My first book

[Roger S]

Hi all.

I've been a member of RFF for some time and I have a number of photos in the gallery. As a long-time and committed RF user I hope you're going to let me get away with this. My confession is........

I started off with a Russian SLR way back in the late '60s.

Just a month ago I finally started a serious retrospective on my photography, and the following link is to the first product (yes, taken with that Zenit).

http://www.blurb.com/books/1927950

I'd really appreciate any feedback you'd care to give me on this.

Many thanks.

Roger

 

[Borghesia]

You're a great photographer, and I enjoyed having a peek at your book.
It has become an excellent social document from the place you live in.
Was this really all done with a Zenit ?

 

[Schlapp]

It is a really nice book that gives someone who doesn't know that area well, a great insight.
Zenit are great cameras with some nice lens too.

 

[Roger S]

You're a great photographer, and I enjoyed having a peek at your book.
It has become an excellent social document from the place you live in.
Was this really all done with a Zenit ?

Yes - the camera was a Zenit 3m, the most basic you could get - no meter, stop-down viewing and a non-return mirror. A lot of fun. Thanks for your kind words.

 

[AusDLK]

Book looks great. Congrats.

I started taking pictures around that time with an East German Practica Nova 1B SLR but have nowhere near the depth of impressive photographs you have here.

By the way, I recently bought working Practica from a street vendor in Williamsburg, Brooklyn that is a dead ringer for my first camera. Oddly, it has a different model name (not a Nova 1B) so I'm wondering if I'm not remembering correctly, or if they sold the same camera under different model names. Anyway...

How is Blurb doing these days reproducing b&w photographs?

 

[shadowfox]

Roger, your choice of grey paper is very interesting.
I am on the fence whether I actually find it neutral or distracting.

But your photos are of high-quality, some of them I really like and all of them tells about a way of life. The age of the photos themselves tell a rich story. Also, there seem to be redundant shots that I see, except for some deliberate ones. Which means you edit your collection carefully. This is most of the time the Achilles' heel of self-published photo-books.

And if I can make a plea, please put a photo on the cover, it's begging for one 🙂

I like Zenit 3M.

 

[Haigh]

These are wonderful b&w shots. Congratulations. As I type it is a sunny 32 degrees celsius where I ilve so those pictures convey a very different experience and do so very successfully.

 

[Roger S]

Thanks for all your comments, guys. I'm glad the photos seem to be giving an impression of the time and atmosphere of the place, which is all important to me.

I'm quite happy with the results from Blurb (although I wish the books were a little less expensive). I'm very into dense velvety blacks, and that's a challenge for the printers, but I think they've managed the contrast quite well. By the way, I tried both their paper grades and I found the cheaper one perfectly adequate.

 

[surfer dude]

Roger - congratulations! This is an extremely fine body of work that tells me much about the way of life of that part of the world in a most interesting time where things were deeply rooted in the past but were also not a long way from major change and upheaval.

I sincerely hope you will approach the local newspapers, libraries, historical societies, and anyone else you can think of with this book as it is bound to generate significant interest.

A wonderful body of work.

 

[Roger S]

Roger - congratulations! This is an extremely fine body of work that tells me much about the way of life of that part of the world in a most interesting time where things were deeply rooted in the past but were also not a long way from major change and upheaval.

I sincerely hope you will approach the local newspapers, libraries, historical societies, and anyone else you can think of with this book as it is bound to generate significant interest.

A wonderful body of work.

Thanks, Phil. Fortunately the local library organisation has decided to stock it in 5 locations, and I have a small exhibition starting in March. The challenge will be to see if I can generate interest outside the immediate location.

Roger

 

[jesse1dog]

Some super images especially in the first section.
Thought one or two of the colour photos at rhe back 'lifted' the book.
I can never understand how Blurb works - when I try an enlargement of your pages they actually seem to be smaller on the screen, and that doesn't help in looking at the pictures.
Something 'on the front' would be more eye catching than what you now have, I think, so I agree with a previous comment.
Because of the small repro on my screen, it's probably me, I couldn't read the introduction. However visually there would appear to be too many characters per line for easy scan reading. I think I might look at a narrower and so longer block of text.
Interesting book but perhaps a bit difficult for the non Welsh reader to locate the pictures and so place them in a geographical context. The book might have a greater universal appeal if this could be done - just a thought.
Trying to be helpful, but as 'her inside' says about me - just trying!!

jesse

 

[dave lackey]

Roger,
Nice work and congratulations on your first book. My wife and I spent some time in Cardiff 10 years ago and it was a joy previewing your book. I would buy it in an instant if our medical bills weren't out of sight, so will have to wait awhile.

Actually, your book is a great inspiration for a series of local town life documentaries that I am just now beginning.

May I do half as well as you did.🙂🙂🙂

 

[will-i_am]

i really enjoyed looking at that. it made me want to travel back in time very nice.

 

[Ducky]

Great work, I left a comment.