Singular Images

January 19, 2019

PhotoLA 2019 – Photo Book Panel

Filed under: Uncategorized — Doug Stockdale @ 12:04 am

I am very excited to announce my participation at an upcoming photographic event; a photobook panel discussion during this year’s PhotoLA on February 3rd, 2019.

PhotoLA – Photobook Roundtable: From Gallery Walls to Printed Pages; 11:30 – 1:30pm

I will be joining Richard Chow (moderator), Aline Smithson, Dotan Saguy and Khodr Cherri for a photobook panel discussion. Collectively we have a broad and diverse set of photobook experiences, as authors, self-publishers, book designers and book printing services.

Panel Discussion: 11:30 – 1:30pm, Sunday, February 3rd, 2019

PhotoLA event location: Barker Hanger, 3021 Airport Ave, Santa Monica, CA 90405

PhotoLA Information for registration and more: here.

So if you are in the greater LA area and will be at PhotoLA this year, I hope you can join us on Sunday at the Barker Hanger for what I expect will be an interesting discussion.

Cheers!

Doug

March 17, 2018

Middle Ground – Book-dummy #4 for presentation at LACP tomorrow

Filed under: Books, Middle Ground, Photobook, Projects/Series, Uncategorized — Tags: , , — Doug Stockdale @ 12:57 am

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Middle Ground, Book-dummy #4, 2018 copyright Douglas Stockdale

One of the take-aways from the leporello book-dummy kit that I had received from the printer was some additional design tweaks to the cover. Two days ago I received a couple of samples of the revised cover design; I think a Winner is in the House!

To complete this dummy, I had to tip in the anticipated photograph for this cover, above, then glue in the leporello pages and simulate the interior cover page. One of the final design tweaks is to decide if I want to have the project and my name on the front cover or only printed on the spine. As it appears now, above, without text on the front cover, it appears to have a unobstructed look at one of my subjects, which I think is in alignment with my concept for this project. Now thinking, maybe add a paper belly band with the additional text?

I have some ideas of how to further strength the book design with some very minor tweaks and I am looking forward to meeting with my printer, Dual Graphics, at the LACP Spring event tomorrow.

So I am getting ready for my first show-n-tell with what I think is the final design (the presentation at PADA earlier this month was with the pending book design, and first book talk about the project) for this project. I have to pinch myself that I am on the edge of getting this project published after an intense year and half working on it. Since I am still considering a Kickstarter to raise the funds for printing, I will be taking names for the growing interest list again tomorrow.

Kinda weird holding this book dummy knowing that this could essentially be the first real example of the final intended book. The interior pages are still off the copy machine, so these pictures don’t look so great, but provides the look of what the leporello design will approximate. Lessons learned from an earlier book-dummy; use thin copy paper so that I don’t increase the depth of the interior to the point that it does not fit within the cover! This is getting really exciting.

So I am looking forward to my two LACP presentations tomorrow, a mini-seminar on Photo Book Pre-visualization and moderator for the Photo Book discussion panel on How to Get Your Photo Book Published, while getting some more feedback on this book and project.

Reminder: Let me know if you want to be placed on my growing interest list (doug@douglasstockdale.com) for Middle Ground. More news about the final price and fund raising campaign shortly!

January 31, 2018

Photo Accessory testing – Water Proof hiking books

Filed under: Uncategorized — Doug Stockdale @ 1:25 am

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Columbia boots, Oso Creek, January 2018 copyright Douglas Stockdale

After my leather Merrill hiking books bit the dust last week, I was in the market for some new books; waterproof, not necessarily leather, mid-ankle, not a low rider and although primarily for the terrain of Southern California, needed to work over a short duration in the Colorado mountain snow.

So after doing a bunch of asking and looking, this afternoon I bought a pair of Columbia mid-hikers that were suppose to water-proof. So I tested them on my afternoon walk on the Arroyo Trabuco trail and after rolling up my pant legs, took a short walk through the Oso Creek.

As a new pair of books, I can now testify the these books are indeed waterproof! Thus an excellent accessory for any street photographer who might also go off the grid into the wild ;- )

Cheers!

January 29, 2018

The PhotoBook Journal named #1 photobook site

Filed under: Uncategorized — Doug Stockdale @ 6:53 pm

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Interesting Photobooks for 2017 selection by TPBJ staff 2017 photo copyright Douglas Stockdale

Interesting and unexpected news this weekend; while working on the Middle Ground book dummy I received an email that stated my other photo-blog The PhotoBook Journal was named one of the top 20 blogs about photobooks. Very cool!

Then it got better, much, much better as it was not only in the top 20, we were ranked #1! OMGosh!

So that wonderful news sidetracked my Middle Ground progress report today. Since book fame is every so fleeting, so I need to take a moment and advantage of my 15 minutes in the spot light.

So more about my book development tomorrow ;- )

Cheers!

