Open a piece of bookmaking software, and you will know where you stand. There is no hiding from the book. Random snappers beware. I like to torment myself because it reminds me of photography school and the first six years of my professional career. There was always someone looking, watching, and waiting to pounce if something wasn’t quite right. Contrary to modern thought, this was a good thing. I’m not saying it was polite, easy, or nice, but it sure lit a fire under me to be the best I could be.
One of my favorite go-to techniques is to make the “30-Minute” book.
That’s it. Set a timer and go. When I came to Hokkaido, I switched from the Nikon to the Fuji, planning to shoot 16×9 as I did in Morocco, but after a quick assessment in Sapporo, I decided to go 5:4 instead. The workshop was over, but we spent a day exploring the southern portion of the island before landing in Jozankei. I made a few dozen images during the day. I also found my title. Yes, I often find a title, then work backwards to make a book.
Book snobs, elitists, and the “considered” crowd hate it when I make and show books like this because they are mostly miserable people, or suffer from huge egos and insecurities. Not all, just many. They scream, “There are too many bad books,” as if there haven’t always been too many bad books, or that they don’t make bad books they paid $50,000 for. Books with no marketing or distribution. I could go on. But what they fail to realize is that I’m not making books like this to impress anyone, and I have no intention of printing more than one, and that one will be destroyed and used in another way. At times, I take my work seriously, but never myself.
The 30-Minute book is a tool.
What do I have or not have? Can I fill a minimum-page-count book with one day of shooting? Will any of it be any good? Does it matter? This is why I do these books. To find answers. Hokkaido, at least for us on this day, was about landscape more than people. I found one person I found intriguing, a young woman from another country who was lingering in the same area. I watched her and began writing her fictional background. Where she was from, why she was there, and what was going through her mind, this became the only copy in the book, but I’ve not shown it here to protect her identity, and I’ve not shown the close-up of her, which is an image I really like, but again, didn’t want to highlight her too much.
The rest are filler images. Content more than photography, and very different from my thermal print triptychs with charcoal sketches and clear film, the technique that will comprise my main Japan book from this trip. Just for fun. What do I have? Thirty minutes, and NO SECOND GUESSING OR REFINEMENT. This is about first instinct, and NOT suffering over ANYTHING. This kills so many good bookmakers. Check your ego, check your expectations. When you see how I will ultimately use this book, well, you might laugh or cry. Either way, emotion is good; it lets us know we are alive.
One of our students on this trip was a thirty-year photobook publisher, founder, and book packager. She said several complimentary things about Blurb, about the books I make, and about the future of photobook publishing. The time is now, people. You can let others tell you who and what to be, or you can blaze your own trail like Sonny in his black Daytona GT convertible. Bren 10 under his arm, Detonics on his ankle, Lucky Strike dangling from suntanned lips, scanning for targets with Phil Collins pumping from the Blaupunkt. (Rico, too, but he’s the spiritual side.)
Thirty minutes to let your mind wander. Thirty minutes to use your imagination. How often do we take the time to do this? Edit, sequence, write, design, and then move on. Reload, format, start over. There will be time to make sense of this at a later date, but for now, I will just play. Everything comes in phases. One idea leads to another and another. I’ve been labeled as the “guy with strange ideas.” In fact, that’s how I’ve picked up some of my best jobs. “Ya, ya, ya, you aren’t perfect, but you are weird and have strange ideas.”
We have little time left in Japan. Slightly more than a day, and now I must do something else. I must stop what I’m doing, recalibrate for the next adventure, while appreciating what’s outside my window. Take the time. Yes, I have Blurb prep, Hong Kong and Spain pre, and prep for the next class, but there IS time, if only a small amount. Right here, right now.
Comments 4
“Sonny in his black Daytona” it wasn’t his, it was a loaner from the police impound lot, but, when you put the two together, it was a natural fit, it was meant to be.
“I’m not saying it was polite, easy, or nice, but it sure lit a fire under me to be the best I could be.” Hard truths (or opinions) are good fodder for growth. I sometimes (often?) chafe when I hear criticisms of my work, but I make an effort to hear out the critic (meaning, to *really* listen, to ask them questions to ensure I understand what their feedback is), then decide if that information is something that I should apply now/in the future or if it’s in the “thanks for sharing” category.
“Check your ego, check your expectations”…love this, good reminder.
It’s in the gray we find our true selves and what we are made of. Navigating the gray can be scary with not knowing but maybe better outlook is that you will come to know something.
Curious if you have a default template setup in BookWright for the 30min book? Or is it free form from the start?
Deadlines and tight time limits are helpful. I have 16 pages of a book, 13 of which I am happy with. There is even writing in there! I have found the BookWright system way easier to deal with than the Lightroom Classic book module. Lightroom was great for collecting together the photos, editing them, getting test prints, more editing, and having them all in one place to export into a folder. Progress has been made! I hope to have 20 good pages soon, and will order a test book.