Published a book

[rvanr]

Hi

I took the plunge and published my first book. It is so much easier nowadays and does not require a lot of investment, except time of course. Street Stripes is a collection of images of road markings in Bacup (a small Lancashire town, where I live) and Amsterdam. It looks better than it sounds, honest!

After many days of rain the weather had temporarily cleared and I had to get out of the house. I did not have any preconceived ideas or plans about what to shoot. To my surprise, and delight, I found my subject within a few yards of the back door. Trying to observe my environment afresh I also looked down, at what was under my feet, and there they were: lines. The multitude of lines painted on the road, curves created by the curb stones, lines created by different kinds of tarmac, shapes created by the drying of the surface. After that first shot I knew that there was a good series of pictures to be made.

The Preview option allows you to the first 10 pages or so. What do you think of the design? The images? Thanks for looking.

Ruud

[LoisWakeman]

Although I was told off for having an old Flash player, I could still see nicely. I'm a bit of a sucker for this kind of subject, so enjoyed the photos - esp page 12.

Hard to tell how readable white on black would be in the real thing vs a screen preview - but looks good.

[Gordon Buck]

Nicely done and certainly an unusual theme.  Welcome to the 'Blurberati'!

I'm always surprised by the number of Blurb photography books that are so simply done -- meaning a simple layout and almost no text.  These are usually well received (although I don't know about sales); in fact, it seems that last year's Blurb photo contest rewarded simplicity.  My wife took that approach with a book of her favorites, see http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/532771

For my own favorites, I could not resist including more text and it became complex; however, my book did not even make the first cut of the Blurb contest!  http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/288261

My most recent effort is my dad's memoirs of WWII.  It is mostly text but with some of his WWII and childhood photos.  Text is still awkward in Blurb and this book was tedious to do,  http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/594253

We've certainly enjoyed completing our Blurb books and they occupy a very visible corner of our coffee table.

[Eric Myrvaagnes]

The sample looks very fine. I, too, find my best subjects by looking down at the ground.

Good luck and congratulations.

[Anthony R]

Very nice. Good job.

[rvanr]

Thanks for your kind words.

The white text on black background works OK. Probably not so suitable for pages and pages of text, but in this case it helps the continuity of the design.

I just wanted to stress how easy it was to do this. If you like to have the satisfaction of seeing your work in print at a reasonable quality, go for it.

Ruud