books

While I'm waiting for the paint to dry (literally) I thought I'd share some of my recent projects.

When I thought I was going to move to India, I started looking for a way to organize what I assumed would be a tremendous amount of pictures over the course of a year. On the advice of my friend JJ who is a pretty talented photographer, he recommended the company Blurb

Well, I never did go to India, but I did decide to use it to put together my pictures from Laura and my trip to Scandinavia. I was so pleased with the results that I went back to the initial idea from India... I take a lot of pictures but rarely see them in print any more. So I have started making yearly albums so that I have a hard copy of my pictures.

In the end, I've used their service a number of times, most recently for Mark and Kris's wedding. I've been considering doing some freelance work for some income while I'm in Florida, so I also printed a sample of a small book from the Josh Eagle CD release party. So.... here are some examples:

Josh Eagle (Full book preview)

show your teeth CD Release Josh Eagle and the Harvest City by Matthew Smith | Make Your Own Book

Mark and Kris's Wedding (selected pages)

Mark and Kris | Make Your Own Book

Scandinavia Trip (randomly selected pages)

Scandinavia by Matthew Smith & Laura Williams | Make Your Own Book

My 2009 album:

2009 by Matthew Smith | Make Your Own Book

I have to say, Blurb's print quality is quite nice. Pricewise, they are incredibly reasonable. I published a 240 page book for $65. There is no way I could have printed that many pictures for anywhere close to that price. If you've seen Shutterfly's books, they pale in comparison quality-wise, and Shutterfly charges $1+ for every additional page over 20. A comparable book from them would have run me around $260.

Anyway - cool stuff. I highly recommend them.