For my final project in my photography class our professor assigned us to get a book published with a collection of our work.  This is something we will do at the end of each semester of the advanced photography courses.  It was something I was excited about doing.

There is a great quote by Ansel Adams that has always been important to me.

The negative is comparable to the composer’s score and the print to its performance. Each performance differs in subtle ways.

If a print is the performance, a published book is its international tour debut.

Walking into interviews with clients as well as potential graduate schools with a book of your prints is far more impressive than a CD or website.  I know, we all pretty much shoot only digital these days and creating a beautiful website is easier and easier every day.  However, sometimes there is something about holding a print in your hand, putting your nose up against the texture of the paper, that is so etherial… so different to what pops out of the computer screen.

I was ready to get my book together and published and I was ready to throw out the cash to get it done right.  I went to Blurb as per my professor’s suggestion and from all the great reviews I’d read over the last few years.  I had actually had a few pictures printed into a Blurb book earlier in the semester with fantastic results.

After putting the book together, forking over the extra cash for image wrap, a hardcover and premium paper the book was ready to be mine.

The book arrived and got great reviews from Twitter friends, my professor and my peers.  In fact, everyone that saw it seemed to love it.  So did I!

Well until I compared it to what I had created on Blurb’s Booksmart software, and what you see on their webpage… Continue reading →