A revolution is taking place in the art and the publishing world: photographers, more than ever before, are publishing their own books. Recent economic and cultural changes have encouraged photographers, including established ones like Alec Soth, Joachim Schmid and Stephen Gill, to take on the role of publishers, effectively causing a profusion of exciting new photobooks. Photographers are doing it for themselves.

Self Publish, Be Happy has been giving exposure to this renaissance of photobooks on its website and though events around the world.

In collaboration with Photofusion, Self-Publish, Be Happy is launching a new workshop programme on self-publishing.

Ten selected photographers will be guided through making their own book by SP, BH founder Bruno Ceschel, the renowned book designer Glenn Howard, the writer and photobooks collector David Campany, and Photofusion’s digital expert Richard Wills.

The workshop involves 19 hours of hands-on teaching time over 6 weeks. Each participant will be assisted in developing their book concept, editing and sequencing the photographs, designing the layout (using an online design programme), preparing the files and finally printing a copy of the book.

All the books will be printed on demand with the new London-based high-quality on-demand printer ubyu. Each participant will receive a book proof for free and 50% discount on their first order.

If you have completed a body of work which you’d like to make into a photobook, Self Publish, Be Happy is calling for submissions and will make a selection of ten proposals.

(NB We will only select book projects and not series of photographs you want to make into a porfolio.)

Send an email with a short description of your book synopses (no more than 150 words), and a selection of 15 images (low-res files) to: selfpublished.behappy@gmail.com

Deadline for submissions: 25 September 2010

Workshop dates

Saturday 2 October, 10:00 - 17:00
Tuesday 12 October, 18:30 - 21:30
Saturday 16 October, 13:00 - 17:00
Saturday 13 November, 13:00 - 17:00

TUTOR BIOGRAPHIES

Bruno Ceschel is a lecturer in Photography at the University of Westminster, London and the founder of Self Publish, Be Happy. Ceschel is currently working on a book titled Dissident Desires, scheduled to be published in 2011 by Aperture. Previously Ceschel worked on the 2008 edition of the Brighton Photo Biennial and as book editor at Chris Boot Ltd, contributing to award-winning titles Lodz Ghetto Album and Things as They Are: Photojournalism in Context since 1955, along with monographs by Martin Parr, Larry Towell, Stefan Ruiz, Simon Roberts, and others.  Before this he worked on titles including La Porte, Indiana (Princeton Architectural Press, 2006) and Ghetto by Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin (Trolley, 2003). He was was associate and creative editor at Colors magazine in Italy, where he was born.

Glenn Howard is the creative director of Untitled, a graphic design studio that provides inspiration and creative solutions for many types of businesses and organisations. His portfolio is varied and includes corporate identities, brochures, websites, exhibitions, books and magazines. He works for clients such as Magnum, Panos, Phaidon, Conran Octopus, Merrell and Quadrille. Publishing is Glenn's first love and in recent years he has designed photographic books for the likes of Martin Parr, Stephen Shore and Steve McCurry.

David Campany is a curator, writer and artist. He is the author of Art and Photography (2003), Photography and Cinema (2007) and Jeff Wall speaks with David Campany (La Fabrica, 2009). He has contributed to many books and catalogues including Cruel and Tender (Tate 2003), Photography Theory (2007), Making History: documentary in Britain 1929-present (Tate 2006) and Rewriting Conceptual Art (1999). His writing on photography has appeared in many journals including Source, Tate, Frieze, Art Review, Aperture, Photoworks, The Oxford Art Journal, Ojodepez, Papel Alpha, and Contemporary and he is a co-editor of PA magazine. He is a Reader in Photography at the University of Westminster, London. He has co-curated Anonymes: unnamed America in Photography and Film for Le Bal, Paris, 2010.

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Self Publish, Be Happy is an organisation founded in 2010 with the aim of celebrating and promoting self-published photobooks through events such as fairs, exhibitions and conferences, publications and online exposure. SP, BH has organized events in London at The Photographers’ Gallery and the London Art Book Fair, and has upcoming events in Toronto, New York, Los Angeles and Berlin.