Blurb self-publishing workshop: Annenberg, December 5

For anyone who digs photography - professionals and enthusiasts alike - you’ll want to take note of these upcoming workshops at the Annenberg Space for Photography on December 5. We’re hosting three of them back to back, so see which time slot works best for you, and sign up today.

Chad Jennings, VP of Customer Insights and founding employee at Blurb, will provide a detailed step-by-step demonstration on how to make, publish, share and sell commercial-quality books using Blurb’s creative publishing platform. Whether you want to make a killer portfolio, client deliverable, or the next great American photography book, this session shows and tells you what you need to know about BookSmart, Blurb’s free book layout software; Blurb’s web tools; and what you need to get started or hone your bookmaking chops. Part inspiration, part instruction, you’ll get some great tips straight from Blurb’s top designer.

If you haven’t yet worked with Chad, you’re in for a treat. He’s money.

The workshop schedule for December 5 is as follows:
- First workshop - 10 a.m. to 12 noon
- Second workshop - 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.
- Third workshop - 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.

The registration process itself is a little tricky. The workshops are free — there’s a lottery to register. 16 attendees will be chosen for each of our three workshops.

Here’s how to get started:

Submit your request including your preferred workshop time by no later than midnight, November 21 to info@annenbergspaceforphotography.org with “BLURB Workshop Request” in the subject line.

Two random drawings will be held on November 23; if you’re picked, you’ll be notified by the end of the day on the 23rd.

Good luck and we hope to see you out there!

By Mike   Posted in How-To and Tips   November 20, 2009 – 4:36 pm
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We *heart* I Heart Faces

Amy Locurto and Angie Arthur are the co-founders of I Heart Faces, a website featuring weekly photo challenges that focus on the face. Amy and Angie have built a huge community around I Heart Faces, and recently published their first Blurb book – you can preview the book and purchase a copy in the Blurb Bookstore here. (The photography is spectacular by the way, and the book is beautifully designed.)

We caught up with Amy and Angie last week and got the scoop on how it all started, how they published their first photo book, and more.

You both founded the popular I Heart Faces photography community. Tell us what inspired you to do this, and what I Heart Faces is all about.

We are two moms who connected through our shared love of blogging… and we also adore taking photographs of our children! After blogging for some time, we began to realize that there really wasn’t an online site where photographers could show off their portrait photography. After talking for awhile, the idea of I Heart Faces was born and we have been enjoying the wild and crazy ride ever since!

I Heart Faces is a website that features weekly themed photo challenges that focus on the face. During our challenges, we spotlight a Guest Photographer Judge who enjoys picking out their favorites as the top photos for that week’s theme. We also feature weekly tutorials, giveaways and hands-on photo editing opportunities. I Heart Faces has grown into a community of avid, dedicated photographers who are there to encourage, grow and learn with each other, and we think that’s a beautiful thing!

Could you tell us more about the book, and how it came together?

We go through each photo entry every single week which means we have literally seen thousands of beautiful faces over the past year. After viewing the amazing photos that were entered each week, we decided that creating a book to showcase some of our favorite photos would be super-fun! With Blurb’s support, we then sponsored a special weekly challenge in which the winners would be featured in our book. The photos that were featured were absolutely amazing and it was awesome to see the book come together with such a variety of contributions.

What was your favorite part of the bookmaking process?

Designing the book was our favorite part. With Blurb BookSmart®, we were able to easily create a custom design that worked just for us. Choosing which photos looked best together on a spread was really fun. Of course, getting the actual book in our hands was even better!

If you could bestow one photography tip on the world, what would it be?

Practice, practice, practice!! From our own experiences and from the unique experience of watching thousands of photographers enter our weekly challenges, we have learned that practice makes a huge difference in your photography growth. We have seen many photographers grow from just being point-and-shoot snapshot takers into amazing photographers who have developed their eye, who have grown creatively and who have learned the basic elements of photography that make their work shine! Practicing daily on perfecting your craft makes a huge difference.

We’re big fans of your weekly photo challenges. Which photo challenge has been your favorite?

Not long after we started I Heart Faces, we featured a “Self-Portrait” theme that quickly became our favorite theme ever. We found it difficult to enter our own self-portraits into that challenge and then, after going through the entries, began to realize that almost every other participant was having a difficult time with that as well. All we could see while looking at the photo entries was just how beautiful each and every one of them were…no matter the color of their skin, eyes or hair and no matter what size they were. They were just absolutely gorgeous! By the end of the week, emails began pouring in with touching stories about how we had helped change their perspective on getting in front of the camera. It was great to be a part of such a fantastic week where so many women gained confidence in themselves and realized how special it is to their children that they be in the photos as well!

We welcome all photographers (beginners, amateurs and professionals) to enter our weekly challenges! Be sure to stop by I Heart Faces to see what all the fun is about. :)

By Mike   Posted in Inspiration   November 19, 2009 – 10:44 am
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2009 ViewBook PhotoStory Winners

Portraits of Congolese men dressed like dandies from a bygone era. Elegant and enigmatic photos that explore the culture clash of a Swiss/Japanese heritage. These works, by Francesco Giusti and David Favrod, respectively, scored first place in the documentary and conceptual categories in the 2009 Viewbook PhotoStory Awards.

