book. I'm off to Lofoten, Norway this Thursday (I have got the right day, haven't I?), for some work on future portfolio images and to catch up with some friends.

Outdoor Photography Review

Steve Watkins, the Editor of the british magazine, Outdoor Photography, kindly emailed me a copy of the magazine review for my book. I've included it below - click on the image to see the full page. But I also include an image grab of the actual review, which I have to say, it perhaps the nicest review I've ever read about what I do. I think that Steve has 'got me' in one. Yes, I'm a Steve McCurry fan, and I've often felt that this shows in my portraiture images, and I'm also a big Michael Kenna fan (like, who didn't know this already?), so his point about my images being influenced by MK, makes perfect sense. We all have our heros, but hopefully, we don't plagiarise, but instead, we work based on inspiration. That's at least, what I try to do with my own work. Just follow your heart, and things will be fine : )

If you didn't already know, the book is available at the Half-Light press web site.

If you don't already know about Outdoor Photography Magazine, then you can follow it on facebook.

Book Feedback

For those of you who kindly bought my hardback book, it seems that many of them are dropping through the letter boxes of people in the UK this morning, and I've received some really nice correspondence so far.

I thought I'd leave the rest of this post as it is. Maybe if you enjoy the book, you'll leave a comment here - it would be lovely to hear your impressions of the book!

I'm on the isle of Harris this week, doing a workshop, so I'll catch up with you all at the end of the week.

Enjoy the book, and I hope you get your copy this week!

A library of dust

Every now and then, I come across a book, or a set of photographs that surprise me. In the case of David Maisel's book 'A library of Dust', I'm reminded that subject matter can be found anywhere, and even the most unlikely of places can yield images that are fascinating. I'd highly recommend looking at David's site for more of his projects. There are a lot of thought-provoking themes in his work, and I've just bought two of his books because of what I've seen there.

In 'A Library of Dust', David has found over 3,000 metal canisters of cremated remains, tucked away at the back of a disused asylum. Personally, I'm not interested in the morbid aspects to these images, nor the fact that the cremated remains were that of people who were mentally unwell. That, I feel, is like looking for an angle of torment to a story. It simply does not appeal. But what does appeal, is the colours that these canisters present. As he describes them:

"The etching of the copper, and the intensely hued colors of the blooming minerals combine to individuate the canisters. These deformations sometimes evoke the celestial - the northern lights, the moons of some alien planet, or constellations in the night sky".

There's a sense of beauty to these objects.

A book like 'A library of Dust' provides beautiful images of copper canisters. They themselves are landscapes in miniature and David has wrapped them up with an interesting theme.

I'm reminded also, that photography can cover subjects much more wider ranging than just landscape or portraiture. I like to cover books like this one on my blog, to remind us, that there's a whole world of photography out there that most of us have never engaged in nor considered as part of the medium.

On that note, I'd like to say that what I do with my own photography, in the scheme of things, is rather narrow. In fact, I believe that most people who have an interest in photography often don't get further than landscapes, and within that narrow realm, some can't go beyond what they saw. I've often said that photography is not 'real'. We do not see in 2D, we do not see with wide angle lenses, and we do not have the dynamic range of a digital sensor. As human beings, we interpret, engage and respond to our surrounding environment in many ways, and for that matter, a book like 'A library of dust' is a reminder that we can go beyond the normal confines of our own aesthetics, be inspired, and perhaps find something new and  and interesting to photograph.

A Library of Dust is available from Beyond Words.

New eBook - The art of self awareness

I'm pleased to let you know about a new eBook I've just released. Ever since I started to conduct photographic workshops, I've learned an awful lot about myself as a photographer. I'm sure for many of you, that might be a surprise, as you probably thought that workshops are all about the participants and how to improve their photography (they are). But in the process of working with others, I've often had to think about why I do certain things when I'm making images.

I'm not talking about technical aspects, such as what shutter speed or which aperture I chose for a particular image, but more about how I responded to a landscape the way I did, why I chose one composition over another, and perhaps more importantly, my general approach to all things creative.

We are creative people, and creative types tend to work based on feelings and intuitions they have about the work they're creating. I tend to have a lot of philosophical ideas about why I create my own work the way I do. And how I tend to respond to failure for instance. I'm highly objective about what I do, but I also allow myself to open up to what is presented to me.

So in this new eBook, I continue the themes set about in the 'Taj Mahal - a photographer's approach', and 'Lofoten - a photographer's approach', ebooks. Both of these eBooks discussed lots of ideas about how I tackle a project and how receptive I am to new ideas. In short - how I find images and how I work with the landscape.

The Art of Self awareness, a rather grand title, really tries to distill the idea that good photography lies in your own hands, and by having a clearer picture of who you are, and how you respond to your environment (or not, as the case may be), your photographic efforts may succeed or fail.

Here is a breakdown of the chapters contained within:

Contents

Bruce Percy 3 About the author

The Art of Self-Awareness 4 A better photographic approach

Iceland 6 A learning experience

Self Awareness 7 The art of looking inside in order to see outside

Re-evaluation 8 Do you take time to look back at your progress?

Failure as a gift 9 How do you react to your failures?

Organised Process 10 Do you dither and fuss?

Temperament 11 Are you impatient?

Conversation 12 Do you have a dialogue with the landscape?

Submission 13 Do you submit to the landscape?

Response 14 How do you feel when making images?

Narrow field of vision 15 Do you narrow your view to one thing?

Tuning in 16 Do you have a good sense of anticipation?

The devil is in the detail 17 Do you notice subtle changes in light, shade and tone?

Energy levels 18 How do you react when you’re tired?

Objectivity 19 Are you realistic?

Over-analysis 20 Do you over analyse?

Control freak 21 Do you fear your own creativity?

Never happy 22 Do you seek perfection or excellence?

Awareness studies 23

Well, that's quite a bit of thought provoking material there! Yes, it's taken me a while to work on this one, and I'm sure it's only really the beginning. But I grew tired of 'technical' websites years ago, and I never read any books about cameras or lenses these days. I'm much more interested in how we tick, what makes us the way we are.

My new ebook is available now, from my store.