This past week I went to visit someone for the work I do. We met in a ground floor seated area off the lobby of the building he lived in. It was a great meeting and well worth the out of town trip I made to see him. As we were wrapping up and sharing some small talk I somehow mentioned my interest in photography and my vinyl record habit. He immediately invited me upstairs, so off I went!

One of the first things he showed me with his prized near mint Leica M3 with its beautiful 50mm Dual Range Summicron. They had belonged to his father and he was proudly using it to produce spectacular images with Tri-X that were uploaded onto Flickr. Unfortunately he didn’t have the space for a darkroom, so of course I recommended a makeshift one that could fit in a bathroom or closet.  His work deserves to be printed and seen!

As I was getting ready to leave he gave me a self-published book he had produced using Blurb. It was a beautiful gem containing pictures and words commemorating his late father’s life. When I got back home later that day the first thing I did was to sit down and look at it. I studied it for some time, pushing back the dinner my wife made. A small book of about thirty pages, it was a wonderful testimony to a parent, and something I will always cherish. Not only because of the work itself, but because of the way it came into my possession.

Last week I mentioned self-publishing as a way to way to ensure a lasting record of our life’s work. But it can be so much more than that. If done properly, with thought and sensitivity, a self-published book can be as good or even rival what’s produced by a big publishing house. This little book sure did!

A lot of thought and time went into this book I now proudly own. To create something of this caliber is no small undertaking. But if you have it in you to make something special and the dedication make it happen, it most certainly can be done!

Stay well,

Michael