Wednesday, October 3, 2012

NBC's REVOLUTION gives a perfect reason to make a Photobook


I don't know if any of you have been watching REVOLUTION on NBC on at 10pm on Mondays.  But this above clip is a perfect reason why we should all quickly make a photobook of our loved ones because you never know what will happen in the future.

The show is really interesting.  The clip shows an ex-Google executive (the bearded guy) and a doctor with a British accent out in the wilderness.  It's been 15 years since all electronics and electricity have stopped working in the US and militia have taken over as governments have fallen.  Since life was so digital and electronic, nobody has photos of their old life and therefore no memories.

It's a pretty good show and a perfect reason to get those precious photos printed out in a volume that will withstand most any disaster.

Saturday, September 8, 2012

Watch a 1940s Era Magazine Publishing Company Documentary Explaining Each Step, From Trees to Paper to Printing the Art etc.

-I thought this was a particularly fascinating video since we do photobooks which are basically just place, click and print and a full color magazine back in the 1940s was such a long arduous task that it's shocking just how many people were employed.  We also do digitization of magazine collections which some are in full color and some are not.  It's amazing how we just scan and digitize and breeze over what took hours and days to produce.
-Silver Street Media.

more at http://news.quickfound.net/journalism_news_and_links.html

Shows the entire process of magazine publishing, from making paper to distribution. Includes Saturday Evening Post cover artist Norman Rockwell and cartoonist Ted Key.

Public domain film from the Library of Congress Prelinger Archive, slightly cropped to remove uneven edges, with the aspect ratio corrected, and mild video noise reduction applied.
The soundtrack was also processed with volume normalization, noise reduction, clipping reduction, and/or equalization (the resulting sound, though not perfect, is far less noisy than the original).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curtis_Publishing_Company

The Curtis Publishing Company, founded in 1891 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, became one of the largest and most influential publishers in the United States during the early 20th century. The company's publications included the Ladies' Home Journal and The Saturday Evening Post, The American Home, Holiday, Jack & Jill, and Country Gentleman. In the 1940s, Curtis also had a comic book imprint, Novelty Press....

History

The company was formed in 1891 by publisher Cyrus Curtis, who published the People's Ledger, a news magazine he had begun in Boston in 1872 and moved to Philadelphia in 1876. He had also established the Tribune and Farmer in 1879, from the women's section of which he fashioned the Ladies' Home Journal under the editorship of his wife, Louisa Knapp in 1883. These publications were taken under the imprimatur of the new company.

In 1897, Curtis spent $1,000 to buy The Saturday Evening Post, which would become one of the nation's most popular periodicals, known for its timely articles and stories and frequent cover illustrations by Norman Rockwell. In 1946 Curtis Circulation Company is created as an official subsidiary of Curtis Publishing Company. The advent of television in the late 1940s and early 1950s encroached upon the popularity of general interest periodicals like the Post and the Journal, and in March, 1962, Curtis Publishing's president Robert A. MacNeal announced that the company had lost money for the first time since its incorporation, more than 70 years before.

...Curtis Publishing shut down the Evening Post in 1969. In March 1969, the Federal Trade Commission directs Curtis to offer cash refunds for unfulfilled portions of Evening Post subscriptions. Perfect Film purchased Curtis Circulation Company that same year. In 1976, The Saturday Evening Post Society was spun off from Curtis to publish its flagship magazine and U.S. Kids was formed which publishes their portfolio of childrens' magazines...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Saturday_Evening_Post

The Saturday Evening Post is a bimonthly American magazine. It was published weekly under this title from 1897 until 1969, and quarterly and then bimonthly from 1971...

While the publication traces its historical roots to Benjamin Franklin, The Pennsylvania Gazette was first published in 1728 by Samuel Keimer. The following year (1729), Franklin acquired the Gazette from Keimer for a small sum and turned it into the largest circulation newspaper in all the colonies. It continued publication until 1800. The Saturday Evening Post was founded in 1821 and grew to become the most widely circulated weekly magazine in America. The magazine gained prominent status under the leadership of its longtime editor George Horace Lorimer (1899--1937).

The Saturday Evening Post published current event articles, editorials, human interest pieces, humor, illustrations, a letter column, poetry (with contributions submitted by readers), single-panel gag cartoons (including Hazel by Ted Key) and stories by the leading writers of the time. It was known for commissioning lavish illustrations and original works of fiction. Illustrations were featured on the cover and embedded in stories and advertising. Some Post illustrations became popular and continue to be reproduced as posters or prints, especially those by Norman Rockwell.

Curtis Publishing Co. stopped publishing the Post in 1969 after the company lost a landmark defamation suit and was ordered to pay over $3 million in damages. The Post was revived in 1971 as a quarterly publication. As of the late 2000s, The Saturday Evening Post is published six times a year by the Saturday Evening Post Society, which purchased the magazine in 1982...
http://youtu.be/hHl5Gbk1ICc

Monday, August 27, 2012

Photobook Photography News/Links: Drowning Bride, Art of the Building, Babies! Kodak and Skid Row Photobook?


