My First Photo Book Arrived

Because you're an avid reader of my blog (both of you), you will know that I recently finished culling, editing and laying out a new photo book that was 10 years in the making. It was a painful process, mostly because I had to exclude so many photos I liked. But, I'm happy with the ones that ended up in the book.

Book Quality

I chose Blurb for this book. Several YouTube photographers I watch speak highly of Blurb and it's built into Lightroom's book module which helps. The quality of this book is excellent. The binding, the paper, the cover sleeve, all of it are just great. I can't complain about anything. Super happy. I will definitely use them for future books.

Also, the whole process was good too. I was able to export my Lightroom book to Blurb and the ordering and shipping where trouble free. The book even arrived early. The packaging was durable and looked like it took a bit of beating from the USPS but the book was protected from the damage.

The Experience

Holding a book, a high-quality book, of your own photos is an experience. It changes how you look at the images. Even though I spent hours and hours with these photos creating the book, I found myself pausing and really looking at each photo in a way I haven't before. This physical, tangible thing in my hands caused me to ponder the images in a new light. I didn't expect that.

I highly recommend printing your photos at some point. It will change how you and others look at them. They have a different meaning, more depth and you'll come back and look at them again, seeing things you didn't know where there. Contrast that with the commoditized screen viewing we're all used to where you glance for .5 seconds and scroll on and on and on.

Conclusion

This book was a long time coming and I wasn't sure I'd like the quality. I do. I really do. This was a worthy endeavor and I plan to make more books. One thing I'll do next time is use full-bleed photos more. They really have a big impact in the book. But, for this one, there were too many images to do that. Blurb hit it out of the park and I would highly recommend them. Go make a book!