Publish Your Photography Book

by Darius D. Himes (Author), Mary Virginia Swanson (Author)

The book New Orleans native Anne Rice called “a landmark oOur indispensable guide to publishing your own photography book just got better. In this revised and updated edition of Publish Your Photography Book, industry insiders Darius D. Himes and Mary Virginia Swanson take budding authors through the publishing process—from concept through production, marketing, and sales—pointing out the many avenues to pursue and pitfalls to avoid. It’s packed with information, including interviews and contributions from artists, publishers, designers, packagers, editors, and other industry experts who openly share their publishing experiences. This revised edition features updated case studies and resources sections as well as expanded information on digital publishing platforms, with advice on how to make and market your eBook.

Bird Watching

by Paula McCartney  (Author), Darius Himes (Contributor)

You have now before you a representation of one of the most richly coloured of birds, and one whose history is in some degree peculiar.
John James Audubon, The Birds of America

A spotted wren perches on the limb of a pine tree in a field of daisies. A song sparrow stands ready to take flight from a snow-covered limb against a winter landscape. For many, these descriptions depict quintessential experiences of nature. As photographs in a bird-watchers field journal they become something else entirely. Precious and desirable for being so rare, they transform into a kind of trophy that rewards the birdwatcher for his or her skill, tireless patience, and mastery over nature. At first glance, conceptual artist Paula McCartney’s Bird Watching seems to be a most exemplary specimen of a birdwatching journal. Handwritten notations recording species, location, size, and markings describe well-rendered and flawlessly composed photographs of a wide variety of passerines, orperching birds, in their natural settings in locations across the United States. Page after page of the most wonderfully diverse species of birds are perfectly posed in picturesque natural settingsa bird-watcher’s dream.

On second glance, however, the birds appear a bit too carefully arranged amid the tangle of brush and branches. Aneven closer look reveals stiff wire protrusions mounting each bird to its perch, matted tufts of overdyed faux feathers forming wings and splashes of paint creating eyes and beaks. McCartney has activated her atmospheric landscapes by adding synthetic decorative birds purchased at craft stores. This startling revelation has you wondering if the artificial might ultimately be more satisfying than the natural. Part document and part fiction, Paula McCartney’s Bird Watching is a fanciful, homespun field guide to a woodland twilight zone where our unconscious need to controlnature is indulged and our search for an unattainable ideal natural experience is fulfilled. Featuring a design that mimics the tactility of a real bird-watching journal and including essays by Darius Himes and Karen Irvine, this book will appeal to the dreamy naturalist in all of us.

Mona Kuhn: Works

by Rebecca Morse (Author), Simon Baker (Author), Chris Littlewood (Author), Darius Himes (Author), Elizabeth Avedon (Author), Mona Kuhn  (Photographer)

A stunning career retrospective of Mona Kuhn, one of the leading figures in contemporary art photography.

Mona Kuhn is one of the most respected contemporary photographers of her time, best known for her large-scale photographs of the human form. Throughout a career spanning more than twenty years, the underlying theme of her work is her reflection on humanity’s longing for spiritual connection and solidarity. As she solidified her photographic style, Kuhn created a notable approach to the nude by developing friendships with her subjects, and employing a range of playful visual strategies that use natural light and bucolic settings to evoke a sublime sense of comfort between the human figure and its environment. Her work is natural, restful, and a reinterpretation of the nude in the canon of contemporary art.

Kuhn’s distinct aesthetic has propelled her as one of the most collectible contemporary art photographers―her work is in private and public collections worldwide and she is represented by galleries across the United States. Mona Kuhn: Works, the artist’s first retrospective, features images from throughout her career, accompanied by insightful texts by Rebecca Morse, Simon Baker, Chris Littlewood, and Darius Himes. An interview with Elizabeth Avedon provides insights into Kuhn’s creative process and the ways in which she works with her subjects and locations, and achieves the visual signature of her imagery. Published to coincide with a traveling international exhibition, opening at Fotografiska in New York, this book introduces Kuhn’s distinct aesthetic to a wide popular audience., It is an essential volume for anyone with an interest in the human form in contemporary art.

