Books: Why print your own book?

Photographers

Books: Why print your own book?

1x Blog-Photographers

' .

“the last passenger” by Leyla Emektar

Since ancient times people were looking for the opportunity to store information and transfer it to descendants in the form of books. Of course the very first books were hand-written.
Probably the very first inscriptions were written in stone, on palm leaf, clay, metal, leather or wood. Such "books" were difficult to transfer from one place to another, hence people were constantly looking for a more convenient platform.
With the appearance of “paper”, books received the first more permanent platform.

A book is not only a place to store information, it's something that's alive.
Cover, smell, colour, some illustrations, and font- it all matters.
Turning over the pages of the book, we immerse ourselves in an incredible world.
For me, a book is something special, something inexplicable. Books seem to breathe, to live.
I see that books and photography have a lot in common..
When we hold a book in our hands, we smell it, we feel its power.

The same can be said about a print of a photo, when we hold it in our hands.
Images printed in book format can transfer me into a special state of mind. They have a magical power. It causes lot of emotions, it takes me into another world. I forget about time, about space. A book becomes a living interlocutor.

The 21st century is the time of electronic technologies. The Internet, step by step, seems to banish printed books from our society. People rarely look at printed books any more.
Now we have e-books. Books as we knew them are loosing their character, they slowly are being killed by technology.

If we once again return to history, we remember that all religions, all achievements of science and technology had printed publications.
And many photographers are still telling about their experiences, their travels in the form of printed books. We still can share our understanding of art and photography. Books are like crystals of knowledge.
It is a way to talk and share thoughts with millions of other people.

One can leave a mark on history with books.
Books are both a source of knowledge and a source of power.

Books can be readily accessible and understandable. But for a child for example, books can be mysterious.
Books inspire us, give us answers to many questions and bring us lots of experiences. They help us to make important decisions in life. They can change a person, even a whole society.
After all, behind every book there is a living person as the author. A person with its own history and life experience. A person with its personal understanding of life.

There are books from which the inner light emanates, but there are also those from which darkness emanates. The first ancient books were for the storage of knowledge. Only sages and priests could have access to books. For many centuries, such books were kept under strict prohibition. Books are not for mere mortals.

Photobooks today are a beautiful medium to show our work.
A good photo is already a small book. After all, it tells a lot about a person's personality, about his and her understanding of beauty. When a book consists of several photographs of different authors, viewers compare and understand each image in a more comprehensive way.
Such a book is not just an archive, it is a library.

A book can also be a gateway to the past with no restrictions of space and time.
In book format, photos can be readily keep in our hands.
I'm 47, but I still have not published a single book.
Books always have occupied a special and important place in my life.
My favourite books are small editions that I can read and look at all over again. I have a great thirst for knowledge and incredible attraction to the power of books, and I will always have for the rest of my life.

Do you ever thought about printing your own book?
Holding your work in your hands is an experience not to be missed.