Creative: Ten Minute Timeline

Blurb requested artwork for an upcoming blog post and in the process of searching for a fitting image I came across my Peruvian multiple exposures. I forgot these images existed. After I return from a workshop, I typically have many things to catch up on. My work is already edited by the time I get home, but I rarely do much with it. Get home, get caught up, and move on to the next task. In past years, I would always make multiple books, but the pace of life now makes this challenging. Coming across the image you see here made me want to create a book of this work, but my time constraints won’t allow it. But what I can do is a ten-minute practice spread.

One image, one spread. That’s all. At ten minutes see where you are and see what you can pluck from the test. Perhaps the image placement works or a specific typeface. Maybe your ten-point type is too large, or maybe you could add another layer of “something” to the side of the spread. Maybe a bleed image is better with a border. It’s endless. These tests are important. Nobody makes a perfect photography book. There is no such thing, and if you are one of those people who won’t move until “something is perfect,” just give up on that right now. The best book designers in the world will tell you what I’m telling you now. Nothing is perfect. Everything comes via refinement. Test books. Small, inexpensive. Tinker, tinker, tinker. And THEN make your move. I keep a test document in BookWright. Nothing but test spreads. Have an idea, boom. Have ten minutes, boom.