Creating Photo Books

If you’ve been reading my blog for a while or watching my YouTube channel, you’ll know how important it is for me to create something physical from my photographs. For me, the photographic process isn’t complete until I have made a print. I just love printing! You can beat the experience of watching one of your images take physical form.

Printing individual images for me is quick, easy, and reasonably inexpensive. I can also be spontaneous with my decision to print a photograph. Photography books are much more of a commitment, both in terms of preparation, time, and cost. It’s not that I’ve necessarily shied away from creating a book, it’s just that I’ve never felt the need.

That was all true until earlier this year when I created my first landscape photography book using the images that I’d captured from the Isle of Skye the year before. It was fantastic to see a collection of my images in a book. It hasn’t changed my attitude towards printing at home but it has given me another way to output my photography. I could definitely see the benefit of printing a collection of images in a book format. There is something even more permanent and physical with a book.

This Is Fun, Let’s Do Another

After my experience of creating my book of Skye photographs, I knew I would want to create another book at some point. I wasn’t planning to do one so soon but then I saw an advert from Saal Digital UK offering a £100 voucher against the cost of one of their Professional Line books. I’d never used Saal before and I thought this would be a great opportunity to not only try their services but also to create another book. I applied for the voucher and was incredibly pleased when my application was accepted. (I will add that the voucher came with no conditions other than a use-by date.)

From the outset, I knew this was going to be a much bigger book than my last one. I wasn’t exactly sure of the scope to start with, and it took me a little while to get myself started, but once I was going it turned out to be a fantastic project.

Like I did with my Skye book I decided to make a video of my experience of creating this book. In the video, I talk about how I selected my photographs, my experience of using the Saal designer software and my thoughts on the final printed book. You can check out the video below:

Will I Do Another?

There’s no doubt that having photography books printed can be a costly exercise, especially if you are just printing one book for personal use but I do firmly believe it is worth doing. With that in mind, I have made a personal commitment to producing another book.

Unless anything else comes up between now and the end of the year that requires a book, my next book will feature my best or favourite photographs from 2020. If that book turns out to be a positive experience it will be something, I will want to do every year. I’m also going to look at some of the additional options that Saal offer such as gift boxes, different covers and paper types. I will, of course, be creating a video for that so you can share the experience with me.

I hope you enjoyed this video and blog post. Do you create your own photography books? Do you sell your books? Let me know in the comments below.