December 23, 2017

Hasselblad jamnation

Filed under: Photography, Uncategorized — Tags: , — Doug Stockdale @ 9:40 pm

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Hasselblad, prism, 150mm lens with extension tubes copyright 2016 Douglas Stockdale

In my recent post about my walks off the grid and the potential start of a new photographic project, I had stated that I need to start carrying my Hasselblad film rig with me to continue this exploration. Which meant that I needed to remove the 150mm lens with the two extension tubes (above) that I am using for my Memory Pods project and then mount my 80mm lens.

Uh oh, the lens did not want to come off this morning and as I quickly feared, I was hit with the dreaded & infamous Hasselblad lens jam. Oh jamnation.

Fear not, I have been down this path before, so I quickly removed the film back and using a small tool, manually cocked the shutter and presto, the lens came off. Very nice.

Uh oh, the 80mm lens will not mount on the 500 C/M body. First check to make sure the 80mm lens shutter was cocked; check. Then make sure the body was also in the same phase; check. Then what the heck was going on?  Cotton picking Hasselbad jamnation!!

So over to my favorite local camera shop who specialize in used camera gear and where I have purchase all of my used Hasselblad equipment. They fiddled and fiddled and came to the same conclusion; the body was jammed and it needs to see a specialist. All of this just before the holidays. Normally a one to two weeks to get a quote from the repair shop but now I am looking at mid-January before I find out the prognoses as well as the cost of the fix. sigh. My oars for the 6×6 and film are temporarily out of the water.

All the while a used Hasselblad 503cx was available at the shop (8+ quality). Nice feature about the newer Hasselblad body’s is the gliding mirror to reduce the mirror slap and it has the TTL for a specialized strobe (thinking it might work with my Norman studio strobes as well). Although tempting, I first need to figure out what’s happening with old 500 C/M body first, then consider replacement options if I need to go down that path. I would rather spend that same amount on a used Hasselblad 60mm CF lens.

So in the meantime I will carry the 5DMk3 with me instead on my walks.

Cheers!

September 13, 2017

Introduction to Photo Book Design workshop – class work-book edits

Filed under: Art Market, Books, Photography, Projects/Series, Uncategorized, Workshops — Tags: , , , — Doug Stockdale @ 10:39 pm

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Introduction to Photo Book Design, self-published 2017, Douglas Stockdale

In preparation for the next two-day workshop  Introduction to Photo Book Design that I will be leading for LACP, I am in the process of making the edits to my first self-published work-book that I use for this workshop. This will soon become the Second Edition of this work-book, while the First Edition is now in the hands of the hands of the first workshop participants from earlier this year.

As in past workshops I lead not only do those attending learn something as I do as well as what is working and what is not for the group. There are a lot of changes to consider as the whole book publishing market and process is constantly evolving. That in conjunction with the feedback I received on the workshop expectations. Thus as my workshop needs updating and it’s necessary to make some tweaks in my course outline work-book.

My process for making changes is to use sticky-notes as to what I need to edit as illustrated above. This may appear like a massive change, but it is essentially tweaking some fine points. Expand that, deleted this, modify how I discuss this aspect and add this into the mix.

The work-book will be assembled and bound on the beginning of the first day of the workshop by those attending to help illustrate how easy it can be to self-publish a book. There is no question that photobooks can become very complex works of art as a book-object, but the underlying concept is pretty straight forward. Part of how I try to create some fun into this intense and practical workshop.

So come join me!

The workshop is being held at the LACP facilities: 1515 Wilcox Ave, Los Angeles, CA

Let me know if you have any questions

Cheers,

Doug

P.S. Other self-serving stuff that I need to keep repeating: I still have a few copies of the Bluewater Shore edition that are available (and another book review for Bluewater Shore that will be posted soon). So email me (doug@douglasstockdale.com) if you are interested in more information. Note Pine Lake is no longer available.

September 7, 2017

Book Commission

Filed under: Photography, Projects/Series, Uncategorized — Tags: , , — Doug Stockdale @ 5:25 pm

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Copyright 2017 Douglas Stockdale

I am very happy to announce that I just received a book commission from a company that I have been mentoring on photobooks. This is going to be a bit of whirl wind affair in that the book has to be developed, printed and launched by the end of October.

Although this is going to be a how-to book, it will pave the way for a photobook that I have currently in development.

Since this project needs to develop quickly, I will provide frequent updates here for those who want to follow along. I will need to figure out how many pages for the intended content and what the design might be. I am currently working out with the sponsor as to what we want to accomplish, so first step is to create a blank dummy while off-line getting confirmation of the requirements.

This much I know for sure, it will involve a lot of writing by me. As if September was not already looking busy, such as getting things ready for the Introduction to Photo Book Design workshop at the beginning of October along with some other stuff about to be announced.

And of course I still have a few copies of the Bluewater Shore edition that are available (and another book review that will be posted soon). So email me (doug@douglasstockdale.com) before these are gone!

Cheers!

