The Photography Book In You

For many pho­tog­ra­phers, see­ing their fin­ished work is the pin­na­cle of the pho­to­graph­ic jour­ney, and hold­ing a print in your hand or gaz­ing at the com­plet­ed image on your screen holds a sense of com­ple­tion, a warm feel­ing of suc­cess. A pro­gres­sion from this is if you have embraced an affin­i­ty with a par­tic­u­lar loca­tion and as the years go by your explo­ration of that sub­ject has been refined and becomes more of a per­son­al com­mu­nion. These images will have in them more about you and how you have react­ed to the sub­ject, your heart­felt inter­pre­ta­tion, and slow­ly but sure­ly, they will coa­lesce as a wider state­ment of what it means to you.

This cohe­sion is an incred­i­bly spe­cial expe­ri­ence for the pho­tog­ra­ph­er. Rather than an indi­vid­ual image stand­ing out with pride of place, a com­pi­la­tion of images deliv­ers a more in-depth mes­sage about you and why you made the pho­tographs. A col­lec­tion of work such as this is wor­thy of being shared. The many hours of effort, the time spent trav­el­ling and embrac­ing of dif­fer­ent ways of see­ing all come togeth­er as a uni­fied body of work.

At this junc­ture you may feel com­pelled to hold a small exhi­bi­tion to share your work and your expe­ri­ences, but what is often con­sid­ered as the holy grail of a pho­tog­ra­phers’ accom­plish­ments is cre­at­ing a book that will out­live any screen images and will be there many years after the exhi­bi­tion has been packed away and the doors are closed. This retreat is about cre­at­ing that expe­ri­ence. A book of your unique work.

We have nev­er once met a pho­tog­ra­ph­er who has not want­ed to make a book of their work to be hand­ed to friends and loved ones, and to be held in pos­ter­i­ty for decades to come. A book with your cho­sen title, and most impor­tant­ly, your name on the cov­er. The ini­tial com­pre­hen­sion of this is some­times quick­ly dis­card­ed as an unob­tain­able dream, or even worse, doubt­ing the qual­i­ty of your images being wor­thy of pre­sen­ta­tion on a print­ed page.

We have been work­ing with pho­tog­ra­phers for many years and help­ing them attain dreams they thought out of reach. In fact, the cre­ation of a book needn’t be as daunt­ing as it may ini­tial­ly appear. Paul Gal­lagher and Michael Pilk­ing­ton have been through this process many times and are ful­ly accom­plished in the jour­ney and chal­lenges need­ed to cre­ate a dis­tinc­tive body of work in the form of a beau­ti­ful book.

We have cho­sen the Fal­con Manor as a place of sanc­tu­ary and reflec­tion. A place where we can relax, share ideas and hold con­ver­sa­tions about your work, and togeth­er, see your books grow and flour­ish. The first view­ers of your emerg­ing book will be the Retreat group on the very same jour­ney. There will be no judge­ment, and your work and approach is yours alone, so no one can be wrong as we embrace free­dom of expres­sion. We want to engage in ques­tions, con­ver­sa­tion and intrigue. 

Through­out the Retreat you will have Paul Gal­lagher and Michael Pilk­ing­ton on hand to share and dis­cuss your book, guide you through any image inter­pre­ta­tion and sequenc­ing of images to ensure the ​‘feel’ of the book is per­fect and reflects how you want oth­ers to expe­ri­ence your work. Dur­ing our time togeth­er you will enjoy the high­est qual­i­ty accom­mo­da­tion, fine meals which are all includ­ed, and we will have our own pri­vate meet­ing room where Paul and Michael will share their expe­ri­ences of book projects through relax­ing lectures.

The con­clu­sion of this retreat will be a 26 page hard back book print­ed on heavy­weight paper to the high­est stan­dards and which will serve as the epit­o­me of your ded­i­ca­tion to your craft as a visu­al artist and an object to be held and pored over for many years to come. As your­self this ques­tion, ​“Will you ever make a book of your photography?”

To cre­ate your unique book we will ask you to bring along a selec­tion of (say 20 to 30) images, both the ful­ly processed ver­sions and also the raw files. The rea­son for this is that when com­pil­ing a book it is some­times wise to re-process some images so that they inte­grate com­fort­ably with the oth­er images with­in your book. Also, we change and adapt the way we process images over the years and our style and approach evolves, so hav­ing the raw file avail­able enables us to cre­ate a body of work that is cohesive.

Some of you may want to add some words to the pages of your book. This is some­thing to con­sid­er before we get togeth­er. It may be a short descrip­tion of what the project or work means to you, or sim­ply a ded­i­ca­tion or short state­ment. Either way, it is up to you, and if your book sim­ply bears your name and its title, then that is that is fine also. Paul and Michael will be using the pub­lish­ers book design tool through­out the retreat which can be used to redesigned and alter your book at any time as it evolves dur­ing its cre­ation. On con­clu­sion of the Retreat your design will be com­plete and your book will be sent off to SAAL Dig­i­tal and soon after will be post­ed to you in all its glo­ry to be enjoyed for many years to come.