When I took my new portfolio from the wrapper the above word was what I exclaimed. Hit the jump for the nitty-gritty.

First off, let me say that AdoramaPix offered me this book free of charge due to a previous review I had written on AdoramaPix’s normal print services, which are still my primary print outlet. They contacted me and offered me one, they did not ask for a review, and I am doing this of my own volition. As a side note, this is the first review on Three Five Photo of a product that I did not pay for myself. Kudos to AdoramaPix for promoting their products in a very lassiez-faire attitude and for giving me this chance to try out their Book offering.

Ease of Creation: 8/10
AdoramaPix has an online software suite that allows you to create custom book designs, edit/use their pre-designed templates, and an option to create a blank book so you can import pages created in an layout suite like Pagemaker, Quark, Photoshop, or InDesign. The software is a little slow running, depending on your machine, but VERY in depth. The only thing I wanted to do but couldn’t was to have a round/oval clipping mask on my logo on the front. Aside from this one thing using the book software was excellent and offered much more stability and options than the Blurb Booksmart software I used in the past. Another plus to using an online suite is that the book saves to Adorama’s servers protecting your work from being corrupted or lost in the event of a hard drive failure. It took me right at 2.5 hours to compile my book using the software. Normally, I would have used InDesign but I wanted to be able to give a full review of the process.

Quality: 9.5/10
When I first opened my book, as I mentioned before, Wow was all I had to say. The cover is heavier than most typical book covers. The pages are thick and the paper used provide excellent color rendition. Pages lay flat as advertised and the finish is just the right balance between gloss and satin. Overall, the book feels very well made. The only thing I have against it is it shows fingerprints, so carry a soft cloth if you are using this book as a portfolio as am I.

Shipping: 10/10
As usual Adorama’s shipping packaging was excellent. The piece was well protected and shrink-wrapped inside its protective shipping carton.

Note: Below are a few things I would suggest Adorama to add in.
1. Template pages. I used a predesigned book and the edited it as I needed, however there were several page layouts that I liked better. I had to create those from scratch. Had there been a page layout template it would have been much easier.
2. A paper that is slightly more fingerprint resistant. This isn’t a big complaint at all, the paper is excellent as is.
3. More predesigned book. The selection is excellent, but there could be more.

Conclusion: While priced slightly higher than other POD bookmakers the product delivered is more than worth the increase in price. This is a product you will be happy to received for yourself and to deliver to your clients. I am looking forward to seeing how well they can shrink my current 8×12 book to a 6×9 book to use as a portable portfolio that fits in my messenger.

shooting blind

By walter e. howington

Book Preview

Description: One photographer’s 4 month attempt at seeing his art in a new light …. total darkness.
More portfolio than memoir, Shooting Blind is the visual record of a project aimed at combining the random beauty of blind photography with the limitless creative avenues offered by modern image editing suites. Having shot more than 2500 images this book highlights more than 50 of the best pieces from that work.

At first look, the book is very well made and put together. The basic print paper is a good weight and took the ink well. The color images were dead on. The glossy cover looks good and the paperback cover is stout. The binding is tight giving the book a good strong spine.

The cons was I found my RGB B/W images had a light green cast to it, but Im sure that is an issue of Lightroom/Photoshop/Me than it is Blurb. Shippping was a tad bit high in my opinion, but if you look you can usually find free shipping coupons on the web. Another Con is their Booksmart software. I found it usable yet dismal at the same time. If you’re very creative I highly recommend downloading some templates from The Art of Engineering blog. She has released them in both TIFF and InDesign file formats. These templates allow for custom layouts so you don’t have to use Blurb’s preset layout defaults. I used these templates for [ In Situ ] and loved them. Very well done.

While I may chose to publish a traditional book via a normal publisher at some time in the future, I find the positive aspects of self-publishing via Blurb too good to pass up.

A few weeks ago I picked up her newest book, At Work, and I must say it is both exactly what I expected it to be as well as far away from it at the same time. All in all however, it is an excellent read. Let’s start by judging the book by the cover …

At first look the book is packaged in a very nice way and the design is exactly what I want from the cover of a Photography book. Let me sum up what I like in 4 simple words … Eye-catching, simple, simple, an simple. I absolutely HATE over-designed, self-righteous, pretentious, book covers that do nothing but create an eyesore on my bookshelf. Annie’s book is classically designed, simple large serif font in black, on a tactile taupe canvas jacket covering. The book feels solid, heavy even, everything a book should be to catch my eye. But for those who don’t get butterflies in their stomach for good design this book is a little treasure, the kind that one stumbles over and never really understands the value of it until they spend ample time with it.

Moving along to the actual information in this book, first off let me tell you this isn’t some sort of directional manual. The entire book is more of a autobiographical memoir that moves in a non-fluid manor. Annie has picked out the high points of her life and expounded on each of them. Add in amongst the various remembrances she has inserted some simply amazing pictures that gives us a peek into the lives of those she has had the honor of capturing on film. Well know stars like Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Ella Fitzgerald and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Legendary authors of our time such as Hunter S. Thompson and Robert Penn Warren. As well as various Presidents and political figures. While amazing, the book sometimes gets a “look at all the famous people I’ve taken pictures of” feel to it, but Annie’s words help to put this feeling to rest.

Near the end we finally get some good “insider” information when Annie discusses gear, both new and old. She then responds to 10 commonly asked questions. For me, these last two chapters were the most enjoyable to read after the sections on photographing John Lennon and Yoko Ono. I think her points on gear might surprise some of those who are new to the field.

Even though it is obvious that Annie worked hard to get where she is, throughout the book I feel that she feels overwhelmingly lucky to have been in the right place, at the right time, to get to apply her love of Photography in the way she has for so many years. She understands that so many of us hope for just such a time and place. I think each of us can be honest that we too would write this type of book if we had lead the life of this institution of American Photography.

In short, love her or hate her, this artist’s life is one to revel in. When one of us makes it big, in some small way, we all make it big. This is no less true for the amazing Annie Leibovitz. With this in mind, I highly recommend this book and suggest it as a great rainy day inspiration piece. [end]

As a side note, no one has paid me for this review. I purchased the book with my own funds and of my own volition. I have added a few links to where you can pick up this awesome read below.

Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, or Half.com