DETAIL IS FOR

You have no idea how much I smiled like an idiot when this showed up today.

I've wanted for a long time to catalogue and document some of my work and thoughts in a way which was pertinent to the themes that were guiding them. Over the last year, some of my thoughts have really come through in the pieces I make, and the photographs I take, and to have them in some sort of portfolio which is tactile, and 'real' [as opposed to the 'virtual' on Flickr], has been such a delight to create.

This book has been about details - about those little pieces and parts of a whole which fascinate and resonate and actually make the object:idea:photograph. I set myself little daily tasks of photographing things last year as a way of forcing myself to see beyond some of the hard times, and find beauty in apparently mundane or unlikely sources. I found our walks would become so much more as I looked around, and then Max joined in and started looking and collecting as well; now Pia also collects things, just because we do, and I think that's lovely - seeing what they see, documenting it, drawing on that in the things that I make. I wanted to put all those thoughts and ideas into something bound - so much more than the flickr sets that are created, something more structured and conscious. A graphic recollection, simple and stark where the images are allowed to speak with little text - a purely visual catalogue. So the Blurb book 'D is for detail' was born. An expression of details and the processes through which those details evolved over a year. And it is so very beautiful - something I am really proud of, and excited by, even after the hours I spent putting it together.

Unfortunately Blurb currently don't do the Bookstore for non-us citizens*, so making this available publicly will have to wait. This was a proof copy that I've done and there's a bit of tweeking needed before I can release it anyway. I thought I might get a small run done, and see if anyone wants one, while waiting for the bookstore option to become available.

* I should clarify: the bookstore is available for non-us citizens, but you can't set a price for the book and receive profit if you are outside of the US - the book retails for the print cost. This is an option, I'm just getting my head around how I want this to go out. Till then, and I get the book re-edited, the book wont be on the blurb site for public viewing.

Comments

[jo]

this looks beautiful alison - just wondering if you are thinking of selling any of the copies from your 'small run'? or would they just be for friends, etc...

[michelle]

Oooooh er!
I'm such a sucker for books. Glad you smiled. :)

[vanessa]

that's so awesome alison! i can't wait to see more.

[joanna]

oh i've been wanting to create a blurb book as well, for my baby...yours look so professional!! wish i could read it!! =)

[shannon]

lookin' pretty fancy!

[carolyn]

that's weird b/c i just bought blurb books by a) a dude in england and b) a girl in (i think) germany. but i guess maybe they are us citizens that just happen to live abroad?

[kirsten]

wow, that was quick! the turnaround, i mean (not the compiling!). looks slick and professional - as i would expect. what a treat.

[di]

So inspiring. That you have created something so wonderful from such small simple steps- observing, photographing, collecting. And so wonderful that Max and Pia have been joining in too. Really wonderful. Congratulations and I hope the book run does happen!

[Ana]

Wow! Congratulations! Having a book of your own work, designed by you, must be a joy!

I´m happy for you and wish someday I´ll be able to do the same myself.

Ana

[Creature of Habit]

It's truly stunning, very well done!

[stinkerbell]

someone moved to the finish line faster than I did... :)
consider my order placed :)

[patricia]

it looks beautiful from what little we can see. congratulations!

[Jennifer]

That's really lovely, congratulations. No wonder you smiled!

[Lia]

Uah!!! That's great! I made two myself, too! From our holidays! That's a way of having beautyfull pictures printed for eyes to see and hands to touch, since the digital came out!! At the time I made mine, the shipping costs to Portugal, where I leave, were very expensive! But now they're better!
Glad you're glad! :)

[Lia]

i ment "where i live", sorry!!

[michele]

wow it looks so real! so beautiful but also real. congratulations. so want to be able to turn those pages. peach photo is gorgeous too.

[Carson]

Oh, look at that!
Proper binding and all ;)
Fantastic.
Bugger about the international pricing.
Hope you get that sorted out.

[martha]

oh - I wish I could hold it in my hands. It really looks beautiful. Congratulations!
I'm glad you had more luck w/ blurb than I did. I got too frustrated w/ having to use their templates and so I ended up going back to pagemaker. I wish I could have used blurb -their quality and binding look great.
xo

[Kristen]

Ahh, I want it in my hands. To look over all the loveliness.

[Alex]

Alison, congratulations on this. It looks so beautiful. Surely is.
Fantastic how you made it happen that fast!

[amisha]

i am so excited about this al. i would definitely be interested in a copy... it looks absolutely beautiful. what a joy to be able to touch the document of a year's work, to make this process tangible.
xox