SoFoBoMo: Fostering community
Our Photo Walk Crew
You only thought that SoFoBoMo had finished. Well, let me assure you, it hasn’t. The e-mails are flying and all sorts of ideas are flowing through cyberspace about how to make it better.
One of the big topics is how to keep that sense of community that we had the first year. Contrast that to the thread that is talking about how to reach more people, other languages, etc. Last year, even though we didn’t have a central repository for books, we seemed to make the rounds to view each others’ books. This year, the response was so overwhelming that would be nearly impossible to have a look at all of them and get a sense of what is available. Personally, I’ve looked at dozens of books and found some of them to my liking. However, there is just not the time to view all of them. The puppy has grown into a full grown dog!
Also, it seemed that a number of photographers just wanted to get finished with the whole thing, myself included. It had lost its luster, that ‘new smell’, from the previous year. This year, it was just a hustle to get 35 photos, put together a book, and say ‘done!’. I rather prefer the books that have something to say, a bit of narration to go with the photos. It adds a lot to the story.
So, for those who plan to participate in year 3, what would make it better? If you’ve never participated, what would make it palatable for you? If this year was your first year, do you plan to do it again? How could we foster that close-knit community? Is that even possible anymore? Is it even necessary?
Hi Paul. I think that one important extra would be the creation of a discussion forum (easy enough to set up) which would contain sections on PDF, Blurb, and sections for various discussion topics such as the newbie section, the hall of fame (finishers) for each year of SoFoBoMo.
Perhaps SoFoBoMo could begin to have a tiered structure with separate challenges. For example the status quo challenge for those who have yet to complete the challenge, a tougher challenge for those with one completed challenge, and a yet tougher challenge for those with more than one completed challenge. Perhaps, that will result is more community at each level.
That said, there is so much to benefit from by keeping ALL the doors open for everyone rather than to make rules hard and fast. These are just ideas … Thanks for asking the questions.
A contrary thought: do photography books really need text? Isn’t it a matter of photographs, not things written in words?
It may be that the focus on photobooks with “narrative” is driven by the market, the big mass of people who want to have the words because they don’t have the skill (or interest) to really look at the pictures.
In this sense SoFoBoMo is great, it allows for all kinds of experimentation without the market pressure of “selling”.
@Juha: No, they don’t need to have words. It’s just a personal preference. I rather like to hear what the photographer was thinking rather than put my own words to it. I don’t, however, see the connection between text and selling? Care to elaborate a bit more?
Juha, I agree that photographs don’t “need” text. However, since each of us that takes a photograph sees through a different lens, and here I am speaking in psychological terms, the photo has an intent. Sharing that intent with the viewer allows others to glimpse a bit of what is inside of the photographer. Whether one wants to admit it or not, there is a bit of the photographer captured in every photo he or she takes. There is no such thing that doesn’t reflect the human behind the lens.
I would just like to weigh in here with the notion that the subject matter of a photo book may determine the need or lack of need for text. A Ruth Bernhard book of nudes doesn’t need words to establish context, but a book about a place, for example, can be enhanced for the viewer of the images with words. Sometimes it’s nice to know the backstory, or as Robert said, share the intent of the photographer. Unfortunately, words do sometimes get in the way when they are very badly put together.
As an aside, I like Robert’s idea of establishing discussion forums. I know I could have used a support group when wrestling with Scribus:)
Text or not I didn’t do the project because I don’t believe that a Month is enough time to do any idea real justice. Planning, waiting for the right shot, evolving the idea and preparing text for us non writers can eat up a huge amount of time. Rushing something doesn’t help it to fully realize it’s potential. From the books I have seen I believe they could have been a lot better with a little more time.
Ray, your comments are objections we’ve heard before.
First – we are not trying to make SoFoBoMo be all things to all people. If people made SoFoBoMo the complete focus of their photography, I would be disappointed. As you point out, there’s a place in the world for books (or just photos) that are made over a much longer time scale. And it’s true that a month is a very short time – not long enough to fully realize the potential of most projects.
And yes, most of the books done for SoFoBoMo could have been better with more time.
But here’s the thing: most of the books done for SoFoBoMo would NOT exist without the short time constraint of SoFoBoMo. The fantastic time constraint of SoFoBoMo, the imposition of a deadline – those things force the photographer to NOT spend months pondering exactly how something should be tackled. Instead, the focus is on getting something done. There’s no room for worrying about making it best, and we we escape from the problem of the perfect being the enemy of the good.
