James Troi's Visual Diary

The Photo Album - Frankie Magazine

At work we looked at doing a user-generated photo book. Tried to sell the concept to a camera manufacturer who at first seemed interested but cooled on the project due to budget constraints. I really wish we’d just done it. About a month ago the Victorian Tourism Board put up a couple of million to create a book exactly like our brief.

But I digress. I bought this magazine/book to show the concept in action.

Frankie have made a great business out of partially user generated content.

I’m not a fan of this book, which seems to offend those who are more artistic than me. I didn’t like the stock and the way it gave the photos a nostalgic 1970’s look, but I’m sure that’s what they were after.

Also in this magazine/book I found there were too many photos of half things, a lot of the photos were in open-crop format and too many of them had just people’s legs or shoes in them.

Photo Icons
The Stories Behind the Pictures Volume 1 & 2

Found these while I was tracking down a present for a friend (another photographer). Great resource for some of the most iconic photos since the inception of photography.

Consider Nicéphore Niépce’s “View from the Study Window” from 1827, predating Daguerre’s photographic process of 1839.

I bought them via http://www.booko.com.au/ a great place to go find who is selling books cheaply.

In resources I put photos from sources that provide inspiration. As the official photographers for the AFL the company I work for provides plenty of inspiration and aspiration.

This photo is actually one of a series of cards showing samples of the photographic work our photographers can provide. This image was going to be the cover of one of our books, but one less grungy was used in the end.

I like the detail and the texture in this photo. The scan I’ve made doesn’t quite do the image justice. Of course in this case it’s not just about the photographer, this end result is a collaboration between photographer and photo editor.

Standing Frame

Inspired by a podcast from Chase Jarvis I drew the same platform he has built and used in shoots. It would be quite heavy so I guess it’s not for a one-man band.

The one-inch-thick plexiglass gives it strength for someone to stand on. The thin plexiglas makes sure the person standing on it doesn’t damage the larger and more expensive piece.

The screw-like struts allow it to be raised or lowered as needed.

Matte black core-flute ensures you don’t get too much reflection from the ground onto the bottom of the plexiglas. A hole is cut in the core-flute to shoot through.

Of course it will cost around $2,000 to make.