free money for artists; have you claimed your Payback?

I was delighted to get an article into this summer's LIP magazine about my weekend with Independent Photography South East (IPSE) back in the spring.

LIP magazine is one of the publications that I am able to use for my annual claim for Payback.

If you have had your work published in any books , magazines or on TV you can claim royalties though Payback on an annual basis. The average payment for a visual artist is £285. All you need to do is complete an online form listing the ISBN numbers of all the publications that you are included in. The royalties relate to the public use of your articles/books by libraries and also cover secondary usage such as photocopying.

My first claim last year earned me a few pounds. This year I hope to earn more due to my publications that are now lodged in the British Library and other national libraries from my publishing house Hawkwood Press. (see here for my illustrated poem) entitled Hawkwood, about my suburban sanctuary.

If you are a visual artist then there is a good chance that you can claim something; what are you waiting for?!

Hand made books and self publishing. Hawkwood Press is born

late afternoon, Hawkwood

Now that I am focussed on outoor photography and "beauty" I am back enjoying my photography. I have ventured in to the woods at dawn and dusk, taken shots for my own diorama, and had fun with the bushes of suburbia. Suddenly walking the dog around the block has taken on a whole new source of pleasure; finding playful shots of bushes, fences, lamp posts and the like.

trees in BR1

 All of these subjects will fit well into the London Villages Project.London Villages Project


I have decided to self publish a book.

 I would like it to have a ISBN number; that way I can sell it in shops or on-line ( getting confident here...........), and a copy of it will have to be placed in the British Library. I like the idea of that. So I have been researching ISBN numbers, which are easy to acquire from the UK ISBN agency, Nielsen, who happen to be in Woking, where I was born. The numbers are supplied to publishers; in batches of 10 or more. Unfortunately they can't be passed on, so I will have to create my own publishing company and if anyone wishes to use one, they would have to be published under my company name. The alternative is to use an existing company, but then I would lose the overall control and the opportunity to choose a publishing name.

So what should it be called?

More research; on how to name a company; so much more fun than reading books or taking photographs; I feel as though I am moving into a whole new subject area. But that is the joy of this course; it takes one down new roads that were never imagined before starting. A hand made book and my own publishing company; this is fun.

So here are my top tips on how to name a company from the reading that I have done

It should be

• relevant
• a word that sounds strong
• easy to spell for searches
• a word that creates a visual image
• short
• not likely to tie you down too much in the future should your aims change

I looked on the British Book Fair website for the names of existing publishers; here are a few that stand out as being well known or memorable

• Aurum
• Envisage
• 21st editions
• Camberwell Press
• Penguin

I considered using my own name but it is too long and not visually strong. I thought of several related to photography, the outdoors or with visual connections, but they have all been thought of before. So I am going to use Hawkwood Press. This relates to the first book that will come off the press, and is personal to me, but short enough and visual enough to work for other titles or other people should I wish to collaborate in the future. It is traditional, the word "press" meaning, amongst other things

a.printing press


b.a printing or publishing establishment

c.the art, business, or practice of printing

So for me it represents my foray into the publishing/printing world, but also represents my preference for the outdoors and doesn't restrict me to photographic works.

In order to apply for the ISBN number I have to submit exampes of the "Title Page" and "Title Page Verso"

The title page verso is

"a page on the back of the title page, where the bibliographical details and the copyright notice are printed"

examples and more information about ISBN numbers can be found at Nielsen.

This lead me on to further efforts to produce a document in InDesign. I can now import images, but it is a very steep learning curve. I really need to decide what type of binding and size my book will be before I do any more work on creating it.

I found some beautiful hand made books at Leijonstedt. The creator uses a white peacock fanned tail as her artist's mark, which represents the open pages of a book to great visual effect. I would like to create a logo, but am conscious that I am digressing further and further away from getting on with the project.

experimenting with symmetry

Having just returned from the V&A's new exhibition "The Cult of Beauty", I now also know that the Peacock is one of the key motifs of the Aesthetic Movement 1860-1900 ( more on that later).

The aesthetic movement exhibited at the V&A in "The Cult of Beauty"

For now I need to decide on the size of my book, the type of binding, and get cracking.



my street; wherever I am in BR1 there are plane trails in the sky



Art books; how precious should we be?

winter rain

Part of the symposium at Camberwell Space on self published books focussed on what constitutes an art book. A certain amount of scorn was thrown upon mass produced self published books such as those from Blurb or Ubyu by Chrystel LeBas, one of the participants in the exhibition "Elusive". Chrystel has produced her own books, working with a printer who she trusts and sourcing her own paper. Coming from a background of using letterpress and as a passionate collector of books, she did not seem to worry whether or not she recouped the costs of self publishing. She is lucky enough to know a graphic designer who has helped her with typeface and design, and has found someone to write an accompanying text. This is a luxury that I do not have. But having seen the difference between my attempt at an "art book" with Blurb, and the touch and quality of hand bound books, I understand where she is coming from. I do, however, think  that she is choosing to ignore publishes such as Steidl and Taschen and 21st editions http://www.21stphotography.com/, who have a reputation for producing beautiful limited edition volumes that become collector's items.
It was generally agreed that  art books come in limited editions, are hand made, and are produced by the artist. it seems that only a very few publishers are working with photographers in a way that satisfies these criteria. Also up for discussion from the editor of "Self publish be happy" http://www.selfpublishbehappy.com/, Bruno Chessel, was the view that art books might include "zines" and pamphlets, in the manner of those originally produced for political reasons. The over riding aim should be a passion to get your work seen by other people, in what ever format you feel appropriate, and if your funds are limited then a low budget option is perfectly acceptable.