In 1974, Japanese photographer Daido Moriyama had an exhibition in Tokyo called “Printing Show” that featured a Xerox machine in the center of the room manned by Moriyama himself. Visitors were encouraged to select photos from the show, which were then reproduced and assembled into custom photo books. This past weekend, Moriyama repeated the show in New York, once again using a photocopier to provide attendees with custom signed editions of the DIY book. The book was titled “TKY” and bound in a nice silk-screened cover.
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If you’re looking for a fun photography-related way to invest some money, you might want to look into photobook collecting. The Guardian writes that prices have been soaring in recent years, and not just for expensive rare editions:
Photobooks are expensive to produce and, while demand is too small to warrant long print runs or multiple reprints, it is large enough that the books remain desirable, soon become scarce and can eventually be very valuable. This means new editions costing between £20 and £60 can double or triple in price in as little as two to five years. In 10 or 20 years – and if the work of the photographer becomes particularly fashionable – the price may increase even more.
[...] one of the great things about photobook collecting is discovering the work of emerging photographers whose early books may become sought after. A good place to look is among the current boom in self-published titles.
They also list a number of currently in-print photobooks that can help you get started.
Photobooks – affordable collectibles that are soaring in value [The Guardian]
Image credit: Paris Photobook by rthakrar
You can now create instant photo books with your favorite Instagram (AKA two-minute noodle) photos using Blurb. After logging into the page with your Instagram account, your most “liked” photo is used for the cover and the rest of the pages are filled with your most recent images (they can be changed, of course). A 40-photo, 20-page book starts at $11.
Make Instagram books with Blurb [Blurb]
Deal alert! Mixbook is offering a free 20-page 11×8.5″ hardcover photo book with free shipping today only (June 30th, 2011). The book ordinarily costs $30 and shipping is $7, so you’re getting a $37 value. All you have to do is use the code FREEBK [Update: See below] during checkout. The website’s servers are getting hammered due to the deal being so popular, but if you can manage to get the site working it’s definitely a sweet offer. To get started, go to Photo Books, then click 11×8.5″ Classic Landscape.
11×8.5″ Classic Landscape (via Slickdeals.net)
Update: Apparently the coupon code has expired. There was a 1,500 use limit that wasn’t reported anywhere. Hmmm…
Update: You might still be able to get your free book if you started the book before the promotion maxxed out. Here’s what they wrote:
If you started a book before the deal maxed out on Slickdeals.com, we will honor our promotion and give you an extended coupon code. Please contact support@mixbook.com with the URL of your book to receive it.
Flickr user Betty Ann recycled a photography book by transforming pages into these nifty pillow boxes, with each one showing a different camera. Stick a gift certificate to your favorite local camera shop into one and it’ll make the perfect gift for a photography-lovin’ friend! You can find a step-by-step tutorial on how to make your own pillow box over on eHow.
(via Craft)
Image credit: Camera Pillow Boxes by b-a-boop and used with permission
Group Story is a new photo service that’s centered around building photo books collaboratively with other people who photographed the same event. For example, the parents of a soccer team could pool photographs together and create a photo book documenting the soccer season.
Everything is done through a simple web interface, and after photographs are uploaded, you can use any of the photographs in the group to create a page. Once pages are created, you can use any of the pages in the group to create a physical photo book.
The resulting 8×8 inch books cost $13 for 20 pages in a softcover format, and $25 for hardcover. Additional pages are 50 cents each. There isn’t currently any feature for sharing the resulting books through the web, but providing an embeddable photo book that users can post online and/or link to might be a good future feature.
Some of the larger players in the photo space are also thinking hard about making photos more collaborative and social. Just early last month Facebook acquired group photo sharing service Divvyshot.
(via Mashable)
