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What's Amano been up to? - The Open College of the Arts

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What's Amano been up to?


OCA student Amano Samarpan will be familiar to many students from his frequent attendance at study visits. He has recently had published a new edition of his successful award-winning book Birds of India. For this 4th edition Amano travelled to India to supervise the design and printing process. In this interview with Jose Navarro, Amano tells us about the experience of having his work published.
JN: Could you tell us about how you came up with the idea of producing this book?

A: I had been working on a different book when a publisher, having heard I liked to photograph birds, suggested I did a book about Indian birds instead. The book went ahead and won “Best Produced Book of the Year” award from the Federation of Indian Publishers.

JN: For the 4th edition of the book you travelled to India to supervise the layout and printing process. Why did you decide to have such a ‘hands on‘ approach?

A: The second and third printings did not go very well and the sales of the book slowed. Unlike on the first printing, subsequent editions did not have the same exhaustive quality control. When I heard the book was to be printed for the fourth time I decided to go over to Delhi and oversee the printing process. Printers tend to have set formulas that work for bulk images but my bird book contains photographs that have to be fine-tuned on an individual basis

JN: At what point does a substantial body of work become the makings of a book? What level of commitment to a single topic does the production of a book require?

A: My book Birds of India became a complete body of work when I had enough species photographed. For the latest edition I was able to add more photographs such as different plumages of a particular bird. One Indian wildlife photographer commented that it is the first real photographic guide to Indian birds, as the others tend to be text based and only use photographs for reference. I needed to do a lot of research and had to liaise with local nature and conservation groups.

© Amano Samarpan 2011

JN: How many images are in your final selection for the book?

A: Initially, I crammed as many photographs into the book as possible … about 300 in total though I must have made tens of thousands of exposures. The book actually took about ten years to be finished.

JN: In order to manage such a large number of photographs it is imperative that one has a streamlined workflow process. Could you briefly explain your workflow system?

A: My workflow starts with a basic edit in camera, removing images that are blurred or lack sharp focus. Then the images are downloaded and imported into Lightroom (LR) where they can be sorted and selected. Images likely to be used are processed in LR and then opened as Smart Objects in Photoshop where finer colour controls are made via Levels in the CMYK space; these images are saved to a new folder and from there placed into InDesign. Later they will be converted into CMYK for printing.

JN: Distributing, publicising and marketing your book is a necessary but phenomenal task. Could you tell us how you are planning to reach your audience and the prospective buyers of your book?

A: A publisher will not only contribute to the costs of printing the book but also to its distribution and marketing. Of course, there are self-publishing companies like Blurb and Lulu who will do it for you but a publisher will work more actively to promote your book. I do however give talks evry now and then and am at present negotiating a space at a conference about India at a nearby adult education centre.

JN: If you were to choose a single task in your publishing project that you found more complicated and time-consuming than anticipated, what would it be?

A: The hardest thing was being on press and having to make immediate decisions about printer settings often in lighting that is not natural with a printer at one’s elbow who wants one to accept his formula.

JN: What would be your advice to OCA students thinking about publishing their own books?

A: What I would say to other OCA students who want to have their work published is that they need to have something worthwhile; one’s own portfolio, however impressive, is not necessarily going to appeal to many outside the photographic community. Sometimes photography is just about photography, but mostly it is a medium to communicate something to others, something you feel passionate about.


Posted by author: Jose

14 thoughts on “What's Amano been up to?

  • Congratulations on completing the re-printing project Amano – from the evidence here it looks like a very impressive work. It is interesting to understand better the process of preparing works for commerical print, and to have your perspective on working towards a book.

  • If anyone is interested, the SW-OCA group are meeting with Jose Navarro on March 10’th at 2 p.m in The Bristol Art Museum for a viewing of the BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition; there are still some places available for OCA students from elsewhere.
    However, this is not an OCA sponsored day so there is small fee of £10
    This event is about engaging critically with the work on display and, with Jose’s assistance, discussing relevant issues such as the need for both authenticity and artistic expression in the wildlife image.
    If interested, address comments to photogaffer@gmail.com NOT TO THIS PAGE PLEASE !!
    Thanks
    Amano

  • The book can be purchased via Amazon UK; however, their copies are probably going to be the first printing … still good quality!
    On my last visit to India, I spent three gruelling weeks in New Delhi and one blissful day in the Harayana countryside (the light rain was not a problem!)

  • Congratulations on the fourth edition Amano – such hard work but so satisfying for you I’m sure. Like Eileen I was interested as well to read your quick summary of the process. I hope it sells well.

  • Congratulations Amano.Having seen your wonderful birds on the southwest site I am not surprised by your success. I hope to be able to get a copy.
    Best of luck with it after all your hard work.
    Dorothy

  • Congratulations Amano! I think it is a great insight into how well prepared one must be to complete such project. May you sell very many copies!!!

  • Quite an undertaking Amano and with the added difficulty of coordinating from India it sounds like a great achievement, well done.

  • Never thought that you might do a wonderful job on Birds of India.
    Congratulation ! Hope to see the book.
    Tenzin Tinley Lama

    • Thank you Tinley (nice to have a comment from a teacher of mine!)
      As you may remember, I was also photographing sacred dance but that has not so far found favour in the hurly-burly world of publishing.
      Tashi Delek
      Amano

  • Dear Amano
    Welcome to India–the land of Daal.
    I am amazed at your creativity but more amazed about the fact that nobody knows that Daal has also contributed tremendously to this. Would Daal Lama say something about it?

  • Thank You for your supportive mails including those from non-OCA students … what is all this about Daal? Another story.
    My book has already sold several thousand copies and within the last few days, I hear that it is to be released as a Kindle book; so maybe a few thousand more.
    It is not however, enough anyway to make a profit from all this! Just like to mention that to anyone who might be considering this photographic route.
    The day with Jose in Bristol promises to be good as we’ll be examining the nature photography genre which for some reason does not seem to get much if any critical study.

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