Feast Your Eyes on my latest Rolleiflex Blurb book.

NY_Dan

NY_Dan

Well-known
Local time
1:50 PM
Joined
Jan 10, 2014
Messages
1,289
tumblr_n11t7hQC4d1r916qao1_1280.jpg


Here's my latest Blurb book: FEAST YOUR EYES
Shot with a 1961 Rolleiflex 2.8f, Rolleinars, Kodak Tmax 400, and vintage flashbulbs.

You can see the whole book in Preview Mode.

Please comment :) ask questions, throw tomatoes, etc... Thank you!
 
Some great shots there Dan. I especially liked the cover shot, the old woman with the puppets and the tattoo guy. Good use of juxtaposition too.
--
Monz
 
Dan,
This is a really excellent collection. I like it a lot.
I noticed some people couldn't keep their pants on, and I think I know why.
 
Very fine, Dan! I wish I'd gotten on better with my Rolleis. You seem to have found a home within that square! Excellent work!
 
Dan, this is excellent. Not only do I like the shots as stand-alone images, but the flow of work and transitions from one set to the next is wry, clever, and well done. As a body of work they're exquisite.

Kudos!

Roger
 
Lots of great images. BUT:
1- I am disillusioned, that you are not the guy with the twisted moustache, LOL
2- There is stuff for 2 or 3 separate books there, in my opinion, you have put too much material together.
3- I particularly like: girl calling a taxi, flashed mastiff, boys playing behind the net, old lady with puppets, the "Maori" guy, kid in the shopping cart, the skating girl and the skateboard guys, the "T" lantern, and the initial photos of people caught in their thoughts.
4- Many people in the US are really obese.
 
Very nice book - congratulations on a job well done!

Goofball question for you -- is your ultimate goal to sell many copies of the book? If so, is the $175 price correct? Just wondering, as I've been contemplating doing a Blurb book too, and have been trying to determine an appropriate 'price point'.
 
Thanks everyone for the feedback and taking the time to view the photos. I'll work on growing a mustache of my own :)

Vince Lupo said:
Very nice book - congratulations on a job well done!

Goofball question for you -- is your ultimate goal to sell many copies of the book? If so, is the $175 price correct? Just wondering, as I've been contemplating doing a Blurb book too, and have been trying to determine an appropriate 'price point'.
Click to expand...

The $175 is correct -- but that's because it's a 12x12 size, doesn't have the Blurb logo, and has upgraded paper. Without these things it would be closer to $110 maybe, but still much too expensive. I get one copy for myself - there's currently a 20 percent coupon code easy to Google. So I have zero goal or hope of selling any copies. I will do a softcover 7x7 inch version today or tomorrow that will sell for about $35. (I do this so I can have two copies for copyright registration.) The eBook which looks good on an iPad is $4.99. Right now from 4 previous books I've amassed :) $24.18 in sales. When it hits $25, Blurb will cut me a check, but deduct $5 for processing the check.

My goals are simple -- share the photos with others, get feedback, see what's working -- fellow photographers appreciate the effort the most. The next goal is to see how the work is progressing and provide a motivation to shoot more. I really enjoy the purpose and motivation the books provide. Right now I'm snowbound, and literally chomping at the bit as they say to get out and start shooting for the next book. I know my books could benefit from more culling. I don't really look at these as finished books, but work in progress. Coming up with titles and copy is part of the experience.

chikne said:
Yeah you have some very good images in there, but I think you should remove the ones that are not so good because it kind of waters down the good ones, it will also make the book a bit shorter!

Overall very good, you seem to get access to some pretty idiosyncratic characters!!
Click to expand...

True. I wonder how some of the characters survive, and where they call home.
 
chikne said:
To be honest, I think that you are too far ahead of yourself, but that is my very personal point of view.
Just think about it, you've made this book in 1 year of shooting only. Wouldn't it be a better idea to ask someone to have a look at your work and select the best images, out of that try to develop your work/style/whatever based on the strongest images, and see how that goes?

I remember in art school how our tutors would comment that the bare minimum for a single project would require at least 10 000 hours...
Click to expand...

You're absolutely correct. But... I did this "book" in 6 months not one year. :) And it's not a book, not really, it's just a collection of my favorite shots I took during this time period. Sure, it's in the form of a book, but it's not a book book, but a self-published Blurb book that I will buy one or two copies of. Also during the middle of this 6 months I did a second "book" of color photos shot with outdated 126 Kodacolor film and my 1965 Instamatic. I titled it IF YOU SEE SOMETHING. So when I write I'm chomping at the bit to do another book, what I should have written was that I'm eager to start shooting another collection -- which I am. As for 10,000 hours -- who knows? Wouldn't 9,000 hours suffice? The hour total could include all the years we've lived, and then what we shoot takes as long as it takes. I have no idea. I need to ask someone with an MFA. Projects are anathema.
 
Just speaking of my own experience, I've noticed that it is hard to let go of images when you've first shot them. I think you are just too invested in the excitement and effort of making them to see them just for the image that is there. A year or more later many will not seem as good anymore, at least that is true for me. The hard part is trying to make decisions earlier, but making use of this knowledge. For me the most effective way to do that is to be absolutely ruthless in editing. Some good shots may occasionally get overlooked until later, but that does not dilute your work as much as showing a weaker image can.

The best shots in your book are really fabulous and would rise even higher for me if the editing were tighter.

I just looked at your IF YOU SEE SOMETHING book and it is my favorite of the 3 I've looked at. There may not be as many real stand out images for me in it, but it holds together really well.

I enjoy your efforts and look forward to seeing what you come up with next.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom