After I created my first self-published book, “Chloroplast,” I decided to wrap up all my photography projects in the same way. This decision was made in 2021. Time flies. Fruit flies like bananas.
A few months ago, I made the decision to revisit my “Dry Leaf” project and finally produce the intended photography book. I used BookWright, a free desktop layout software with user-friendly templates, to assemble “Dry Leaf- Beauty in Decay.” I downloaded the app from blurb.com, prepared my book, and uploaded it to the same site for printing. The entire process was easy and intuitive.
Unlike “Chloroplast”, a hard-cover book, “Dry Leaf- Beauty in Decay” is a softcover print generated from one of Blurb’s Magazine templates. It features 22 black and white photographs of dry leaves, a short artist statement and information about the author (me!). The pages have a dark grey color, and each photograph is accompanied by a short title.
Although I prefer photography books with hard covers, the cost of a hardcover version is significantly higher. For the softcover version, I paid a little less than $20, while a hardcover version would cost almost three times as much.
The book measures 8.5×11 in, 22×28 cm. The portrait photographs ended up being close to that size, while the landscape photos were resized to about 8 inches on the longest side, to fit the book’s page template.
Overall, the print quality is very good, and the price is affordable for me to have a bound record of each of my projects. If I had printed each photo individually on matte paper, I might have spent a similar amount or more, but it wouldn’t have been as enjoyable. A sample of the book can be previewed below (the quality of the preview varies with the Blurb site’s functionality. Sometimes a lot of blank pages are displayed, when they are having a bad connection).
Dry Leaf
Beauty in decay
By Alessandra Chaves
The book is for sale through this link, both as a printed book and a pdf file.
If you rather hang on to your money, which is great advice these days, the entire collection is available for free viewing on my portfolio. Individual prints of each photo are sold upon request, shoot me a message using the contact form if you are interested.
I thought it would be appropriate to photograph myself with my compendium of aged leaves. After all, the leaves and I are on the same boat, heading towards the shore.
Life is short and goes fast. Whatever do you want to do in it, DO it NOW. Don’t wait. Afraid of what other people are going to think? Do it any way.
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Wall Art landscapes and miscellaneous
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It is all about the light 
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