My friend Ellen Butler just sent me a “heads-up” and provided a link to the Creativity Network. If you scoll down, you will find: Doug Stockdale and my recent SoFoBoBo book Places Amongst Us. very nice.
I guess I need to update my web site with some of the images from Places Amongst Us. That will have to go on the August to-do list.
Best regards, Doug
While I was on out on assignment today, my updated book Places Amongst Us was delivered. As you might recall, I was disappointed with color of the first production proof, it was like they had put the entire book in a tonal compression chamber; the shadows were blocked and the highlights were blown.
It did not look good, but at least the image sharpening was right on;- )
Kjell Andersen had a fun little contest posted on his blog and I just found out who the winner is – Me!
I have been enjoying his SoFoBoMo book Crossing the River a lot. His book is a quentessianal project with all of the elements that trademark a good series, well seen, wonderfully brought to gether and consistent in presentation. In fact, I would suggest that this series is strong enough to be submitted to LensWork magazine.
And the photograph that I have asked for is this one from Crossing the River. It has a hint of the river and this wonderful sun deckled cross-way, which just alows me to take a wonderful journey.
Thanks Kjell! I appreciate the opportunity to add another of your originals to my slowly growing collection of your work;- )
Best regards, Doug
Yesterday, I made a bad assumption. That the sharpening action that I had developed for the HP Indigo 5000 for Blurb printing was exclusively for the Blurb Indigo printer and did not apply to the Xerox iGen3 printer that Blurb utilizes for the 7″ x 7″ books. Duh!
“Places Amongst Us” SoFoBoMo series by Douglas Stockdale
First, kudos to Anita for tipping me off that there is a differenct printer used by Blurb for the 7 x 7″ square books than their other larger books. I did not know!
But this dog can hunt;- )
So here is the scoop. Only the 7 x 7″ Blurb square book is printed on the Xerox iGen3, all of the others are on the HP Indigo 5000, a toner-based and calibrateable printer. Also the HP Indigo is a more consistent and better color managed printer, even without the Blurb ”custom workflow”, from my very brief experience.
But there is hope; the 7 x 7″ Blurb book can be printed on the HP Indigo as a “custom workflow” available through the B3 (Blurb Business to Business) program, which I am fortunate to have been an invited charter member. And of course, use of the custom workflow includes a little more cost to use. For my page count (under 80), the additional cost was $5.00 per book to have the custome workflow applied.
Which I just did. Now this book will be sold with the custom workflow and printed on the HP Indigo. I don’t know if others have the Blurb ”custom work” flow option for their 7 x 7″ books, but it should make a difference with the availablility of the HP Indigo printer.
The book is now under $30.00 without tax and shipping (in the US), but it should look a lot better. (Sorry Guy for not catching this sooner!). So I guess I now need to order another for myself and see the difference.
And I can wait on spending any time analizying why my 7×7″ book has such awful color shifts.
Best regards, Doug
PS has anyone noticed that WordPress has been changing how the large images in the post display??
Another take away from my SoFoBoMo book Places Amongst Us has been the relatively feel in my hands of the Blurb square 6-3/4 x 6-3/4″ softcover book. Perhaps a little too small. My square images appear to be stuffed in it. Admittedly, I use the LensWork magazine (also softcover & pefect bound) as my “gold standard” for small softcover books at the moment.
I had thought, since I am shooting square, then publish a square book. But the images just do not have a enough breathing room. I know that I have said this before, but I feel it is worth repeating and I want to write more about it now.
Fortunately, I have the ability to make a quick comparison, in as my film photograph example in my Sharpening book is the same one from the same square format series.
In the square book, my square image is 5-1/8 x 5-1/8″ with a 1/2″ surrounding margin. In the 10 x 8″ horizontal book, the square image is 4-3/4 x 4-3/4″ with a 1-5/8″ margin. The slightly smaller image with the larger margin in the larger book just looks and feels so much better. I think that this is where I also admit that I use really big mattes when I frame my prints.
