Adam Horwitz recently submitted a beautifully designed book entitled The Face of Food. This is all around one of the strongest submissions thus far. The cover design is captivating, the page layouts were very clean, strong and focused concept, and, ofcourse, very strong photography. The concept was to document the farmers and their food from the South Shore Farmers Market. The book features documentary style photographs from the farms that Horwitz visited, coupled with Studio Portraits of the food that is eventually for sale at the Farmer’s Market. The book also features poems to accompany some of the photographs as well. This book was very well thought out from concept to design to the photography itself. All around must see book come show time.

MIAD studen Lauren Howie Laur recently submitted her beautifully hand crafted Photo BookWhat Once Was.Its a small intimate book that serves as both a photobook and a sculptural art piece in and of itself. The book itself does not close, and instead the covers lay flat on the desk as the pages cascade out in a fan like fashion. The form factor of the book is small, yet the actual photographs themselves force you to get even closer which seems to be very fitting to this personal photo album like book. The photographs themselves are actually photographs of photographs. This will be sure to turn some heads come opening night of the show.

Lots of great new books have been filtering in over the past couple weeks including books by Corey Gaffer, PJ Moody, Stephanie Bartz, Shane Engelking and Brian Zbichorski

I stopped by the Portrait Society on Saturday and was excited to see a fresh stack of new arrivals! Here is a small sample of what was delivered over the past week! We have received over 50 books thus far, and although the deadline has passed a few more books are still sprinkling in that were held up in transit. We will be be taking a closer look at a few books later this week!

Thanks to everyone who has submitted work thus far!

I stopped by the Portrait Society last week to check out some of the recent submissions. When I arrived there was a large stack of books on Debra’s desk. The photo above features a small random selection of recent submissions, however, there are plenty more where this came from. The submissions have been flowing in the past couple of weeks, I will stop by again later this week to photograph another batch.

Thank you to all those that have submitted books already! For those who haven’t, you still have one week left!

Half Title Page and Title Page – most photography books start with a half-title page which is simply the main title of your book.

The actual title page is the next page, and features the entire title of your book, including the byline and publisher or any writers involved.

Copyright Page – since most of us are self publishing on our own, you probably will not need to dedicate an entire page to this.

Dedication – many books open with a brief statement of dedication.

Acknowledgements – some books place their acknowledgements toward the beginning, others at the end, its up to you.

Foreword, Preface, or Introduction – This is a good place to explain the project, put it in context, or build up to the body of work the viewer is about to experience.

Some other things you may want to include is an artist biography, plate list / captions at the back of the book, contributor essays if you have them, selected exhibition history, bibliography if needed.

By no means are these required, but they may be good additions to add an extra level of finesse to the final product. Good Luck!

Andy Adams is the founder and publisher of FlakPhoto.com, an online art space that celebrates the culture of image-making. His work in digital media explores the intersection of online publishing, social media, and community collaborations in contemporary photography.

Kevin J Miyazaki is a Milwaukee based photographer. Kevin is an accomplished freelance photographer with a client list that includes ESPN The Magazine, GQ, New York Times to name a few. Kevin also actively pursues personal work, including a recent series “Madison Protesters” which featured studio portraits of protestors he found outside of the Capitol building last winter.

Paul Baker Prindle is a Milwaukee based photographer and graduate of UW-Madison. His personal work has been exhibited nationally from San Francisco to New York City. He currently teaches at Edgewood College in Madison, WI.

Sonja Thomsen is a Milwaukee based visual artist with a strong photographic emphasis.  She received her MFA in photography from the San Francisco Art Institute and a BA in Biology & Studio Art from Kenyon College. Sonja’s work has been exhibited nationally and in January of 2012 will open her international debut at the Reykjavik Museum of Photography in Iceland. Her work is also part of the permanent collection of the Milwaukee Art Museum.

http://www.blurb.com/make/books

read Alec’s picks >>

Taryn Simon‘s exhibition at the Milwaukee Art Museum closed yesterday. For those that missed it, you can still catch a glimpse of her work in the Milwaukee Art Museum bookstore. Her books are an incredible example of what great concepts, strong photography, and layout can do. I was especially partial to her ‘The Innocents‘ series. I urge you to stop by and take a glimpse at some of the incredible photography books on display at the Milwaukee Art Museum bookstore or set up an appointment to discover their Photography Study Center.