When photography goes too far: In Quebec, a woman wanted one last photo of herself in her wedding dress before returning it or giving it back.  During the photo shoot she fell into the water and the water soaked into the dress making it super heavy.  She drowned pretty quickly even though the photographer tried to help her.  Sad sad story.
Newlywed bride drowns, wanted one last photograph in her wedding dress.

Finalists for the ART OF THE BUILDING contect are now up at the Huffington Post.

Sebastian Bach of Skid Row is contemplating a photobook about his life.  It seems like all these aged rockers are now making books as they've perhaps run out of money.  More power to this guy who isn't short of tooting his own horn.  He's quoted in the Examiner.com article saying, "My life story is insanely insane."  Funny. Can't wait to see it!


In light of my own child who came into this work almost a month ago, this article looks like some great advice: 3 photobook companies to make your first year baby photobook!  I would also add Dabblebooks to that list!


and sad news that Kodak is ceasing their still photography business.

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Photo book vs. Picture book vs. Photo album: What's the Difference?

A photobook is a book whose primary content is photographic. It does not have to contain text. Many show the work of a single photographer or a collaboration between photographer(s) and a/some writer(s).

A picture book combines visual and verbal narratives in a book format, most often but not always aimed at young children. The images in picture books use a range of media such as oil paints, acrylics, watercolor and pencil, pen and also photos.

A photo album, is a collection of photographs, generally in a book. Some albums have compartments which the photos may be slipped into; other albums have heavy paper with a sticky surface covered with clear plastic sheets, in which photos can be put. Older style albums often were simply books of heavy paper which photos could be glued to or attached to with adhesive corners, or pages.

Now we have that all cleared up.  Thanks to Wikipedia for those decisive answers.  At Silver Street Media our job is to assist you in your creation of the first one: the photo book.  You can make your photo book look like the third one: a photo album if you want to.  Heck, if you are good with a scanner and photoshop you could even make your photo book look a lot like the second one: a picture book. 

With a little text and some good photos, you could turn your photo book into number two: a picture book.  And with some of the layout templates on Silver Street Media.com you could make your photo book look like a number three: a photo album.

Any way which you choose, Silver Street Media is there to help.  Ask us some questions if you want.  We’re just an e-mail away.

Monday, August 13, 2012

Photography and Photobook Links: Line Camera App, Crowdsourcing your Wedding Album and NASA's Mars lander photos!

An example of LINE CAMERA App, very popular in Japan.
Source: via KissMe on Pinterest


There's a new APP for your smartphone that replaces the disposable cameras at the next wedding you go to.  It's called WedPics.  Guests can upload right there and then to an online wedding album or later when they get home.  No more seeing photos of your wedding 6 months to 3 years later after the fact!  All they have to do is use all the photos in an amazing photobook!



Some of the photos coming back from Mars are pretty amazing.  Can't wait for a big photobook called MARS!


Another example of LINE CAMERA App, did you know it's free!

Source: via Jennie on Pinterest


Over in Japan they've announced that a cool photo app for the smartphone has reached 10 million dowloads.  The App allows you to take photos, then decorate it with a bunch of sticker like things.  (Sounds very Japan like.)  To give you perspective on how amazing the number of downloads is...

"LINE camera took 117 days to achieve 10 million downloads. When this time span is compared to that of other camera apps such as Instagram which took 355 days, it is immediately obvious how rapidly this app is gaining popularity."
Below is a introduction to the app for your smartphone and I can't wait to see a photobook with these kind of fun photos!

And ANOTHER example of LINE CAMERA App, typical East Asian!



LINE camera iPhone App Review (FREE App) - CrazyMikesapps
http://youtu.be/iSAGz5ncQ6k

Friday, August 10, 2012

A Baby Photobook - Internet's First Photobook Comic

More photobook comics here.  The above comic is inspired by what could be a true story. :D

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Everyone Loves the Photobooth: 5 Photobooth Photobooks and examples!


Great Memories are Made with Photobooth
photos, how much better would it be in a
photobook!? 
Source: google.com via Lisa on Pinterest




Have you ever been to someplace and you see a booth with that classic curtain?  You step in.  Put your money in the slot and quickly pose for the 4 consecutive shots.  Perhaps by yourself or with a friend or with a bunch of friends.  Hope the photos come out ok.  You just experienced a photobooth.  There are some classics shots out there and I have one in my scrapbook somewhere.  Well there's tons of information out there about photobooths.  I bet photobooth photos would make a great photobook.  Well, there are some already out there.  Here's a list of 5 books about the American phenomonon: The Photobooth.

