Recall volume 2

There is a commotion in the hallway as the dogs clammer to get traction on the stone floor as they race to be first to the door. Ah! It must be the postman. There he is waiting to hand me the package containing my next copy of Recall. I thank him and head in.

With the package in hand I make my way to the office. There is a tinge of excitement as the packet is torn open. With bated breath I slowly pull the magazine from it's cardboard surround. Will it or wont it be as good as the last one. First impression suggest it is!

I remove it from the rapper, wow! Again the reproduction is wonderful it has caught the subtle reflections of light that were in the original photographs of the high rise blocks. There is a slight mistake that I missed, this was due to a software update that unsettled the original layout of the images but really not worth mentioning in detail.

Although I have set up a number of custom templates, do not take it for granted that there will render identical to the last issue without being carefully checked. Something I will do for the next volume. It is a case of getting used to the software and getting to grips with a method that allows things to flow. Once this happens then I think the mistakes will disappear.

I have decided not to release a digital copy as it defeats the idea of the magazine. Which is to share nicely printed pictures that could be framed and put on the wall.

I have a very small number of signed and numbed copies for anyone who maybe interested. You can only purchase them from me direct. If not you can buy direct from the site.

These links go straight to a blurb link that shows more of the content:

Recall volume 2  Recall volume 1

Recall magazine

I have been looking for a way to do justice to a series of photographs as a collection. I have shared some of them on the blog as a picture post called Tenth Floor. To be honest I have not really been satisfied with this method. It is great that they can be viewed as a set but it does not convey what they are like as photographs in the real world.

Having scanned them and then adjusted them in Photoshop to get them as close to the original, this still does not do them justice. I had thought about putting them in a book but it's an expensive way of putting ten pictures together as a series, so I looked at a magazine format which is quite an inexpensive way of printing a collection.

I decided to test the idea out with blurb. I have to say up front I am not a fan of the online print service since they screwed up a wedding book I got involved in some years ago.

Anyway having down loaded the updated software I set about putting the magazine together. It was good to see that the standard length was twenty pages - just right for my ten image project, giving me just enough space to add a few words of intro and some tec stuff at the end.

Not having produced anything book wise for a while, I had forgotten how involved it is just to get a basic structure together. For instance, what paper, font, title, how many images to a page the list go's on! The picture issue was easy to solve – one per page. The font was a bit more difficult, I wanted the theme to convey a type of note book look so I chose a font that looked like hand writing and easy to read.

The paper was quite easy in that you only had two choices. I plump for the better quality, I wanted the images to look like the resin coated paper that the original photographs had been made on. The title took a lot longer than anticipated and was suggested by the blogs editor.

Now that all the the bibs and bobs had been ironed out I could save the templates for the next issue. I expected it to be easy to produce the next issue but it is not! I maybe missing something in the workflow from one issue to the next we shall see.

The moment of truth came a week or so later. when a very thin cardboard package arrived. I was a little apprehensive when opening it. I hope this was going to be a lot better than the last package I had from blurb. OK WOW! it has well and truly exceeded my expectations it is a lovely thing to behold the gloss paper complemented the prints so much so they could have been the original photographs. In fact they could be cut out and framed. High praise I know but when it is right it is right - well done Blurb!

Would I recommend them? NO. A lot more water will have to pass under the bridge before I even consider it. A good start though.

The plan was to get one out a month this has not happened. Shortly after this article I was very ill, it took a long time to get passed. I did produce a second volume sometime later. 

So if you are interested in a copy here is the link and here is the link to the blog post Tenth Floor that this volume is based on.

If you would like a copy of the Magazine click on the link below.

http://www.blurb.co.uk/b/8533877-recall-volume-1

Here is a link to volume 2
http://www.blurb.co.uk/b/8798807-recall-volume-2