Bookmaking: How to make a hard cover book part 1

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Books are pretty simple to make. There are thousands of ways to make books and that means there really is not much of a wrong way to do it. So long as you are pleased with the results a book you made is still an amazing object to have and hold.

This is the first part of a series of tutorials on how to make a book, the way I do it. In this, first, I will show the big step, making the cover. Through the series I will show how to cover a book in fabric and how to bind a book and finish making a book. The content of the book is up to you. You might even just use these guides as a way to learn how to make your own hard cover journal. Don’t forget to move on to part two when you are done with this.

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Video of Luminferous Procession 2011

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There have been posts about this procession on this site before but all of those had photographs. It is a pleasure to see something like this performance take place in person. Now, you can see a little bit of what the Luminferous Procession looked like in this short video clip. The Lamplighters carry the one flame on the night of the man burn at the annual burning man festival.

setting it up and tearing it down

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You need lots of stuff to make a city happen in the desert. The hard working crews of the DPW arrive weeks before the annual Burning Man event starts. Artists and people who run theme camps get early arrival passes by the hundreds. Some of them arrive weeks before the event starts as well. Surely there are hundreds of shipping containers worth of stuff. There are surely dozens of kitchen sinks. Here are some photographs of the various stuff that makes part of Burning Man happen. From 2010 and 2011.

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art around black rock city

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There are always lots of things to look at out there at Burning Man. Sometimes it’s art, sometimes it is something else but you can spend weeks looking at all the stuff you can and barely scratch a tiny amount of what is out there. It is amazing to see the scope of this place and it just keeps getting bigger and bigger. Here are some photographs of art and things.

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lamplighters 2011 as they worked part 2

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Here we go. Back at it again with some more lamplighter images. This time a slightly different view on them than the previous set. I really am always amazed at how powerful the performance of the lighting of the lamps is when captured as a photograph. Really cool stuff.

portraits of burners in lamplighter village

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Pictures of people. One of the things that is great about photos of people is that we are free to look at a person as much as we want without feeling like we are staring. And in that, maybe, it’s a reason why a portrait is such a worrisome subject for some people. Either way, I’ve made a bunch of portraits of people within Lamplighter Village this year at Burning Man. I asked people if I could photograph them and they said yes. If you’ve seen some of my other photographs, like in the galleries, you’ve seen street photography where no permission was required. These photographs are different, yet the same. I try to avoid putting the camera between myself and the subject in both situations. Here, I am talking to them,.. and also making a photograph. The main thing is that moment of discussion, the interaction is what makes the photograph more alive. I love photographs of people. Here are some portraits.

make prints in a real darkroom

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The art of printmaking in a darkroom using traditional materials and methods is not totally dead yet. It is 2011 and I was easily able to go out and purchase chemicals for printing as well as to order from the internet a large box of juicy chemicals ready for the darkroom. Making some proof prints of some new rolls of film, or new sheets, is always a fun experience. You get to see the images in the flesh for the first time. Looking at them as a small negative is one thing but seeing them as a print, even if only 5×7 is another. More work to come!

released in pyrotechnic delight

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Just one image. That is all that is really needed to tell the tale of the burning of The Man at the annual Burning Man event. The Man Base is always different, The Man himself is always a bit different but the flame that releases him is always the same kind. One photo pretty much can tell the story of that burn. I think I will do one more and give you two. A great Man burn this year.

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luminferous procession 2011

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Once again The Lamplighters put their robes on to take part in the Luminferous Procession. This ceremony takes place at the end of the week before The Man is burned. During the whole week of the event a flame burns in a cauldron in center camp. This One Flame is brought by the Lamplighters in the Luminferous Lantern to the Great Circle where hundreds of fire performers, known collectively as The Fire Conclave, use that flame to light their performance. Not many people get to take part in this procession and it is quite cool. A large group of musicians and performers also take part and it ends up being quite the experience. Here are a few photographs made during the procession.

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