“Our dreams are made of real things, like a shoebox full of photographs.” — said Jack Johnson
I always get excited whenever I have some of my photos printed whether it’s on canvas, enlarged for framing, little 4×6’s, or a photo book. There is nothing like having those tangible images in my hands and not on a screen (where they will eventually disappear). Writers know the feeling. To see a story/essay/novel/poetry written — something you imagined and captured — is practically intoxicating. And once it’s on paper, it’s tangible and no longer ephemeral.
Multiple times I’ve written about this topic of getting photographs printed. So I won’t go into all the many significant reasons why you should simply do it, though I hope you will — do it. The other day I finally took advantage of a 40% sale at Blurb to produce a small fine art book containing a select few of my favourite black & white photographs. I likely should have made the book larger than the 30 pages (I select how many pages), but there’s always more photos for future photo books.
With Blurb books, there is always an option to also have your photo book made into a pdf document that you can share with others. This is the first time I had the pdf produced from the book I made and I’m not so sure I’ll do the pdf again. I had intended to share that pdf with everyone but the pdf doesn’t ‘show’ it as a book but as single pages. So what I’ve done instead, to hopefully allow you to see this particular book, is offer it publicly from Blurb (click on “Book Preview” below). I’m swimming in the dark with this option so I hope it works.
“A photograph doesn’t feel real until it is a tangible physical object I can hold in my hand.” – Stephen Johnson
I should add that, even though I’m revealing a company name, I do not receive any fees whatsoever from them. It’s simply one of the most convenient companies I tend to use for photo books. I’ve written posts in the past sharing my comments about the various companies I’ve used and Blurb simply has become my go-to for my personal photo books. I use other companies when I want snapshots, canvas wraps, photoboards, or other display options.
It’s all quite exciting as I wait for the photo book to arrive. It’ll be like discovering a shoebox full of photos.
I’m sprinkling special fairy dust to inspire you all to get some of your favourite photographs printed or perhaps to write a note or some letters to someone you care for.
Soundtrack: Photographs and Memories by Jim Croce
Such an animated sky with the wispy clouds! I had found a canvas company to provide great canvases. I had a huge one made for my parents of their favorite Florida getaway and I have many including one in my office of our harbor on Lake Michigan. But the canvas company recently was sold to another company and their website was not as user-friendly and didn’t have the same convenient features. It’s been eons since doing a photo book and the last one I did I feel was so amateur with no rhyme or reason to the layout or photos chosen. Thanks for sharing the link to your book. It gives me some ideas for layout. I will have to check out the companies you reference.
your link worked well and i enjoyed flipping through your book. i must admit i am one of your visitors who fails on printing images. sigh..
i love that sweeping sky and noticed it was included in your book