I've been a semi-professional photographer for over 30 years. Though I've published many photos during my career and written many articles illustrated with my shots, I've never ventured to write about the craft of photography. Until now, that is.
What I'm about now is a book about landscape photography. It will be a short work, perhaps 30-40 pages, with brief tips for making better landscape photos. The intended audience is the amateur photographer with minimal experience who wants to achieve more professional-looking photos. I'll illustrate the book with photos that underscore the tips.
My plan at the moment is to market the book myself, at least initially. I'll first release it in a pdf version. Later, after I've learned to use InDesign, I'll publish an ePub version that can be read on iPads and Nooks.
The principal points I'm making are that great and inspiring photos must be made, not merely taken, and that they depend more on the photographer's vision than on his or her equipment. I'll give tips on how to go about making photos that inspire. That, in fact, is what my tentative title states--Making Landscapes That Inspire.
I've already drafted the text and I'm now in the process of selecting and editing the photos I'll use to underscore my points. I will soon set up a web site that I'll use for marketing the book. At the same time, I'm practicing with InDesign to see how I can build great-looking layouts so the book will look its best.
I've not yet decided whether to include dynamic content in the ePub version of the book. Frankly, I'm not sure what I would want that to look like. I think dynamic content could be a very effective way of teaching photography, but given what I still need to learn about InDesign, I think it is something I'll take up after I've released the static versions.
If anybody has any suggestions for how to approach dynamic content, or has good examples to recommend, I'm all ears. Please leave a comment.
