Hrag Vartanian

   
I’ve seen easy-to-make photo books advertised before but the BLURB website does an amazing job allowing general digital pic afficionados to create their own customized coffee table tome.

There is an easy interface for Flickr or Picasa users and you can make text only books (poetry, etc) too…I’m definitely inspired to make a book, probably about my beloved Bushwick, but perusing the digital bookshelves (yes, user’s books are also for sale), I’ve found some noteworthy examples:

• Under Fire in Lebanon by Yoav Galai, an Israeli photographer who followed Israeli forces as they invaded southern Lebanon. Galai’s award-winning photos are collected here in a 74-page volume;
• China’s Silk Road by Spencer Wynn is as good as any coffee table book on the topic I’ve seen;
• Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness as illustrated with lego by Kevin McMillin is a whole lot of fun;
• The Forgotten State: Photography and Tales from the Montana Music Scene by Megan Thompson is a photo essay about a little-known corner of the music world;
• Virtual Landscapes by Michael E. Wimer is a collection of computer-generated vistas that are too good to be real;
• What Eye Sees by Peter Gambacorta is a artistic foray into one young creator’s world; and
• Welcome Bikers – Super Rally 2007 by Mauro Cantoro is a quirky and artistic look at the biker subculture.

If I was a conventional book publisher I think I would start seeing the writing on the wall…the future will be posted online…