Home In Time For Summer

[ralphh]

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Hi guys,

 

My wife and I moved back (to the UK) from NYC in spring.  There was a period of chaos, but then things calmed down and I was able to start some serious picture in June and July.

 

I've taken 1000's of photos of my daughter in the last two months and I've decided to put together a coffee table book of her for our house.  A lot of the photos have already been posted here.  A lot have not.

 

I probably should keep photographing through August - I had expected it to be a 3 month project rather than a two month one, but I feel strangely 'done' - probably because we just came back from a holiday where I created loads of material for it, and now I feel like I'll probably only produce another handful during August.

 

I've created a quick (well, it took me all morning, so not that quick) mockup in MS Word, converted it to PDF and created an online magazine out of it.  The image quality isn't stellar as they've been through 4 different conversion steps now.  The word file was 1/4 the size of the jpegs, and the PDF is half the size of that, and goodness knows how it's stored now.  Suggest you view it full screen.  You can click to zoom.

 

It's a surprisingly large book for 2 months of out-of-work-hours photography, but if any particularly brave or bored souls would like to take a look and tell me what you they think of the photos and the layout before I spend £100 printing it I'd appreciate it.  Let me know if any of the photos are particularly weak and should come out.

 

All shot on my trusty M240    

 

http://data.axmag.com/data/201608/20160809/U148543_F394099/index.html

 

Thanks!

 

Ralph

 

 

Edit: BTW, there's no text at present.  I know what they are and I don't want to clutter the main part of the book with descriptive text.  I plan to give it an intro chapter, then at the back have an index of images with a short description for each for when I'm old and have forgotten

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[MaticB]

I said in some previous post I'm not always capable of constructive analysis of the pictures but I know if I like picture or not. In any respect I'm also not just kind man ( my friends and colleges are sometimes afraid of me…), but when I like something I commended it without hesitation. And I like this book of yours, no doubts. Just for finish, I know how difficult is to reduce number of pictures published in print book, but I would do it anyway! Load it just with emotionally strongest pictures - there is more than enough of them in your material!

[ralphh]

Many thanks Matic, I know it's a big ask to look through a whole book and I do appreciate your time!

 

I posted it as soon as it was done, but I've been through it a few times myself now and I also feel like it's too long. It feels like there are about 10 or 15 photos too many.

 

I try to be very brutal with my work, and I don't think I'll have too much trouble reducing it a bit. Now I can see the photos together as a single body of work, several are jumping out as not really deserving to be in there.

[Neko]

 I really like your book. You have a terrific eye! I also enjoy the sense of humor that some of the images convey. Very pure atmosphere... very tender. Nice book edition too.

[ralphh]

Thanks Neko! It's been a lot of work as you can probably imagine, but one of the most satisfying things I've done. My daughter has a BIG personality. She's really hard work, but also very funny and very charming. She's a lot of fun to photograph, tho she'll tell me to put the camera away and play after a few mins

 

I think I'll let it sit for a few weeks before I order it - I need a chance to absorb it a bit more. Then if I take any really good photos before the end f the month they can go in too.

[stuny]

Unfortunately,I cannot view it since your site requires flash, I'm trying to access it on a Mac.  I'll try again tomorrow on a Windows machine.

 

Regardless, you will get fewer viewers than you could since many of us will not click through without incentive to do so.  To provide that incentive.  in the future I encourage you to post one or two photos along with your link.

[ralphh]

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Hi Stuny, thanks for the thought on the images.

 

Try this link - it works on iPad, so should work on Mac, maybe

 

http://data.axmag.com/data/201608/20160809/U148543_F394099/HTML5/index.html

[Michael Hiles]

Lovely book. Congratulations on fine work.

[ldhrads]

All formatting issues aside, it's a beautiful product.  Complete your project, get it printed and bound and hold on to it forever, your daughter will cherish it in her old age.  Great work, well seen, beautifully presented.  Bravo.

[ralphh]

Thanks Lawrence!

 

When you say formatting issues.... You mean technical issues with my digital mock up, or you think the page layout of the book isn't very good?

[ShawnK]

Ralph, i thoroughly enjoyed the book. Some of the images are just great, rest are superb, her wonderful personality does come thru' & love your vision. Personally I would've picked another image for the cover & reduced the opacity of title ribbon. Add a lacy patterned edge to that title ribbon, it is all @ a sweet girl. Try drop shadow & a very very soft pastel color for the ribbon (may b her fav). Some of the pages did not load on my iPad but the quality of images is quite evident. Print it for sure. Thanx for posting, enjoyed it.