Photobook for Artrage pix

[Twaager]

I have about 2.5 TB storage, the internal drives uncounted. I probably end up with 3 TB. Since I am using my cameras a lot the drives are filled with digital photos and videos. After my last vacation in Portugal I brought back about 1000 high resolution RAW pics after driving around all of Alentejo for 10 days.
I have started cleaning up my messy drives. I design a photobook, get it printed and after that I get rid of all photos from that vacation in Alentejo. The book is about 100 pages and cost about 600 SEK (about 100 USD). I have made the same with several other photography projects.
So I continue designing books, getting rid of huge RAW-files from my digital cameras and huge Tiff files from my scanned old reversal slides, b/w negatives and old photos on paper.
I scanned many thousand framed slides (a whole closet was filled). Just four slide magazines (Poland 1974 shot on the cheap east german film I bought there, it need heavy colour corection since it became very bueish) and then I have no slides left. I make a photobook and throw the slides away.

Next thing to do is to sort out all my "art", drawings, paintings and collages... I scan the ones on paper and take photos of my painted canvases. I will make a memory book of all my finished works and sketches, add a little text, and print some books...

I have 2853 artrage paintings, some very simple, some finished. It is history and development I want to tell. I have used Artrage since the very beginning in 2004? I have to sort all my pics and make my pics and digital painting story on paper.

How abot you? Making any book of your art?

Post Scriptum: the photo is of one of my photobooks. We travelled up in the Transmontana by foot or one day by car. Stayed in the old castle historical hotel in Port de Soller. Wonderful 14 days with a lot of photos.

[screenpainter]

Henry, you have produced an amazing amount of work throughout the years both in art and photography. I am sad to hear you throw away any of the slides. they should be preserved. There is much work to be done if you have to color correct some images. I am glad to hear that you are documenting this amazing career. Please don't throw anything away! That is a beautiful photo of Mallorca on the cover of your book. I hope we can see some more of your photos. Perhaps you could make also digital versions of the books? I would think you could make a deal with Getty Images for some of the collection or all. The collection should be worth a fortune. Or maybe a museum where you live would be interested in preserving for the generations to come.

[Twaager]

Nice of you screenpainter to care about my ideas on getting rid of my photo crap. But...

I am sure that all photoenthusiasts (like me) have 99 % crap on their harddrives, or in their slide magazines, their old negative albums, or their photopockets stored in a a closet or in the attic. I am just getting rid of all the crap that never will be looked at.

There are several millions photos taken every year in my country. If every person has a camera (do they ?) and shoots 100 photos each, there will be 1000.000.000 photos every year, just in my country. Imagine in USA; 30.000.000.000! And so on...Who will ever look at all these crap pictures in the future? 1000's of billions of crap photos from all over the world? Who will.

My photobooks will survive! I am sure about that.

Our old families made very nice familyalbums of their family history. These albums are invaluble to my wife and me. I am doing the same thing; sorting and evaluating and making my own albums (photobooks), some to give away. Right now we design the for our four children to tell their childhood stories. Just those photos in their photobooks will remain. No negatives or digital copies. Just the books. That is the way I like it.

The photo below is a slide from 1972 of my wife. The photosession on my balcony was 12 shots. The oters she blinked, looked away, licked her lips, did not smile... all those bad shots are history. They are diseased, dead and forgotten. Only this survived our critical looks. This photo is in the photo yearbook of 1972.

[D Akey]

You're braver than I am. Throwing all that work into the shredder. . . hmm. Bold. I understand it. But I don't do it with pictures and home movies.

I did one day toss out most all my paintings into the rubbish. Was fed up and wanted to make a break. Would rather not be weighed down. And with new periods in my artistic life, I was done with the old. I get better and wanted to remain true to the levels I had gotten up to. . . and keep going.

Your wife is beautiful. Looks like that photo could have been taken today. The natural casual look with a beautiful person never goes out of style.

[Twaager]

I look at it this way. Photography, drawing, painting, sculpting...they are rewarding hobbies. All is not finished to be shown to the public or even friends or family. They are sketches och references for the good picture you are making. I almost always save everything I think I need for the future. 40 years later I found out I never look at it or used it again. That is why I make the books. To get rid of my garbage and save the pearls.

My art book will have some sketches in in. But most more or less finished pieces of art.

I make the book for myself and my family. Instead of keeping all my drawings in the attic or on some harddrive where nobody ever will have a look at them, I will make a book. I put it on the cofee table for my kins an friends to look at. Maybe I will make a pdf of it to make it downloadable from my blog for every one to see.

That is the whole idea.

[KariedAway]

What a fantastic way to not only organize years of work, but to save it for generations of family and friends to enjoy and share in your vision of beauty.

Did you have the photobooks printed locally or with an online service?

[Twaager]

I use online service Photohome and it is the best here in Sweden. I have checked out tests from different sources. Photohome always wins.

Paper, print, colour and binding quality is to be considered vs. pricing. Beware of too cheap alternatives. I made a mistake once and ordered a such alternative. The book binding (glue) was bad and pages strated to fall off. I found ot that only the best will last.

My printshop supplies an ICC color profile to be embedded in the jpgs. My calibrated monitor and the ICC profile corresponds and the print is very accurate. I can make my own design and send a pdf online to be printed. About one week later I have the book(s). There is a free design program to download If you like to use pre-defined layouts. Just like in iPhoto or Lightroom. I preferre to make my own designs not using pre designs. But iPhoto has a very good photobook program that I can recommend. It got some very good design templates. Lightroom not so good but OK.

Have a good time painting and designing your own book, KariedAway.

[kenmo]

A great idea. I just made a photo book of photos of my late Mom... Shutterfly had an half price sale..

[Rowena]

Great idea!