Doing it old school style.

I've had a very productive week since I arrived at Woodward Camp last Friday. The kids are awesome, work is great and when I am not riding my bike or in the GoPro Digital Lab I am well... doing work on my book. I won't lie it has been a bit overwhelming at times now holding down a full time job helping run a program and trying to finish my own personal deadlines (my book needs to be in PDF form done for approval to Burning Man's media department and to my editor by the end of July. YIKES!). I guess it's a good thing I feed off pressure otherwise I would be tearing my hair out piece by piece.

Thankfully I have had a helping hand with layout (and a fluke power outage at camp yesterday) to kick my butt into gear. Yesterday afternoon I spent 3 hours with my co-worker and good friend Chance laying out and organizing the gist of my book with 4x6 colored prints and a cork board. Talk about doing it old school. It made me see for the first time my book and story laid out visually as a whole. It helped me find loop holes, organize my thoughts and put my book into perspective.

Throughout my career I have alwasy had a want and passion to publish a book and not just any book but a coffee table style book with a twist. One that portrays a universal story on the surface yet holds a deeper meaning for me personally as an artist underneath. I never in the last 2 years of doing this project would have guessed how intense and labor some this was going to be.

At the moment I am knee deep in publishing jargon, financial estimates, font types and basic layout. Not to say that these parts of the book aren't enjoyable but I am starting to think that all the crazy hours, weird locations and exhausting photoshoots where the easy part. I have to say this project has definitely blown my comfort zone, boundaries and skills to the next level. But then again what artist doesn't want to be pushed beyond their means? How else would I be able to get better, improve my technique and strive to be the best photographer/artist I can.

I am beyond grateful for all the people, who have helped me thus far and continue to support me in all my crazy endeavors. Whether this book puts me in the hole, breaks even or makes a profit, I know that my friends and family who truly love me and are as passion about art and photography as I am will share in my accomplishments.

Now I must return to the glitz and glamour of my computer screen, scrolling through endless fonts, crunching numbers and occasionally staring up at a cork board full of wonder and beauty.