The Book, continued...

I have been continuing to experiment with different layouts for my "Trout Dreams" book and have come up with one for the diptychs and Holgaramas that I think will work.

I think this layout works a lot better than the previous layout I posted where I had a square photograph paired with a wide format diptych.   I am going to hold on to this layout for a while and see how I feel about it after I do more with the book.

My other layout challenge continues to elude me, which is by far the most important element of the book which is of course the cover.  In keeping with my camera choice I want to keep things simple, but I know I need to make somewhat of a visual impact at the same time. Since my original post the other other day I have come up with two more cover layouts.

I am thinking that this one is a bit too much like the inside of the book, so I don't think I'll go with this layout.

 

I think this one is a little better, but I am still not sure.

I was talking with a friend recently about this book, and over the course of the conversation she kept asking me, "Why?" Why do you want to do a book like this?". And I have given it more thought, and I want to do a book like this as continuation, or maybe a preliminary event to the exhibit I want of this body of work.  After all, exhibits are only up and seen for a few short weeks or so, but a book lives on and on..

I'd love to hear any thoughts, comments and suggestions, I have never done anything like this before.

Thanks,

Brian

Would you buy this book?

One of my biggest goals as a photographer and especially with the fly fishing photographs I have been doing for the past five years, is to have the work exhibited and to ultimately have a book.  While I am not in a place to be able to do an exhibit and with all of the many site that are available to self publish a book of your own, I thought I'd give t a try.
While I do that I thought I'd conduct a little market research and testing of various things that are involved with doing a book.
I have decided to use Blurb's "BookSmart" software for my book,  and I have been experimenting with layout and design and have come up with the following, so far anyway, for the cover.

I generally like white for matting, but in this case I think it is just too stark, which is why I came up with a second cover.

I think I like the grey better, but I think the photograph needs to be positioned a little better now that I look at it.
The hardest part I find when doing a book, is putting the photographs in order, I have been playing around with placing a photograph with a more broader view on the  right side of the page with a detail photograph on the right like this.

The placement of the square photographs is pretty easy, and initially I thought I'd stick with just the square photographs, but the diptychs and and "Holgarama's I have are a big part of what I feel makes these photographs unique in the context of fly fishing, so I am going to include them.  The trouble I am having is sizing them, they are just so wide that they don't fit on the page, even with the 13"xx11" format. I know I'll figure it out though!

So far this is what I have come up with as far as putting the diptychs and Holgaramas in the book.  I'd like to have them span both pages, but as I mentioned I am having trouble doing it, but I think this works.
Don't you?

There are other challenges too of course, like writing some of my own text, such as an artist statement and what text if any to put with the photographs, all of which will come in time as I do the layout of the book..

What I'd really like is to have someone well known in the fly fishing industry, blogosphere or even a photographer write a forward for it, that would be the ultimate. 

My biggest fear of course is that no one will buy the book, a common fear for all artists I know, but the old adage, "If you build it, they will come" keeps running through my mind while I stress over font types, layout and what not.
I know that self publishing is where the publishing industry is going, but I'd sure love to have a book done the traditional way.  If anyone out there who works in the publishing industry and likes what they see in my photography feel free to contact me.

All that being said, would you buy a book of my photography? I know that the few people who I know actually check out my blogsite and comment would, but if you like my photography and have never commented or are just checking out my site for the first time let me know what you think. I'd love to hear from you on any aspect of this. 

Thanks,

Brian