I’m not sure I’ve ever seen photography transfer to the printed page better than bird photography. Even if you don’t dabble in the feathered kingdom, you have to admit the color and form is second to none. I equate birds to abstract art, or illustration. And where I am now, things are tame. Were I to board a plane to Colombia or Peru, well, things would tick up a notch. Even if I aimed the van at South Texas I could add to the patterns, palette and dazzle.
I like to challenge myself. This has been happening on a daily basis. What can I make today? What can I do today? This is in addition to the normal tasks of my position.(Today is a writing assignment, several meetings, and a two-hour talk for a photography class taught by an editor of a photography magazine.) If I only did what was required of me I would not be sitting here writing this, nor would I still be in my position at Blurb. Call it drive, call it motivation, or call it the burden of being born with a beating heart, if you only do what is required you are not long for the position, any position.
My favorite photobook ingredients are 8×10, portrait, softcover, Proline Eggshell.
Spend money on the paper, save money on the cover. And the softcover gives the book a more approachable feel. It can’t be that nice right? It’s a softcover. And then you open it and implode in the goodness. Anything more than about sixty pages feels legit. Feels real and substantial. A nice, solid, middleweight. I use the portrait format because it’s a challenge. Much of my bird work is landscape aspect ratio, so designing into a portrait aspect ratio book is one notch more difficult. Just know that most of the books on my shelf are portrait aspect ratio.
This book was a ten-minute software test. I was asked to beta something and had a folder of bird images on my desktop. Literally, ten minutes. Boom, software works, thank you very much. But they allowed me to send a copy. I will cut these pages up and glue them in my next journal, but they got me thinking about birds and bird books. I know I have a bird story in me. What that is remains to be seen, but someday perhaps. I’ll get there. In my own meandering way.
At this time of year, I typically have at least two or three books in the works. I like to print something at the end of the year. Doesn’t have to be done or perfect. It’s a bellwether for the upcoming year. How does the work look overall? Are there good design decisions? Does the writing hold up? What direction should I move come January? I also like the book as a reminder. A few days ago, I found the journal I made from the trip to Antarctica, a little less than one year ago. (Wanted to go back again this year but not in the cards.) I leafed through the journal and thought “Oh ya, forgot about that moment,” or “Forgot about that photograph.” Most of the time I’m moving rather fast, which doesn’t bod well for a deep dive into one’s work, so the end of year book can be a gentle reminder of what went right or wrong.
Comments 16
Hi Dan, the book is beautiful! Just a quick note: the correct word is Pájaro, not Pajáro. Hope this finds you well.
I’m in awe of this photography. Of the beautiful birds. Maybe you should actually, for real, make a bird book.
Author
Working on it….but it’s way in the background. A lot of fun, incredibly challenging, educational. Just like most good stories.
Love this! Future “Book on Bosque” lol. Can’t imagine the challenges and design decisions working from Landscape to Portrait. Good exercise indeed…..thanks Dan.
Author
Just think. How many magazines come in landscape aspect ratio? None.
Reading this article made me remember the first time I saw an osprey several years ago, I was amazed at the beauty of it entering the water. After so many years I’m always happy when I see one of these birds here in Portugal.
Author
They have made an incredible rebound.
Ah Danielsan, as you know – for those that have shot “editorial,” you live in this format. The challenges are many. Leaving room for publisher’s blurb (pun intended) design and style, gutters and bleed. Somehow between you, editors and art directors, it all comes together…And, is exciting.
Author
Yes. The Fuji 6×9 was referred to as the “Doubletruck camera,” for this very reason.
Landscape aspect books are harder to fit nicely on a bookshelf with the spine showing and harder to hold in one hand while reading. Also the too-tall books are relegated to the “oversize” section. (I work in a library) I find similar principles apply to bookstore shelving, where they make monetary decisions regarding shelf space. One of my favourite books is a 6 x 9 ish hardcover by Burtynsky: Baichwal, and De Pencier called “Anthropocene”. Equal parts text and photos, published by Art Gallery of Ontario and others.
Author
6×9 is my fav trim size. Anything I do moving forward will most likely see the light in that size. So, if I come to your library and check something out. Are you gonna ding me if I return it late, or can I take advantage of knowing you?
Beautiful book and photography Dan! Looking forward to your bird book. Inspired by your bird photography enthusiasm and blog, I have recently relocated my camera and 100-400 zoom to my dining table that looks over the backyard, and the unexpected bird (& other wildlife) experiences has been surprising and delightful, for a suburban Sydney backyard.
Author
That is so funny. Mine is often there too. I wonder how many dining tables have cameras, binoculars and guide books?
DM- As anywhere, prompt response to notices usually results in someone going out of their way to fix things for you. 🙂 I work in a secondary school library, and we don’t do fines since the pandemic, so sick students didn’t drag themselves in to school to avoid fines. When we did have fines, we had amnesty days- bring back the books and a can of food for the Food Bank, and fines removed. Also, I was pleased to see that my local city library no longer charges fines, either, as I was late returning the largest, heaviest book I have ever checked out-“Bystander: A History of Street Photography” by Colin Westerbeck and Joel Meyerowitz. It was a lot of reading, and I wish the design had been more reader-friendly. I appreciated the large photos, but the text was hard to read, as a lot of it was on a tan-coloured background, in a bad-as-text typeface, and the height and weight of the book made it difficult to sit and read. It was not a coffee-table book, but one with lots of good content I wanted to read. I did eventually finish it.
Author
That’s interesting to hear about the library. I don’t think they do fines here either. Anything we can do to get more people to the library is a good thing.
Author
And, your point about the book. Not all books that make it to the shelf are good books. Something that people paying tens of thousands of dollars to publishers don’t seem to realize. There are A LOT of bad traditionally published books. But hopefully you got something out of it.