Hilhaven Lodge: The Photo Booth Pictures

Hilhaven Lodge: The Photo Booth Pictures is comprised of wacky and outrageous picture strips of Michael Jackson, Britney Spears, Colin Farrell, Heath Ledger, Heidi Klum, Shaquille O’Neal, Chris Tucker, Kim Cattrall, Jackie Chan, Dino De Laurentiis, Clive Davis, Aaliyah, Edward Norton, Salma Hayek, Quincy Jones, Ralph Fiennes, Rod Stewart, Val Kilmer, Liv Tyler, Harvey Keitel, Jay-Z ... and many, many more!  

American Photobooth

A fascinating history of an American institution that includes an extraordinary collection of photobooth images.

“That a perceptive, dedicated, and sensitive artist like Näkki Goranin has rescued from oblivion so many amazing self-portraits created by amateurs confronting themselves in the fleeting privacy of humble photobooths is yet another miracle for which we can be grateful.”—from the foreword by David Haberstich Generally relegated to the realm of kitsch, the history and cultural importance of the photobooth has long been overlooked...“For anyone who assumes that photobooth pictures are perfunctory, utilitarian records at best, the range of emotions and moods portrayed by the subjects of [this] collection is a revelation.”


Photobooth: The Art of the Automatic Portrait

Since its introduction to the public in September of 1926 on a street corner in New York City, the automatic photobooth has captured the interest of the general public and fine artists alike. Raynal Pellicer, author of Mug Shots, examines the self-portraits—sometimes practical, sometimes whimsical—produced by this enduring 20th-century novelty.

The countless documents included here feature shots of Francis Bacon, Billy Childish, Allen Ginsberg, John F. Kennedy, Anne Frank, Salvador Dalí, André Breton, Wim Wenders, Walker Evans, and John Lennon, among others. Photobooth draws a fantastic inventory of artistic variations on the snapshot, bringing together works of art and self-portraits of persons both known and unknown, from the 1920s to the present.

MTV Photobooth: An MTV Overground Book




Over 200 celebrities. 61 sunglasses. 44 tongues. 28 goofy faces. 15 middle fingers. 14 blown kisses. 12 heavy metal signs. 8 threesomes. 5 nosepickings, 2 nipples, and 1 bare ass. Enter the secret space of MTV's world-famous Times Square studio photobooth and see what only the camera has as you stare straight into the faces--and some other body parts we can't mention here--of your favorite stars. You've seen them on TRL, DFX and other MTV programs, but you've never seen them like this, vamping, posing, giggling, and goofing in strip after outrageous four-photo strip. From Jennifer Lopez to Janet Jackson, Ozzy Osbourne to Blink 182, and Mike Myers to Madonna, MTV Photobooth brings you face-to-face with your favorite stars.

Photobooth

In 1925 the Siberian immigrant Anatol Josepho had an idea for a small curtain-enclosed booth where people could take affordable portraits anonymously and automatically. The photobooth was born. Within 20 years there were more than 30,000 in the United States alone, an explosive growth due largely to World War II, as soldiers and loved ones exchanged photos, hoping to cling to memories or moments in a world turned upside down. But by the 1960s the advent of Polaroid photography spelled the doom of the "four strip" that had become a fixture at arcades and drugstores everywhere.

Photobooth presents over 700 such photographs from the last 75 years, images at turns spontaneous and uninhibited, often goofy, and occasionally touching. It is a fascinating portrait of everyday people and a testament to the ongoing fascination with both the process and the result.

Do you have a photobooth photo?  Where was the last time you did a photobooth photo?

Monday, August 6, 2012

They Oughta Make a Photobook: Turn Your Grief into Photography

Over at the Daily Mail we found these pictures that were bizarre and enchanting.  It also says that these were an escape for the photographer.  You see her mother had passed away from a brain tumor in 2008 and she channelled her grief into her work.
This is from the Daily Mail:
She retreated behind the lens of her camera and created Wonderland, an ethereal fantasy world. The photographic series began as a small summer project but grew into an inspirational creative journey.


'Real life became a difficult place to deal with, and I found myself retreating further into an alternative existence through the portal of my camera,' said the artist.

'This escapism grew into the concept of creating an unexplained storybook without words, dedicated to her [my mother], that would echo the fragments of the fairytales she read to me constantly as a child.'

Some of the photos were inspired from her dreams after her world fell apart.

 There are more photos at her own website: http://www.kirstymitchellphotography.com/
One thing is for sure.  These would make an AWESOME photobook.

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Ask SSM: What about my old photo albums? Should I throw them out?

Dear SSM,

Now that I’ve made my photobook and I’m really happy with it, what should I do with my photo albums?  I mean I was able to put in all the photos into my photobook so what do I need the albums for?  Should I toss them?

Sincerely,

Al Bum

-----------------------

Dear Al,

Great question.  We here at Silver Street Media would never advocate for tossing photo albums.  They took time to compile and they can have many uses in the future.  Unfortunately we could only think of one usage: showing your grandkids what a photo album looked like.  But no, I think that just in case anything happened, Heaven forbid! to your house or apartment at least you have a “back up copy” in your photo album.

Thanks again!

The SSM team.

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