Some Recently Acquired Book Promos

Last week I received not one but two book promotions from photographers. Allison V. Smith’s came first and, strictly speaking, it isn’t a book at all but rather the fourth volume of her Zine. In the short but sweet introduction she explains:

All the photographs in Zine 4, Can you Hear me Now? were shot with my iPhone. I was never a fan of the camera phone until the iPhone. Puleaze- use your real camera, I would say. Now I’ll grab it before my Hasselblad. OK, I know that’s a bad habit and trust me, I won’t ditch my red Hasselblad even for the fanciest iPhone. But my iPhone is just simple and convenient. It does not hang around my neck or need film. It’s instant and ready to share. What’s not to love? All of these photos were shot in 2009, on assignment, in the air, on the road, at friends’ homes and out my kitchen window. Some were shot in Maine, lots were shot in Texas and the rest in between.. or in California.

They are just superficial snapshots.

Here are some superficial snapshots of Zine 4:

© Allison V. Smith

© Allison V. Smith

© Allison V. Smith

© Allison V. Smith

This little number certainly did the trick (or at least A trick, or part of the trick)- it drove me to her site.

Also, big props to the handlettering- a nice little addition. Well done Will Bryant, I checked out your site too and it really really rocks. Attention Art Buyers looking for handlettering- this guy’s got it down (and apparently he married young and needs the paycheques- thanks to blog linkage for that odd fact).

The other book that landed on my front step came from local shooter Steve Carty and is entitled Positives. Steve sent along a lovely note too which reads in part:

It would be quite easy to rant on about so many negative things about the current state of the industry, but that’s not really my style. All I know how to do is to be positive. I try to inspire a few and maybe make a little mark of my own within this arena of contemporary photography. I’m just straight up with my attitude and approach to making pictures.

Steve also mentioned in the note that he wanted the book to give to people who “I feel may have heard of me, but maybe, don’t have a good enough sense of what I am actually doing to really make an accurate impression.”

Now, I am a fan of less-is-more in a photographer’s portfolio but at about 140 pages, I think Steve’s book is a notable exception to this preference and I think it also speaks to my other thesis- that the role of the portfolio/book is changing dramatically. There are some fantastic images in here and given Steve’s relatively narrow content concentration (celebrity, entertainment, some fashion), he has strongly positioned himself as a guy who can get these shots any which way. It seems almost old-school to see some many different lighting styles represented (high-key, B&W, natural defused, direct sunlight etc.) but it works.

Steve’s assumption about me was right- I had heard of him but I didn’t have a good sense of what he did. Now I do. And, in his case, showing me so much imagery in this book really gave me a comprehensive picture of his talent and interest. Plus, it’s well printed, sized and laid out.

Let’s take a look:

© Steve Carty

© Steve Carty

© Steve Carty

© Steve Carty

© Steve Carty

© Steve Carty

I asked Steve about his decision to produce this book, how he distributed it and how it has been received.

i self published and released my first book last may, to coincide with contact. i was showing at the jerome jenner gallery with jamel shabazz and che kothari, the show was called 3 generations of urban portraiture. shabazz is the forefather of urban portraits and guys like him made it easier for me to come up with a different style, primarily shooting hasselblad, gave me a separation from the others that were shooting “urban portraits”.

my aim was to keep this hardcover to a limited run of 500. i did the first 100 and sold them at the closing party of my show. i had presold about 20 copies before the book came out and sold another 40 during the month of june. i had to sell 55 copies at $120 per copy to make my quota which i did by june 30th. from that point, the hard cover sold maybe a copy or 2 per week, just through online sales on my website and through word of mouth and people coming by the studio and of course twitter. for most of the year, i used this book as my portfolio, and showed it to a few agencies and magazines, i could have shown it more. all that see it recieve it well although i haven’t gotten any bangers. although i have quoted on a lot. i’m undecided whether i will do more runs of this book, but i will do another run of 100 of some other content this year and every year. the over all impact of having a book or having several is huge and self publishing is the way. i’m all over it. i do all the layout, design and print sourcing. my actual physical fashion book also looks like this, in status.

on to the soft cover. i decided to run a smaller soft cover to sell some for a cheaper price, i lowered my hardcover price to $100 once i made my quota, and my softcover sells for $60. i’m choosing 10 key people in toronto to give them to that i believe have the influence to say the words that will at least make some people look. maybe they’ll watch a behind the scenes video or an interview and hear a bit about what i have to say. that list of giveaways may grow, which is fine, the books are bought and paid for, all i need is for more eyes to see it. i just got these soft covers so you are the first. more are going out this week.

those that know me, seem to always use me. i did the winners account back in 1999 for 2 years with rob lawrence from fcb. i shot the last eatons catalogue that never got printed during their bankruptcy times, which would have helped me much if it actually came out. i got crushed by the world trade 9/11 business, didn’t work for almost 5 months, lost my studio, took about 2 years to come back up in profile. shooting pharrell and some of the other famous faces around that time helped bring me out of that lull in work.

i do work for some magazines in the US, anntenna, scratch and a few others, i often get hired to shoot celebs when they are in town via publicists and through cbc for film fest. i’ve shot film fest for cbc for the last 5 years, although last year they pulled out on coverage. i have a 1600 sqft studio on king w and portland and it’s very nice for clients and gets recieved well. business has been good since i moved here. i share with some of my past apprentices, javier lovera and jalani morgan. i was photography school for both of them and 2 more since them.

overall, i feel like i’m underutilized. i’m super enthusiastic, i feel very strong in my visual signature. i just feel people may write me off without even knowing my work because of the catch 22 of not being seen in too many canadian magazines, which on a global curve, don’t get much attention as it is. just did a nice run with naked eye magazine of shooting 5 issues in a row. not bad for a quarterly. but still, i feel like i’ve been on the brink for way way too long.

i’ve been shooting since i was 14. i went to a high school that had photography from grade 10. i did well. i decided to go to ryerson after a year off which i used to test my first agency models and work as a manager at blacks. at ryerson learned from bill scanlon and john solovski, who taught walter chin and struan that i had all the tools to do this, i just had to go do it. i got my hasselblad in 1991 brand new, my first studio in 1992 when i was 22. i’ve lived in miami early in my career for a year and i’ve spent time in new york, i was represented there for 3 years and i am still on contour photos roster although i have yet to renew my contract. diminishing sales and 50% commission was a bit painful.

this year i vowed to shoot hasselblad and digital and begin my development as a director and travel a bit. hard with a young family. so all of those things are in motion. i also have always felt my name is out there, i’m trying hard to get eyes to actually look at the work.

Thanks to Steve for being so forthcoming with info about this venture.

At this point, there is room for this type of uber-book promotion. Remember: he gives it away selectively and then sells it at his own gallery show- ensuring that he makes his money back on the latter to fund the former.

Thanks for the book Steve- let us know how this works for you in the long term. And for more about the future of Photobooks, check the indepth reportage generated by the livebooks blog Resolve (and follow their links forward and back from this post- lots here to peruse).