Black & White Photos of New York

The Central Park book is finally starting to come together. But - phew - it’s a lot of work.

The MyPublisher software leaves a bit to be desired, and I ended up making full-bleed images in Photoshop so that I could do borders and a few other touches.

I had problems for about two weeks about how to organize the material; whether to have captions; and of course what to exclude. After three weeks of working almost every day on the thing, I began to wonder whether I shouldn’t do with SharedInk so my work would be of the best quality; but I still couldn’t deal with the cost difference. I might do a small limited edition run with them at some point.

Anyway - it is coming together - and I’m doing my best to keep my cost under $60 for the 8 x 11 hardcover. One thing I can say, you definitely don’t do this to get rich. I’m not even sure if I’ll recoup the all the money I spent on experiments with them and other PODs.

What I should do - is put a list of camera equipment used to make the photographs - so that I can prove that I’ve been foolish enough to use just about everything in the B&H Catalog.

Oh - and what have I learned: one thing is that it’s just about impossible to do a two-page full bleed spread from an uncropped 35mm ratio shot. Actually, it is impossible. Also, and this is obvious, it’s a bit tough to justify too many vertical shots in a landscape book. All in all I’d vote for square format (again that’s how I did the first SharedInk book). Everyone should offer square books or if not exactly square - as close as possible.

(next day)

Ah!  I figured out what I’m doing.  I decided that I’m going to do the MyPublisher Deluxe book.  This is 11 x 15 inches.  The paper is much thicker than the paper used in the smaller books.  When I started to work at this size, I realized quickly that I could easily put two images on one page, even three, and that they would compliment each other, and at the same time hold up size-wise.

Even though this size is much more expensive than the other sizes ($3 a page) - when you factor in the 40% discount; and the fact that I can include more images on less pages; it turns out to still be less expensive than the SharedInk 12 x 12 (and it has a bit more paper space).

So know I feel better - that all this effort will result in a book without too many compromises.  It will still cost more than the middle-sized book - but I think I can keep my cost to somewhere between $72 and $90.  I realize that this may seem like a lot to the average person - and maybe it is - but if you compare it to the cost of a single 11 x 14 print - maybe not that bad.  And I think that it will have it’s own intrinsic value.

Of course, I’ve fallen behind with print orders again - so that will keep me occupied for two days.  Oh - and one of the good things about doing the book is the number of old and forgotten (good) negatives I’m finding.  You know - you look back sometimes - rarely - and realize how much you’ve done.  This morning I give my self a big pat on the back.