The extra margin I call breathing room for the photographic image. Which I guess also puts me in a design space for a classic, not a contemporary book design. I do like the effects of a gallery in a book look.
Thus, next time I complete another series of square photographs and use Blurb, if they have not launched a larger version of the square book, I will be going with the retangular formats. That works better for me.
Best regards, Doug
Places Amongst Us by Douglas Stockdale
Yesterday afternoon I received my “printing proof” of my SoFoBoMo book Places Amongst Us, my softbound printed by Blurb.
And of course, its one of those good news, bad news things. First the bad news. I am a goof.
Having just completed my SoFoBoMo book it is probably a good time to reflect while the memories of this project are still fresh. So in very random order:
Deciding to try this with film and scanning was a mistake for ME. My film processing, scanning and image processing work-flow is too slow. Digital work flow in this short time frame is a better fit.
I like to spend more time looking and thinking and reflecting on how the photographs and images are progressing for a project. The good news about this series is that it is one that I have been thinking about for some time, including looking at this neighborhood before. So choosing something accessible and familiar was a good idea.
I still do not feel that I had enough time to put together the best pairing or sequencing of the images. There are some pairings that did come together wonderful well and work off each other in a delightful way. I am not sure that I want to have the images directly adjacent and touching each other as Martin Doonan did for his project, but his combination photographs have me thinking about the alternatives and implications. Martin’s combination photographs create a larger context for me than each individual image does on its own. Yes the 1+1=3 or 4 or 5 effect. Nice.
I do not recommend taking on two books in the same month. My excuse is that I am slightly crazy, and driven by the mother of invention. I was not going to proceed with another Blurb book without figuring out a process that was going to solve my crappy output, e.g. unsharpened images. And since this second how-to book used one new image made in May but I created 45 variations, I feel it really does not qualify for SoFoBoMo. So my Blurb book Sharpening Photographs for Blurb Printingis not going on the SoFoBoMo.org project list. Not unless there is a new catagory of creating a photography book in thirty days that is over 35 pages long;- )
Although I am not entirely happy with the outcome, I am okay with taking this on. As always, I seem to learn something about myself as well as about photography, and the process of looking and seeing. And I find that as I go by this neighborhood again, I see more that I now want to photograph. So perhaps this book is really a good project proposal? Food for thought, eh?
Best regards, Doug
While working on the film scans for my SoFoBoMo series, one tiny little thing kept dogging me, why was I getting some slight blurriness to my images. Not every image, but enough. Okay, way toooo many. This was another of those distracts that made me wonder, was I just producing crap in this 30 days and if so, what for?
Perhaps another reason that I opted out for the DSLR images so quickly, I was not getting good results with the film. Turns out, it was for a simple reason.
And the answer came tumbling down on me like a ton of bricks while I was quitely reading the David Plowden’s book. In the last year and half since I made the switch from the Hasselblad to the DSLR, I had forgotten one of the golden rules with the Hasselblad; first fire the mirror and then wait a couple of seconds and then expose the film. Duh!
The sounds of that old mirror slapping up during the exposire is a kinda of a neat sound. But it does have consequences. And I had forgotten them. Yikes.
So the second edition of my book will take a might bit longer, as I will be reshooting some photographs as well. First I need to quickly sort through my scanned negatives and pull out the near hits. Then I will have my short list to head out again. Oh well, it is a process and to enjoy the journey.
And this time, no deadlines. nice.
Best regards, Doug
oh, and if I quicly sell enough books, I can purchase a used 50 mm f/4 Distagon for the Hasselblad to complete this project. Unless, of course, any of you would like to donate one?
Update: 9 of 27 images were deleted and two maybes. I will add a sharpening layer to see if they continue to hold up or need rephotographed or use my digital version. grrrrrrrrrrrrr and I have myself to blame in as I should have remembered to pop that mirror up first.
My SoFoBoMo for 2008 is complete!
I just uploaded my Blurb BookSmart template and did all of the neccessary things and ordered my production proof of Places Amongst Us. And so it is now out there. Done for the moment.
