Great suggestions, Cal!
From what I read, the only gateway into an Aperture publication is by winning one of their competitions. I'll look into it.
Stefan,
That is one way, but I have seen too many books published at aperture to think that is the only way.
Your work has the social hook that if presented properly to the right person, editor, or publisher would be a compelling book.
Sometimes the work as photographs for exhibition becomes a book. This is another alternative. Do you have prints that are "exhibition" prints?
I saw one compelling show of schoolyards around the world at Aperture. The photos were large color prints, and it was a rather big show, but the book I had to purchase for some NYC teachers that are a married couple that both teach in the Bronx.
Anyways the schoolyards were the vehicle to show the disparity of wealth and privelage around the world. One school in India was once a Palace, another school in rural India for girls that were the first to be educated. Somehow the photographer was able to convey a powerful narrative that told a compelling story of the powerful and the powerless limiting a school's playground to capture the political, social, and cultural backgrounds that depicted vast disparity.
Also coal as an energy source and a resource is very complicated. What could be really important is to bone up, do research on the topic, and have extensive knowledge in your back pocket.
I live in NYC, a shooter's paradise for both street and landscape. I for one have done a lot of research on the locations, neiborhoods and history. I try not to be a tourist and try to really understand why things are the way they are.
I have shot a lot around Newtown Creek which geographically separates Brooklyn and Queens. It extends 4 1/2 miles into Long Island and raw sewage was first dumped there in 1853. It is one of the most polluted waterways in the U.S., but only in 1973 was it labeled a Superfund Site. Over the decades oil has spilled into the groundwater, and it is estimated that an oil spill three times the size of the Exxon Valdez accumulated over the decades. In the summer you can actually smell the oil...
Anyways all this information helps you get your book published and makes your work more important. I think many a time deals are not made because really people get ahead of themselves and really need to do everything they can do working alone. I think being prepared makes publishing your book more likely. Let the work continue.
Cal