Most photographers have plans or dreams of doing a book. In those dreams, the books are perfectly laid out, with perfectly made photos, perfectly edited into a perfect flow and lovingly laid out. This perfect book, however, is less perfect than ‘whipped out in a month’ SoFoBoMo book in one very important respect – the SoFoBoMo book gets done.
It gets done, with all its compromises, despite the short time scale, because of (and not despite) the limitations of SoFoBoMo. And remember, there’s no rule that says that once you’ve finished the book for SoFoBoMo purposes, you have to stop working on the book/project. This year, I did two books, both related to a project that I plan to work on for a long, long time, and hope to turn into a much better book than what I’ve done for SoFoBoMo.
For the folks out there who are staying away from SoFoBoMo because they believe it’s not possible to do a good book in a month, I’d suggest the following questions:
1. How long have you, as a photographer, dreamed of making a photo book?
2. Which is better, the book you haven’t made during that time, or a less than perfect SoFoBoMo book?
3. Are the things that have kept you from starting/working on/finished the really good book during your time as a photographer things you could learn by doing an less than perfect book for SoFoBoMo?
-Paul
Paul
I think I understand what you are saying, it is along the lines of community and getting something done with the encouragement of group participation. I do a lot of projects that never see the light of day because they don’t meet the standards I set for myself. The idea of it being a continuing project appeals to my sense of “doing the best you are capable of”. My objection to some of these community based exercises is that no one ever advanced settling for ‘good enough’.
I probably didn’t understand the concept behind some of this and still am not all that much up on community. To my way, building something is always good, settling for less than your personal best isn’t.
As to the 3 very valid points on the end I agree completely, and it would seem that the purpose of these kinds of projects are about overcoming the fear of failure and to jump start something that otherwise wouldn’t be.
Definitely, I will give next year’s sofobomo another shot, it was fun and I got out a book. I wouldn’t have made it otherwise.
What is needed, in my opinion, is a simple forum, where we can discuss and post questions and status reports. But that is no news, it’s been said already. But sure, the sofobomo feed worked just fine also this year, I had no problem following all blogs I had an interest in.
Paul, it is important to realise that getting a SoFoBoMo book done is about “achieving.” And, as you point out, it doesn’t mean that the work on the book is done. For example, the second book I finished this year is still in the editing process as far as the text is concerned. I have a team of Jungians all having a go at it in order that the final “printed” version is in keeping with Jungian psychology. Getting something done is more likely to lead to polishing than not getting it done because of an aversion to messiness. By the way, we humans are messy by nature.
I must admit that the Photo Expressions site, Gordon’s site, has served well with its SoFoBoMo feed. Ever curious, I often found my way there to see what others were saying on their blog sites. That said, the feed was not about discussion as one would find in a dedicated forum.
@Paul: My comment about the text was due to reading “Why People Photograph” by Robert Adams. Here is a quote: “For photographers, the ideal book of photographs would contain just pictures—no text at all.” Adams felt that publishers forced him to “invent” text to self-contained pictures, so he tried to find ways around this obstacle. He thought there is no point in discussing the pictures themselves. “… the best way to avoid talking about the pictures is to talk about their subjects—tract houses or fields or any to the myriad and interesting details of life.”
Great discussion you set off here. Bravo!
While I have no illusions about the individual worth of my two SoFoBoMo books in anyone else’s estimation, I am grateful for all the things that I learned by participating. For me, this wasn’t about producing an important book, much less a book showing the best that I am capable of. I’m willing to admit that that challenge would stop me whether you gave me a five-year deadline, or a one-month time table.
One month for the project seems about right to me for a number of reasons. For example, personally I can say that staying with a single project for a month is not overwhelming. Staying at it for two years? I’m not certain. Furthermore, one month is enough time to explore an idea, experiment, and learn a lot.
It’s logical to me that anyone who is beyond profiting by the one-month exploration of a theme and/or the exercise of beginning a project and seeing it through truly should not be wasting time on SoFoBoMo, but publishing books and making a name for themselves. Since I am not close to being in that group, SoFoBoMo qualifies as an invaluable exercise and I look forward to participating next year.
This is exactly the sort of stuff that would be a great resource for someone thinking about participating next year to be able to read. Gordon’s blog feed does seem to be the best thing that’s pulled together a lot of the material from this lot but a forum is the next logical step. But what resources are required to implement that? Is it at a stage where you need funding? Maybe sofobomo merchandise would help the cause, like polapremium are doing for the impossible project