Books and more books........

Books have become one of the major vehicles for publishing serious photography. In reality they always were of course and in the early days of my photography were almost the only place I could see the work of the photographers I admired. 

Part of my studio bookshelves

I still have all those books, bought at the time and some have become quite rare and sought-after first editions. The monetary value now is not important - except if I ever lost them and wished to replace them I suppose. I quite often browse the ABE books website to look for a book or check some of the silly prices my early editions would now cost me to replace. 

Equally important I think are exhibition catalogues, although they fulfill a slightly different function. As a reminder of the exhibition, a vehicle for an intelligent discussion of the work and good reproductions of at least a part of the exhibition, they can be substantial editions.

'Great Little Tin Sheds of Wales' catalogue, 1984

Reproducing photography well has always been an expensive business. very few books ever see the light of day without financial support from somewhere. Increasingly this is in the form of the photographer themselves with the rise in self-publish via Blurb or a similar digital publishing outlet. 

I have been lucky over the years to have had books and catalogues published to accompany most of my major one-person exhibitions. Also fortunate in that some individuals whose opinions I respect have contributed written material to them. In all cases this has added positively to the publication.

'Celtic Light exhibition catalogue, 1988

Editing is not easy. Selecting what to exclude is difficult as inevitably many 'favourites' have to be left out. likewise your opinion can change about a body of work while the editing process in ongoing and your selection and maybe even design, shifts.  

Sometimes the final edit for the catalogue or book has to be made so far in advance due to deadline and printing pressures, that it's a fait accompli even before final choices have been made for the exhibition edit and display. Looking back now, 20-20 hindsight is always great of course, there are a number of changes I would have made to various publications given more time. 

'Northern Light', exhibition catalogue, 1993

Of course, this applies to almost every creative  endeavour. Given unlimited time everything might be improved. Unfortunately if that were the case very few publications would ever see the light of day. They would be in a state of constant editing and updating.

Costs have a large bearing on choices too. The 'Cader Idris' book was costly due to the four colour printing of the platinum prints. Add to this the duotone printing of the black and white images it became a five colour print job. I was very fortunate to receive Arts Council grants and support from the printers themselves but nevertheless, there was a limit. 

Cader Idris book printing, 1997

In retrospect I would have made the images larger on the pages but as always, compromises had to be made to work within limited budgets. The compensation was that the printing was superb. As the printers were very supportive I was allowed 'on press' to sign off the first pages as they came off the press.

Cader Idris book printing, 1997

Scary. Huge, five or six colour B1 presses ready to roll, plus a second press printing the cover, printers hovering, waiting for the OK. Once I was happy they gave me a big, black magic marker to sign one of the sheets. At that moment everyone sprang into action, buttons were pressed and the presses rolled into action. Too late now to ask for changes!

Cader Idris book, 1993

A good experience and a great way to learn something about the technical processes involved. I believe that to have at least a reasonable working knowledge of the printing technicalities at every stage is a help to designing the final product and an aid to the editing process. This can also help with the making of prints or scans for the reproduction process. While it does not replace in any way, the expertise of a good printer whose opinion should be listened to, it does help if you understand the process. It can also help bring down production costs if maybe a part of the process can be brought within the scope of the photographer. This helped with the publication of a later catalogue and book. More on those again........