August 18, 2017

Books at Arcana: Books on the Arts

Filed under: Art Market, Bluewater Shore - artist book, Books, Ciociaria, Pine Lake - artist book, Projects/Series, Uncategorized — Tags: , , , — Doug Stockdale @ 11:31 pm

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Bluewater Shore, limited edition artist book (at Arcana), copyright 2017 Douglas Stockdale

Yesterday I had an opportunity to meet with Lee Kaplan at his bookstore, Arcana: Books on the Arts, which is located in Culver City (CA) and present my three books; Bluewater Shore, Pine Lake and Ciociaria.

I am now very happy to announce that a quantity of all three of these books were acquired and all are now available for sale at the Arcana bookstore! Very nice!

We had a really great discussion about photobooks, photographers, book bloggers, publishers and other book industry stuff. It was pretty diverse and free ranging discussion as one subject seemed to quickly lead into another.

I also had an opportunity to provide a quick show-n-tell about my book dummy for Middle Ground and discuss whether which is better to call the book design; leporello, concertina, or accordion fold. Kaplan defaults to leporello as probably the description that aligns best with bibliophiles, so I might need to adjust my photobook definitions and defer to the Middle Ground book as being a leporello design. Nice.

So it is now very nice that my books can be acquired locally in SoCal at this unique and impressive book store. I suspect that Kaplan will soon list these books at his various internet book venues.

Yes another very nice day.

Cheers!

August 8, 2017

Beta Reader & Editor – The Indie Photobook Publishing Guide

Filed under: Books, Photography, Projects/Series, Uncategorized — Tags: , , — Doug Stockdale @ 6:47 pm

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copyright Eanna de Freine (The Velvet Cell) 2017

One of my summer projects has been working with Eanna de Freine on the development of his Indie Photobook Publishing Guide as a beta reader, editor as well as providing a self-publishing Case Study (one of 10) for my Bluewater Shore artist books.

A number of friends have been suggesting that I write something similar to de Freine’s guide, but realizing the amount of time and effort to complete this task, it was much easier to help someone else do the heavy lifting of writing this.

As de Freine is Irish and living in Berlin, he has a strong European self-publishing perspective in conjunction with many of the other European editors (Clare Rowland, Tom Westbury, Euan Ross, Kalen Lee, Domenico Bruno Lobkowitz, David Flynn, Gabriele Harhoff and Uwe Bedenbecke). Thus one aspect that I provided was my experience of self-publishing in the U.S. (e.g. that in the U.S. we do not usual refer to page sizes as A2, or B1, but expressed by dimensions in inches, not centimeters) and having reviewed many of the books that he discussed in my role as the Editor of The PhotoBook Journal. As the Editor of TPBJ I also get to sometimes ask some probing questions of the various authors over the years when there was some information that I needed about the self-publishing process.

Likewise, it was also a great opportunity to discuss more of my background during the development and self-publishing of Pine Lake and Bluewater Shore as a Case Study. I am joining the self-publishing case studies by Rohan Hutchinson, Gabrielle Harhoff, Nuno Moreira, Sebastien Tixier, Dustin Shum, Christophe le Toquin, Matej Sitar, Sandra Koestler and Diane Vincent. I had previously reviewed both Matej Sitar and Diane Vincent’s self-published photobooks. A little more publicity for Bluewater Shore is always a nice dividend.

If you are interested in this FREE e-book (PDF), then follow this link: http://upvir.al/ref/D7856028/

I do have to warn you that to finish the download process for his PDF, you will need to email three friends with a link, which of course provides de Freine with some additional emails for his newsletter. There really is no Free lunch ;- )

Cheers!

Btw, Bluewater Shore, Pine Lake and related prints are still available, so email if you are interested in obtaining more information: doug@douglasstockdale.com

January 11, 2017

Saddle Stitch Fastener – Workshop demo

Filed under: Books, Photography, Uncategorized — Tags: , , , , — Doug Stockdale @ 4:05 pm

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Saddle Stitch Fastener copyright 2017 Douglas Stockdale

I have bought one new item for 2017 (and I am still looking for that used 50mm CF Distagon for the Hasselblad), which is pictured above, what is called a Saddle Stitch Fastener, or a stapler on steroids. I will be using this book binder for my LACP Introduction to Book Design workshop later this spring to demo how to make a saddle stitch binding for a small book. The saddle stitch binding is one of the two book binding methods I will be demonstrating during the workshop.

This binder is stated to handle up to 20 sheets, so I would consider this lightweight equipment, which is a good start for my publishing company. It is an idea method to create a simple book dummy to work on the sequencing and pairing of the images for a book. This is also a popular way to create a small edition book, as I have a bunch of intriguing photobooks in my library that are bound together with saddle stitch binding, such as those by the New Zealand photographer Harvey Benge.

I also have an great idea on how I will be making a small limited edition book with the class during  the workshop as a fun start and will become a unique class takeaway. I have already completed the book dummy for it and I need to work-up the interior text, probably about 12 interior pages in all. I will print the stiffcover with my Epson printer using a double-sided Epson matte photo paper and print the interior sheets with my desktop letter printer. I think it will be an interesting surprise for those attending on the first day of the workshop.

And I may be making a few other small edition books as a result. Lots of possibilities!

Cheers!

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