Creating a Successful Photobook: The Photographer/Editor Collaboration
Online with photographer Elinor Carucci and editor Alan Rapp
Saturday & Sunday, April 26th & 27th
10am-4:30pm ET
Lunch Break: 1-2pm ET
LEVEL:
INTERMEDIATE/ADVANCED
LIMITED TO 10 participants
CLASS FEE: $550
ABOUT THE CLASS
Photobooks have a long and extensive history, dating back to 1843 when English botanist and photographer Anna Atkins published "Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions." In recent years, the format has soared in popularity, buoyed by the rise of boutique publishing houses and the growth of the self-publishing industry, making photobooks more accessible to photographers than ever before. However, navigating all of the creative and practical aspects of producing a photobook remains a significant challenge.
Led by acclaimed photographer Elinor Carucci and renowned photobook editor Alan Rapp, who have collaborated on Elinor’s highly regarded monographs "Closer" (Chronicle Books, 2001/2008) and "Midlife" (Monacelli Press, 2019), this workshop will provide a comprehensive understanding of the steps necessary for successfully creating and publishing a photobook. In addition to receiving personalized feedback on your project from Elinor and Alan, you will gain professional insight into all of the important stages of photobook development, including:
• Refining a concept
• Editing and sequencing images
• Creating a maquette
• Writing a successful proposal
• Finding and working with publishers
• Self-publishing and other industry shifts
• Crowdfunding and grants
• Marketing and promotion
If you are considering making a photobook or already have one in progress, this is a unique opportunity to learn the ins and outs of the process from two of the best in the industry. Elinor and Alan will provide helpful feedback, crucial information, and effective strategies that will be invaluable as you work towards getting your photobook out into the world.
This workshop is designed for intermediate and advanced photographers with a cohesive body of work they want to bring to book form.
Elinor Carucci was born 1971 in Jerusalem to a Jewish family of North African, Syrian, Bukharian and Italian descent. She graduated in 1995 from Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design with a degree in photography, and moved to New York that same year. Carucci’s work has been included in many many exhibitions worldwide, including solo shows at Edwynn Houk Gallery, Fifty One Fine Art Gallery, FoMU, and Gagosian Gallery, and group exhibitions at The Museum of Modern Art New York, MoCP Chicago, and The Photographers' Gallery, London. Her photographs are included in the collections of The Museum of Modern Art New York, the Brooklyn Museum of Art, Houston Museum of Fine Art, amongst many other public and private collections. Carucci’s editorial work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, New York Magazine, W, Aperture, ARTnews amongst other publications. She was awarded the ICP Infinity Award in 2001, The Guggenheim Fellowship in 2002 and NYFA in 2010. Carucci has four published monographs to date including Closer (Chronicle Books 2002), Diary of a Dancer (SteidlMack 2005), Mother (Prestel 2013), and. Midlife (Monacelli Press/Phaidon (2019). In 2023 her fifth book, The Collars of Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the Stories They Tell (Clarkson Potter/Random House) will be published in conjunction with an exhibition at the Jewish Museum in New York City. Carucci is represented by the Edwynn Houk Gallery.
With more than twenty-five years publishing experience, Alan Rapp operates a book services consultancy and works with photographers, artists, and designers to create books and special projects. He has collaborated with in bringing their work to book publication include Cig Harvey, Elinor Carucci, Jona Frank, David Maisel, Jim Marshall, Terry Falke, Stuart Klipper, Linda Connor, and Jo Whaley. Through panels, lectures, workshops, and portfolio reviews he works to inform photographers about the conventions of photography books and their market. Alan is former editorial director of Monacelli, a division of Phaidon and a writer who has contributed to AUGUST, The Photobook Review, and Modern Painters, among other publications.