How many pages should a book of photographs have?

[Sparrow]

How many pages should a book of photographs have? ... it will be 12x12 with 8x12 images, so both landscape and portrait are at the same scale. The image will be on the righthand page the facing page will be blank save for a few short lines of verse in the centre (yes artsy and pretentious I know)

... it's always been the practice in my studio to limit the number of designs and colour-ways that are shown to the customer to four and six respectively. (Customers are easily confused by choice, and generally make the wrong decision if one offers it)

Along those lines how many photos would you think to ... A) make it worth doing ... B) keep it interesting to view or read

 

[FrankS]

Minimum 12 images. The book can be intimate and strongly themed.

Add as many more strong images that you have that belong, up to 48. These higher numbers will change the character of the book.

 

[Photog9000]

When I wanted to do a few books for my legacy to my kids (still working on a couple of more using blurb.com), I had the same dilemma. I have ended up with my efforts showing up as 100 pages or more. I usually do at least two edits myself of the images before enlisting my wife to do a final edit. The edits are done without regard to the number of pages. One book is just over 100 pages but has over 300 images. Another is 124 pages but has less than 70 images. I just went with a gut feel based more on the images that made the three edits to determine if a book was worth doing but the "worth doing" is only in my opinion. Some may look at the books and think they are too long or that the edits were not tight enough, etc. Like anything in the arts, it is all very subjective based on the viewer. But, again, that is just my opinion....take it with a grain of salt.

 

[Rob-F]

I like a book with lots of photos, not one I can be done looking at in 5 or 10 minutes. So I like it to be a "real book" with at least 50 photos, and 80 to 100 would be better.

 

[FrankS]

The proper number of pages/images depends largely on the purpose of the book.

As I understand Stewart's purpose, it is more reflective and thoughtful, hence my suggestion of (much) fewer than 50 pages.

 

[lynnb]

Meyerowitz's Cape Light: 43 photographs
Wim Wenders' Pictures From the Edge of the Earth: 55 photos
Jason Eskenazi's Wonderland: 77 photos (a small book of bw photos)
Walker Evans' American Photographs: 87 photos

The Meyerowitz book is similar in size and design to your proposal, and it works well. Ditto the Wenders book. Does that help?

 

[cz23]

My book Tongues of Trees is pretty much what you describe, including the verses. Not pretentious at all, in my view, but a real labor of love.

It's 60 pages, which is about as small as I would go for a project like that. I've had it printed and like that length. If you're goiing with hardbound, I think more pages is better. I have Michael Kenna's hardbound "Love in Black and White" -- also photos and poetry -- and it seems just right at about 95 pages.

In the poetry world chapbooks are popular and much smaller. Maybe that's an option?

I look forward to seeing it. Personally, I love the way photos and poems work together, and the process of putting them together is incredibly rewarding

John

 

[lynnb]

^^that's a nice looking book, John. Well done. Thanks for the link.

 

[Sparrow]

The proper number of pages/images depends largely on the purpose of the book.

As I understand Stewart's purpose, it is more reflective and thoughtful, hence my suggestion of (much) fewer than 50 pages.

... yes sadly it's Art Frank, after spending our summers in Corfu for many years I'd sort of run out of normal stuff to photograph, so last summer I just went round looking for pattern and symmetry and the like which got me thinking about maths, geometry and homeric Greece

 

[Godfrey]

How many pages should a book of photographs have? ... it will be 12x12 with 8x12 images, so both landscape and portrait are at the same scale. The image will be on the righthand page the facing page will be blank save for a few short lines of verse in the centre (yes artsy and pretentious I know)

... it's always been the practice in my studio to limit the number of designs and colour-ways that are shown to the customer to four and six respectively. (Customers are easily confused by choice, and generally make the wrong decision if one offers it)

Along those lines how many photos would you think to ... A) make it worth doing ... B) keep it interesting to view or read

As many as necessary to express the intended statement, and no more. There's no set number.

Short books with few photos have to be strong to make an impact. Larger books with many photos have to have a larger story to tell in order to succeed.

G

 

[Sparrow]

When I wanted to do a few books for my legacy to my kids (still working on a couple of more using blurb.com), I had the same dilemma. I have ended up with my efforts showing up as 100 pages or more. I usually do at least two edits myself of the images before enlisting my wife to do a final edit. The edits are done without regard to the number of pages. One book is just over 100 pages but has over 300 images. Another is 124 pages but has less than 70 images. I just went with a gut feel based more on the images that made the three edits to determine if a book was worth doing but the "worth doing" is only in my opinion. Some may look at the books and think they are too long or that the edits were not tight enough, etc. Like anything in the arts, it is all very subjective based on the viewer. But, again, that is just my opinion....take it with a grain of salt.

.. I'd struggle to get 300 from the negs I have, 70 might be doable, even among the photos I've already done the editor in me is mentally selecting the weakest

 

[Sparrow]

Meyerowitz's Cape Light: 43 photographs
Wim Wenders' Pictures From the Edge of the Earth: 55 photos
Jason Eskenazi's Wonderland: 77 photos (a small book of bw photos)
Walker Evans' American Photographs: 87 photos

The Meyerowitz book is similar in size and design to your proposal, and it works well. Ditto the Wenders book. Does that help?

... yes, well probably, it's in that range I would have thought ... I have a little over fifty ready, but some of those may not make the final cut ...

 

[kxl]

One 8x12 per page opposite a page of verse? No less than 16 photos (32 pages) and no more than 32 photos (64 pages).

 

[cz23]

As many as necessary to express the intended statement, and no more. There's no set number....

I like Godfrey's answer. However many pages create a feeling of significance and completeness.

John

 

[Sparrow]

One 8x12 per page opposite a page of verse? No less than 16 photos (32 pages) and no more than 32 photos (64 pages).

.... I can see the symmetry of that, even if it wasn't intended

 

[Sparrow]

I like Godfrey's answer. However many pages create a feeling of significance and completeness.

John

Yes it is, but not to the question I asked

 

[Dave Jenkins]

See how you like my book http://www.blurb.com/books/4973943-georgia-a-backroads-portrait. It's 140 pages, 12x12, which is probably longer than you're considering, but appropriate for my subject. It's all a matter of artistic judgment, really. At what point will you feel the book is a satisfactory expression of your artistic intent?

I second Bill Clark's suggestion: start putting it together and see how it goes. I don't think there's any other way you're ever going to know.

Georgia: A Backroads Portrait is currently under consideration at three publishing houses. Here's hoping one of them will come through!

 

[icebear]

No answers .. but maybe some questions can also help 😉:

How many really strong photographs do you have that connect to the topic of the book?
How long before the reader/viewer flips the back cover because the amount just lost his attention.
How many photographs will the reader/viewer remember after the book is closed?

 

[FrankS]

Going along with the post above, I suggest fewer pics to leave the viewer wanting more, rather than more pics, causing the viewer to lose interest.

 

[Sparrow]

No answers .. but maybe some questions can also help 😉:

How many really strong photographs do you have that connect to the topic of the book?
How long before the reader/viewer flips the back cover because the amount just lost his attention.
How many photographs will the reader/viewer remember after the book is closed?

Going along with the post above, I suggest fewer pics to leave the viewer wanting more, rather than more pics, causing the viewer to lose interest.

I expect that's the nub of it ... I have fifty at the moment, and expect ten to twenty from what negatives I've still to go through.

However I could easily discard some of those on review, so as 48 is such a good number, that could well be the way