A few weeks ago, right before I embarked on my crazy three-week Blurb trip across Canada and the United States, I was contacted by Photoshelter in regard to doing a webinar. I’ve been a Photoshelter user for many years, so it felt right and I believe in what the platform can do. I’m a total underachiever when it comes to Photoshelter because I’m muddling in my own soup and really don’t use the platform to the fullest. I love anything that empowers photographers to do more. This is also why I love Blurb, so when it came to figuring out what the webinar would be it was fairly easy to come to this conclusion; it’s time to rethink the photobook.
Many people assume because I work for Blurb that I am pro print-on-demand and anti anything else, which couldn’t be further from the truth. Several weeks ago I co-taught a workshop with a powerhouse of creativity, Lauren Henkin, who is a handmade bookmaker. I RAN from the workshop salivating in regard to making my own handmade pieces.(If I ever get time.) And I also love traditional publishing methods, methods which provide the world with truly magnificent publications. I believe that as photographers our job is to create, and then ultimately utilize anything which helps us further the work.
I see a tremendous amount of conformity in our industry, which continues to puzzle me, at least to some degree. I get that times are tough and people are needing to get by, but I think the best work being done is being done by people who are breaking with tradition and acting off of pure creative instinct. You can compare alternative processes to what we have had in the past but I think in doing so you are comparing very different processes which were never designed to replace one another but rather to compliment one another. This, in essence, was the design behind this webinar.
I’ve heard through the grapevine that the feedback was overwhelmingly positive, so perhaps we were on the right track here and perhaps at some point there will be a follow up event. Have a look, have a listen and hopefully you find this helpful.
Rethinking the Traditional Photo Book with Dan Milnor and PhotoShelter from PhotoShelter.com on Vimeo.
Tagged: book, books, daniel milnor, photoshelter, rethinking, smogranch, traditional, webinar
A huge amount in there. Exhausting. The particular word which grabbed me was ‘collaboration’. Actually it is something more than that. The idea of the genius alone in the attic producing something narrow and specific has a powerful hold over us. Goes hand in hand with dwindling attention spans. Combining talents, juggling a range of different forms and being an advocate for something that matters － these are all positive moves away from working in blinkered fashion.
But it requires some quiet time, some stillness and some empathy.
Lionel,
Collaboration is something I’m just now starting to experiment with. So far so good. It has opened the flood gate so to speak, with several more collaborations in the works. I’ve also begun to think more conceptual as opposed to linear. Not that I’m going away from what I know and love, just feeling around in the dark.
Really enjoyed this webchat Dan, lots of great ideas as usual. I’m off now to check out Photoshelter – cheers.
David,
Photoshelter is a handy addition to your tool kit.