Monday, June 28, 2010

New Orleans, Two Days and Three Nights


I met the challenge of Solo Photography Book Month and completed a book in less than 30 days. That 30 days starts with making the images, designing, writing text and putting it all together in a PDF book that can be seen on the net. While we were up north the first of this month we took a two-day and three-night trip to New Orleans so all of the images in the book were shot during that time. I put it together after we returned . I needed at least 35 images for the book but ended up using 58 images in one way or another. I was shocked when I counted them up but they just seemed to go together.

You always learn something new when you work on a project. I had my friend, Frank, take a look at the book while it was still a work in progress and he commented on the blank pages that were in the book. If you pick up any published photography book you will find some blank pages across from title pages, introduction pages, essays and such. They look fine in an actual book but in an e-book, they look, well, they look like a lot of blank white space. I had felt this but in my effort to get the book done I didn't quite know what to do with them. He showed me something he had done in a book using a crest on a blank page. Click! An idea popped into my head. I used a technique that Scott Kelby had written about in his book The Adobe Photoshop CS4 Book for Digital Photographers. It was making a panorama image out of a regular image. Now you see a small panorama image on the pages that would have been blank.

My friend, Dianne, helped me edit the text. Thank goodness she did. I certainly make grammar mistakes and typos, but also having someone else give feedback on the content was very valuable. There was one paragraph that I wasn't happy with but in the push to be done I tried to rewrite it a couple of times. Until she put her finger on what was wrong, I didn't know what to do with it.

If you would like to see my book, New Orleans, Two Days and Three Nights, click here. When the site comes up, it will be easier to view if you click on the icon in the top left for full page view. Hope you enjoy it.

8 comments:

Jonna said...

It's beautiful Billie, truly wonderful. I lived in NO for a year when I was 18 and haven't been back. It was interesting the things that seemed the same and the changes as well. I loved the design and the flow of the book, you've really done an outstanding job.

Irene said...

Your photography is just beautiful. The book is wonderful. It brought back memories for me. I still think fondly of the muffulettas from Central Grocery.

GlorV1 said...

Oh yeah, I remember last years and I'm going right now to see your beautiful book. brb

Unknown said...

Impressive. Elegant. Wonderful. Geez, what more can I say?

GlorV1 said...

I'm back Billie and I felt like I was there. Wow, beautiful trip. Everything is so colorful and you even had a little cheesecake there. ::ahem:: :) You did a great job. Last year Diana also entered, do you know if she did this year? Congratulations on your wonderful book, it is totally awesome.

Calypso said...

Great stuff amiga! The colors remind me of Mexico - few parallels to Mexico in the U.S. - but you found one, and of course NO has its own uniqueness as well - you covered a lot of bases and did NO proud cher.

Mexico Cooks! said...

Billie, your photography and the book are gorgeous. Congratulations, amiga--I just loved it. Terrific work!

I remember how you sweated it last year, and it seems like this year's project just came so naturally.

You are an inspiration.

Cristina

Anonymous said...

Wow. That is beautiful. I think there is something for everyone to enjoy. I love the color and the houses. This is good work.