Blurb and Beyond...

Quite a few people have complained about Blurb's printing inconsistencies, and as I've noted before- for the price concerned... But I (at least) haven't heard many complaints about the construction/production of the books themselves. My print quality has been consistent, but I got one copy where (upon close inspection) you could tell it was not cut evenly. My wife however, recently ordered ten of their smallest format books, and if you stood across the room, you could obviously and immediately notice that five of them were absolute trapezoids! The graphics weren't crooked- they were actually cut crooked, way crooked The most cursory of glances would have made this blatantly apparent, and yet they were shipped off nonetheless.. To their credit, Blurb asked her to email photos of the freaks and then sent out five uniformly measured square format books at no charge. But it really does make one wonder just what the quality controls are- in this case, if any!

 Layout from “This Is Not My Sky” by Noah Beil

Those of you at all interested in viewing alternative ways on how to independently make your own photobook (as opposed to the tried and "truelike" Blurb norm) might well be interested in Noah Beil's various processes (much of them handsomely illustrated)- and you think film's retro? Yeah, it's uhh... labor intensive, but if you want complete control to make something truly unique, yes, the love and effort do pay off in the end- I know, not because I myself have undergone this particular effort, but because I'm fortunate enough to own one of these uniquely satisfying wonders.