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It's 2012, I know live in Queenstown New Zealand and my life is completely different. Death, grief and moving have all created fundamental change so it seems appropriate to also change the blog.

All the entries from this blog have been moved to PUKUART.BLOGSPOT.COM

So its good bye from here, but hello form there

.......................

Love Matthew

The final entry for the course

Well the video doesn't show the images very well, and you can't see the text. Here are all the images in JPG format. But really to do them justice they need to be seen in print. This can be done at the Epsom library until the 2nd of December.

The course has been everything I wanted. I started not knowing how other photographers works was better than mine, and what I needed to improve on. Since then I have learnt to be more patient, to take my time with a photo, come back if necessary and wait for the right light. I have dabbled in areas that I never thought I would. My level of confidence has risen dramatically and I feel I am more able to cope with situations I get into to make an image. I know my camera more intimately, and have a craft I can build on to tell the stories I want to.

Here are the images that are the final portfolio.

Enjoy...

Its done and here is the video

I have the book from the printer and I like it. The images are a very good quality and the mood and flow of the book is good. The fact it is only sheets folded and stapled doesn't make the end result too cheap, and I am pleased with the process. As my photography gets better I will be able to repeat this process and have it bound as a beautiful work of art.

I thought it might be a nice touch to say a few words about the portfolio, excuse the quality as there are file size limits to what I can upload.

The Book of Familiarity

I didn't like the photo albums I could afford and I wanted a book. Then I remembered my local printer, would he be able to print a copy of my images in a book. I gave him a call and yes he could. So I had a crash course in using Indesign and started to add images to pages. I added some text as well to support the story. I created a PDF and got a test print done.

Well, the images needed some work, but the quality was good enough, and overall it had a good look to it, low cost but still with a sense of elegance. I touched up the images, and changed one image to another. Some of the text needed a rework but a few days before everything was due I had it back at the printers to print...

I waited and worked here on my visual diary.

Final Edit where it falls into place

I did prints of all the images I had and layed them out on the table. I took my time and started to see what would go together. Once I had them grouped I then looked at how they could be sequenced. What would be my opening image, how would they flow to the last image.

It took a couple of days of playing with them, a good distraction from how I was going to present them which was still undecided.

This is the part I really like, and when I say really like I mean REALLY like. It all came together in a moment of joy. The story unfolded and I had a series of photos that told a story, my journey of familiarity through Auckland..

More presentation woes

I thought "yes Trade Me will have the answer" and I started searching for a photographic portfolio. I found the $17 plastic A3 folder but too cheap and it wouldn't do my prints justice.

I started to think maybe I should just put them in a box with white gloves. Mount each image on card and have them loose in a box. But where would I get the box? Simon had some ideas and I thought of talking an ordinary cardboard box and applying a textured coating to make it pop.

But after a few days I came back to the portfolio, I wanted a book to capture a moment in time in my progress as a photographer, and something to remember Auckland by. I looked at book binding but again I came up with the cost issue, but the quality of some of them is beautiful.

http://www.barbaraschmelzer.com/books/tuibrandplan.php

I never asked how much, these will have to wait.

so back to Trade Me and I found a simple black card A3 folder. They could even put one of my prints in the cover. This was going to cost around $40 then the prints on top, still too expensive...

Presentation and portfolio

With around 30 images to work with to get my final 15 I started to think about how I would present them. The idea of a photographic folder didn't appeal yet it would make it easy. I looked online and talked with a friend who did weddings. I found some amazing high quality portfolios but they were very expensive. Here is a site that was recommended to me.

http://www.queensberry.com/albums/digital-flushmount/


The only problem with these is the cost. Getting an album and then getting the photos printed professionally would cost hundreds of dollars, outside my budget. I looked at how I could print at a lower cost and decided that it would be the most cost effective to print to my own Epson R2880. Even with buying 25 sheets of quality A3 paper would cost around $80, but this worked out to around $5 a print, cheap compared to a pro lab, or even Harvey Norman. Yet it was still too expensive...