180 color and black and white illustrations

The Photographer’s Playbook

by Darius Himes (Contributer),  Jason Fulford  (Editor), Gregory Halpern (Editor), Mike Slack (Photographer)

The best way to learn is by doing. The Photographer’s Playbook features photography assignments, as well as ideas, stories and anecdotes from many of the world’s most talented photographers and photography professionals. Whether you’re looking for exercises to improve your craft—alone or in a group—or you’re interested in learning more about the medium, this playful collection will inspire fresh ways of engaging with photographic process. Inside you will find advice for better shooting and editing, creative ways to start new projects, games and activities and insight into the practices of those responsible for our most iconic photographs—John Baldessari, Tina Barney, Philip-Lorca diCorcia, Jim Goldberg, Miranda July, Susan Meiselas, Stephen Shore, Alec Soth, Tim Walker and many more. The book also features a Polaroid alphabet by Mike Slack, which divides each chapter, and a handy subject guide. Edited by acclaimed photographers Jason Fulford and Gregory Halpern, the assignments and project ideas in this book are indispensable for teachers and students, and great fun for everyone fascinated by taking pictures.

Janelle Lynch: Another Way of Looking at Love

by Darius Himes (Author), Janelle Lynch (Photographer)

New York–based photographer Janelle Lynch (born 1969) creates still lives within landscapes that combine similar and disparate elements. Informed by Lynch’s recent immersion in drawing and painting, the biological need for connection and the consequences of disconnection.

ONE

by David Campany  (Author), Teju Cole (Author), Christie Davis (Author), John D’Agata (Author), Michael Fried (Author), Darius Himes (Author), Leah Ollman (Author), Laura Steward (Author)

Photography is omnipresent; everyone is photographing everything. How do artists and writers reconcile this voracious urge to photograph with a photographic aesthetic and methodology that has tended to value “less is more”?

One pairs artists and writers to think about this question. Eight photographers―Marco Breuer, Thomas Joshua Cooper, John Gossage, Trevor Paglen, Alison Rossiter, Victoria Sambunaris, Rebecca Norris Webb and James Welling―were asked to submit one image on the theme of minimalism. Eight writers―David Campany, Teju Cole, Christie Davis, John D’Agata, Michael Fried, Darius Himes, Leah Ollman and Laura Steward―were enlisted to respond to those submissions, each paired with a specific image. The results offer a probing assessment of Antoine de Saint-Exupery’s maxim: “Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.”

Mile 46: Face to face Maasailand 

by Joni Binder  (Author), Darius Himes (Contributor)

Discover the multifaceted culture of the African Maasai through the journal entries and photos of a young Western woman who lived among them.

Point Magazine: The Art and Ideas of Photography 

by Duane Michals (Author), Loretta Lux (Author), Darius Himes (Author), Thomas Ruff (Author), Katherine Wolkoff (Author), Paul Gachot (Editor)

The first issue of Point Magazine (Winter 2005/2006, Vol. 1, No. 1), a photography periodical published by the talent resource guide Workbook; it’s also likely the only issue published. Articles include: a long, profusely illustrated interview with Duane Michals; Loretta Lux; Visionaire magazine; Thomas Ruff; Katherine Wolkoff; prostitutes in photography; an interview with WM Hunt on his collection; Stijn & Marie portfolio; book reviews by Darius Himes; and more. Edited by Paul Gachot. 136 pages; color illustrations throughout; 8 x 11 inches.

Short Track 

by Jake Mendel  (Author), Darius Himes (Afterword)

Short Track documents the world of semi-professional dirttrack racing: from the downtrodden bombers and high-endstock cars, to the fans, drivers, and mechanics’ lives onand off the track. With roots going back to prohibition-erarum runners, stock car racing has evolved into a nationalphenomenon and become America’s second-most watchedtelevised sport. For racing enthusiasts, hot days spentsweating over busted engines and damaged bodies give wayto nights of tearing up the earth in front of a crowd, mudspraying from tires with the pedal jammed down and theadrenaline cranked up.

