Earlier this year I was lucky enough to find myself in Iceland for a few days. While shooting some work for a client, I had the opportunity to shoot some personal photos along the way. I haven’t shared many of them, not unlike most of the photos I seem to hoard during my travels. I’m not sure if it’s because I worry about bombarding you all, or if it feels like everyone has already traveled to and photographed Iceland. However, I can’t deny that experiencing it for myself was entirely life changing. I felt like I was on an entirely different planet.
When Blurb approached me to work on a project with their gorgeous product line, I knew exactly what I wanted to make. I think I responded to their initial email within 5 minutes with my idea. Iceland was still sitting on all of my SD/CF cards (I KNOW- I hadn’t even backed them up yet! Shame, shame.) When all was settled, (and backed up!) I started the process of making my first photo book.
I sorted through thousands of photos before getting it down to ~150 selects. I knew I didn’t want it to be that big, so I printed those out (low-res b&w on regular printer paper) just to visualize the images side by side. From there, I picked some favorites before beginning to pair them together and select which ones would be shown as a full-spread image.
It was really important for me to have creative control over what the book looked and felt like so I immediately downloaded the Adobe® InDesign® plug-in. From that point I was able to plop the selected photos into the app and then bounce from presentation mode (to see the full-sized images) to Preview, which displayed the flow of the pages as I added them in. It was starting to come together, and I couldn’t have been more excited.
I ordered a swatch kit of Blurb’s paper options before ordering my book so I could feel the texture and see the quality. I landed on the Proline Uncoated 100lb paper. The rest of the ordering process was a breeze—choosing the cover, the size, the paper— it came together quickly especially with the inspirational layouts I found on their website.
Within a week my book arrived at the doorstep. Upon opening the book, page after page, I felt so happy seeing such beautiful memories properly displayed in their new, canvas-lined home. A book has a unique way of pausing life for a moment… reminding us to savor, reflect, and slow down.
I’ve had a handful of you ask me if this book will be available for purchase, and though I have no definite answer at the moment, I can say that I’m working on a little something for you to enjoy until I do. I encourage you to subscribe to my blog to stay in the loop. But for now, come visit. I’ll make us a pour-over, and you can dive into the pages of a perfect, quiet little week in Iceland.
In partnership with Blurb.com. #blurbbooks
