Blurb

Haiti: January 8-21, 2010, A Photo Essay Book

I spent the last couple of weeks putting together a photo essay on my time Haiti. Unlike my last book, this one is almost entirely full bleed photos. It was a difficult book to put together because I initially didn’t know how I wanted to tell the story. I spent a lot of time fiddling around until I was able to decide on the format, using my fundraising letter as the introduction and a letter Bruce sent us as an epilogue.

The book finally arrived last week and the people who have had the opportunity to spend some time with it have been very impressed (some people actually didn’t believe I made the book).

I made this book for me…so I could have something to be able to look at and be able to share with other people when they came over (without having to jump on the computer). However, you can also purchase a copy of the book. It comes in two flavors, softcover ($41.95) and hardcover ($60.95)1. The book is 122 pages in length and includes 242 photos.

As a side note, I’m starting to cook up ideas about making a book for my Europe trip. I’m currently convinced it will have text, however the text will be separate from the photos. With 1665
photos (three times the finished amount I have from Haiti), it’s going to be a nightmare putting that together. Maybe I need an editor…any takers?

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  1. Both of these are at cost and I make zero dollars ↩

Photographer for Hire

Background: Another couple friends of mine got engaged this past weekend. I was talking with them at Old Chicago’s (which is where we go after Merge) and they were wondering if I’d shoot their Engagement photos. I said yes, explaining to them how I’ve been wanting to do more portrait photography this year. I was eventually planning on blogging about, but I guess I just do it now.

I feel that I’m pretty much at a place where I feel confident offering my photography skills for hire. I’m also looking for a new challenge in photography, mainly taking pictures of people.

I have not set rates yet, but I guarantee that they will be very competitive. I would be interested in shooting engagement photos and general portraits. I would not like to shoot birthday parties or other real-time events for the time being, this means that I probably would not shooting weddings, although feel free to ask.

I currently have Fridays and weekends available, so drop me a line if you’re even interested (my contact information is always on the front of my blog). I’m definitely up for negotiating prices, so you really have nothing to lose.

To give you an idea of what I’m thinking about offering:

  • Taking 100-200 photos over a couple hours on location(s)
  • Delivering 25-75 processed photos in JPEG (possibly DNG if requested)
  • Physical prints would be extra, but affordable with minimal markup
  • Option for producing a photobook
  • Online photo gallery (probably through Flickr, maybe through another source)

Thoughts?

Portfolio:

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The Photo Book

I started working on the photo book I mentioned earlier and it’s coming together very nicely. The current plan is to offer it as a 40-page premium paper, 10″ x 8″ hard cover book with dust cover. Pricing will be around $35, not including shipping. I am considering a softcover, which would be about $10 cheaper.

The better news is that I will not require firm orders from anyone! I’m using a company called Blurb, which does print-on-demand. I also may personally sell ten signed limited-edition versions that would be 10% cheaper (yes, cheaper).

I’m also contemplating putting a real, live ISBN number on it. That would allow me to sell it in book stores if I wanted…not that I’m planning on that. It’s mostly just to add to the authenticity and make me one of the Big Boys™

As for a release date, I’m contemplating two different days: January 31 (which is my birthday) or May 8 (which when I graduate). There’s a lot of work that I still need to do, layout and content is only 66% complete. Then I need to have some people edit it and I also need to get a proof made to make sure everything looks good. One reason to wait until graduation is so I can put any last pictures I get in the Spring 2009 semester (maybe something from New York?).

Any any event, there’s about 50 pictures in the book right now with three full stories and lots of anecdotes. When I get closer to release, I’ll put up some proofs.

Finally, the tentative title is: Rain :: Volume II1

I’d love to hear any thoughts people have in the comments about release dates, hard vs. soft cover, the special edition, ISBN, etc.

1 A couple years ago, I ordered a couple of small booklets using photos from Seattle @ Night, that was “Rain”.

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