The “short track” is any oval track less than a half-mile round,and countless semi-pro races are held weekly on dirt shorttracks across the country. Drivers in these events race atbreakneck speeds, seeking triumph while courting disaster,and spectators know there is as good a chance of witnessinga crash as getting a first look at NASCAR’s next up-and-comer.Mendel traveled to the Deep South, Arizona, and NewMexico-hotbeds of stock car racing-in order to capture theraw power and gritty determination of life on the short track.As most drivers can’t afford their expensive hobby, many relyon assistance from family and friends, and even from fellowcompetitors, in order to maintain their cars. But for the diehards,stock car racing is more than a sport; it is a way oflife. Short Track puts readers in the passenger’s seat foran up close ride-along through the world of America’s mostdangerous, grease-splattered, high-octane, pastime.

Words Without Pictures 

by Alex Klein (Editor), Charlotte Cotton (Contributor), James Welling (Contributor), Kevin Moore  (Contributor), Sharon Lockhart (Contributor), George Baker  (Contributor), Walead Beshty (Contributor), Allen Ruppersberg (Contributor), Shannon Ebner (Contributor), Jason Evans (Contributor), Darius Himes (Contributor)

“Words Without Pictures” was originally conceived by curator Charlotte Cotton as a means of creating spaces for discourse around current issues in photography. Every month for a year, beginning in November 2007, an artist, educator, critic or curator was invited to contribute a short unillustrated essay about an aspect of emerging photography. Each piece was available on the Words Without Pictures website for one month and was accompanied by a discussion forum focused on its specific topic. Over the course of its month-long “life,” each essay received both invited and unsolicited responses from a wide range of interested parties. All of these essays, responses and other provocations are gathered together here. Previously issued as a print-on-demand title, we are pleased to present “Words Without Pictures” to the trade for the first time as part of the “Aperture Ideas” series. The contributors are Amy Adler, George Baker, Christopher Bedford, Walead Beshty, Sarah Charlesworth, Charlotte Cotton, John Divola, Shannon Ebner, Jason Evans, Harrell Fletcher, Paul Graham, Leslie Hewitt, Darius Himes, Soo Kim, Sze Tsung Leong, Miranda Lichtenstein, Sharon Lockhart, Allan McCollum, Kevin Moore, Carter Mull, Marisa Olson, Arthur Ou, Anthony Pearson, Michael Queenland, Allen Ruppersberg, Alex Slade, A.L. Steiner, Penelope Umbrico, James Welling, Charlie White, Mark Wyse and Amir Zaki.

The Life of Small Things 

by Adam Ekberg (Photographer), Darius Himes (Contributor)

In his photographic interventions, Adam Ekberg presents moments both mysterious and delightful. His constructions, rendered in lavish color, are not easily decoded or resolved. A disco ball turning in the woods is simultaneously fantastic and lonely; as the beam of a flashlight bounces between mirrors in a small hallway, the scene radiates a warming light that will only ever live within the confines of the photographic frame.

Brought together for the artist’s first monograph, the images in The Life of Small Things confound expectations about what we perceive as the inevitability of the commonplace. Made over the course of the past decade, the series began as a response to Ekberg’s time as a hospice aide. Since then, his interventions have embraced a wide range of quiet surprises. Ekberg hints at the poignant beauty that can take shape, although fleetingly, when the spark of possibility hits the mundane.

Photographes, publiez votre livre photo !

by Darius D. Himes (Author), Mary Virginia Swanson (Author)

u même titre qu’une exposition, un livre est un formidable aboutissement pour un photographe. C’est un signe de réussite et de succès, une manière de laisser une trace. Il est surtout l’un des meilleurs moyens de se faire connaître, y compris à l’étranger, et de démarcher galeristes et autres clients potentiels. Alors que la production de beaux livres de photographie a fortement augmenté depuis le début des années 1990, témoignant du dynamisme de petits éditeurs et de photographes indépendants au fait du développement des techniques de mise en pages et d’impression à la demande, elle reste encore obscure et mal maîtrisée pour certains.

Photographes, publiez votre livre photo ! décrit le processus complet de réalisation, de promotion et de diffusion d’un livre de photographie que l’on souhaite s’autoéditer ou confier son projet à un éditeur !

Des interviews de professionnels (photographes, éditeurs, graphistes, agents, galeristes…) apportent un éclairage concret aux propos des auteurs. De nombreuses informations pratiques (adresses de librairies, éditeurs, imprimeurs, entre autres) sont, en outre, regroupées en annexe et aideront le lecteur à se lancer dans un projet de publication.