Today’s Post by John E Adams
I love shooting cars and do it as a hobby. Living close to the finest Concours d’ Elegance Events in the US it’s became an obsession turning me into an automotive imaging addict.
Shooting car events can be a challenge but obtaining a media pass gets you access that turn an impossible dream into an awesome day of imaging. The trouble is that many of these organizations won’t issue credentials unless you’re attached to a magazine or are friends of the event staff—regardless of how good your work may be.
For five years, I was able to get a pass to the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance but a year ago they changed the application and mine was denied because I was not with a magazine. I was disappointed as this Sunday event’s are not shootable without a media pass and early access as the show field fills up with over 18,000 guests after the gates open.
Later that week I received an email from Blurb advertising their magazine publications and thought if I produced my own auto magazine my chances to get access to events like these would be much better. A year later I’m Editor, Photographer and Publisher of The Motif Collective and with three published issues I felt my chances for a media pass for this year’s event would be better but I was wrong.
I was again denied by the Amelia group, which was disappointing, especially when most of the media they let in only posts two paragraphs and a batch of average images in one blog post for the entire year or are local folks that do nothing more than post an album on Facebook. Beyond this discouragement, I found a refreshed sense of encouragement! Because of the amazing results from my last magazine I’m inspired to shoot the event from the fringes, which is the theme of next issue.
Blurb offers magazines in Economy or Premium Versions: I printed the first two issues using the economy and was pleased but decided to try premium for the third issue. For only two dollars more the difference in color quality on the inside pages was amazing, not only being so close to perfection in color and contrast the heavier paper is fantastic producing a magazine that will rival any other publication on the market.
This is a win, win product for any aspiring publisher or photographer looking to expand their services, products or credibility. Just like the Blurb Books you only have to purchase one copy and your Publication will be hosted online with options to sell or share anywhere is desired. In addition to printed copies you have the option to produce eBooks and sell on Blurb, Amazon or the Apple iBookstore.
Note from Joe: John will share more insights on magazine publishing through Blurb in a post on my main blog. I’ll update this with a link when it runs. In the meantime, please visit John’s web site and the order page for The Motif Collective.