You’ll find Giusti’s portraits and Favrod’s photographs – as well as work by the other contest winners – in Viewbook PhotoStory ’09, the upcoming official contest book published by Blurb.

We’re thrilled to have been a part of Viewbook PhotoStory 2009, and were blown away by the talent. The contest drew more than 1,000 entries from all over the world.

Next stop – Amsterdam where Giusti’s and Favrod’s work will be exhibited at the Kahman Gallery from November 19 to 29. All are invited to the opening on November 19. For more info, click here.

By Eileen H.   Posted in Spotlight   November 18, 2009 – 5:36 pm
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Photography.Book.Now winners showcased at Flak Photo

Most of you are probably familiar with Photography.Book.Now — if you’re a frequent reader of this blog, frankly there’s no escape. Now in its second year, the international juried book competition featured more than 2,400 entries from 50 countries around the world.

Photography.Book.Now 2009 may be over, but much of the amazing work that was submitted lives on, online. Flak Photo will be showcasing work from 25 PBN photographers over in the Flak Photo Gallery over the next five weeks. They’ll be spotlighting a different artist each day through December 18th — you can subscribe to receive daily updates by clicking here. You can also follow Flak Photo on Twitter and Facebook.

Flak Photo is a daily photography website that celebrates the art & culture of photography online, run by Andy Adams. The site highlights new series work, book projects and gallery exhibitions from an international community of contributors. We’ve been working with Andy for awhile now on this feature, and we’re excited to see it kick off this week. If you love great photography, this is definitely for you. Enjoy.

By Mike   Posted in Blurb In The News, Photography.Book.Now   November 18, 2009 – 9:48 am
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Book of the Week: Heavenly Sky

If your holiday plans call for flying, take a look at Long Nguyen’s book and you’ll soon forget all about some of flying’s less appealing aspects (peanuts, anyone?) and focus instead on the beauty of an airborne perspective.

As a professional pilot based in Seattle, Nguyen logs serious airtime criss-crossing the Northwest and he manages to capture some pretty incredible images while aloft. Heavenly Sky focuses on jaw-dropping sunsets and otherworldly cloud formations. The format, one image per page, full bleed to the page edge with a healthy margin top and bottom, conjures up the view from the pilot’s seat, and the richly saturated colors (twilight blue, fiery orange) will make you re-think booking anything but early evening flights.

Beautiful work, Long. Now if you could just do something about those peanuts.

By Eileen H.   Posted in Book of the Week   November 17, 2009 – 10:58 am
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Get Your Mo On this Movember

Things are getting hairy over here. Forgive the pun, but it’s actually quite literal. Men all over the world are bringing back the ’stach to support Movember, the mustache-growing charity campaign based in London. And we’ve partnered with Movember to launch the first official Movember book, Eurotash — A Journey to the Ends of the Upper Lip. All proceeds from the book will benefit The Prostate Cancer Charity, dedicated to fighting prostate cancer in men of all ages.

Eurotash showcases the European mustache in all its glory, following two young men on their journey across Europe, and their encounters with all kinds of face fuzz. Created by Conor Creighton and Steve Ryan, Eurotash is available in the Blurb Bookstore, and on the Movember website as well.

Some of the Blurberati are taking to the opportunity to groom their mustaches like ducks to water. Starsky & Hutch catcalls and Kenny Rogers mistaken identity moments are among the responses to date. And honestly we’re not sure what’s going on here.

On a more serious note, Blurbarian Peter Marsden has personally reached out to let us know how pleased he is that we’re supporting this cause. Diagnosed with prostate cancer himself, he has a strategy to help others on the road to recovery. You can find CANCER — A Six Point Strategy in the Blurb Bookstore.

We’re proud to be affiliated with Movember and want to thank all the Mo Bros and Mo Sistas lending their support around the world.

By Mike   Posted in Inspiration   November 12, 2009 – 3:18 pm
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Authorship Booming

Back in the day, authors were few and far between. Not anymore. Thanks to blogs, Twitter, Facebook, and yes, Blurb – the number of authors and publishers is growing exponentially.

A chart published by Seed Magazine and posted on Andrew Sullivan’s Daily Dish, shows that rate of authorship has increased tenfold per year since 2000, as compared to tenfold per century since the 1400s and the launch of the first printing press (thanks, Gutenberg). That’s some rapid growth, folks.

People are getting their stories out there. And as Sullivan points out, these people are trading privacy for influence, and using online outlets to get their news, stories, and viewpoints across.

Speaking of which, Sullivan just published his first Blurb book The View From Your Window, photographs taken by some of his blog’s millions of readers. He blogged about it here — check it out. It gives great perspective on the “viewpoints” of authors around the world. And on why Sullivan embarked on this project with Blurb. We’re thrilled that he did.

By Eileen H.   Posted in Spotlight   November 11, 2009 – 4:34 pm
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