Coffee Table Book on Canards

[Bruce]

As much as I like having my pictures on my computer, I really enjoy a good "Coffee Table Book" and unfortunately, we don't have one just for canard aircraft. There's just something about feeling the glossy paper between my fingers while turning those pages and not looking at a computer screen. So the idea of "The Big Book of Canards" (working title) is something I've decide to do for the canard community. Also, it makes it easier to let those that are not at my computer to enjoy the photos as well and I think a lot of non-canardians will enjoy the book. Since there are about a billion photos already taken of canard aircraft (during construction, on the ground, in flight, etc) I thought I'd solicit for donation photos. Having looked at many over the years, there are some absolutely beautiful ones out there.

 

Here's my offer, I'll assemble the book by retouching/cropping, editing photos as needed, write captions and other info that will be supplied by the donors. Of course they would have their name/photo credits and any info included in the book as well. I would build the book and store it at www.blurb.com (or similar company) where anybody can order a book at anytime from Blurb (or similar company) and it would be shipped directly to them, I don't have to do a thing, except create the book and store it at a company like Blurb. The printing price will be the same for everyone (including me) and cost will depend on how many pages are in the book, anywhere between $30 - $100. This will become a winter/spring project for me and I'm not looking to make any money off of this especially since the photos will be donated.

 

Here's what we'll need:

 

The photos need to be high resolution images, 72 dpi will not look good at all for printing, great for TV or computer viewing. We need at least 200dpi or better for printing.

 

I'll need as much info about the photograph as you can supply, the typical who, what, where and when information, at the very least who took the photos.

 

Any and all types of canard aircraft are welcome, AeroCanard, Berkut, Cozy's, Defiant, Dragonfly, ERacer, Ibis, Long/Vari EZ, SQ2000, Velocity, Quickie/Q2/Q200/Tri-Q and others that I didn't mention or know about. I'd like to include some construction shots as well.

 

You can send them via email or snail mail on a CD/DVD.

 

bruceATpursuitofflightdotcom

 

Bruce Sturgill

PO Box 652

Troutdale, OR 97060

 

Any and all suggestions/questions about the book are welcome, this is our "Big Book of Canards".

 

 

Best regards,

Bruce Sturgill

[Cozy1200]

Sounds like a good idea. I have literally hundreds of photographs, some of which are on my website. All at least 5 megapixel from my d1x ($5,000 camera now worth $500).

 

So you are giving up the possibility of building?

 

[Bruce]

Sounds like a good idea. I have literally hundreds of photographs, some of which are on my website. All at least 5 megapixel from my d1x ($5,000 camera now worth $500).

 

 

So you are giving up the possibility of building?

 

 

Sounds like you're going to be a good resource for some pictures.

 

Actually I'm working on two airplanes. I'm a beta builder for the folks at Pro-Composites, I'm building their Personal Cruiser, it's a single seat composite V tail airplane. I have a video on a web site that was shot about 1-1/2 years ago, www.pursuitofflight.com. That site has I think about 8 flying videos on it and needs updating something terribly. My web guy lost interest and I'm learning how to do simple web sites now. The other is the LongEZ built from the OpenEZ world. Both are at completely different stages as you can imagine. We've been working on the canopy fitting with enough head room for the last 6 weeks and that has slowed progress down on both planes. Being a beta builder definitely has it's challenging moments.

 

Bruce

[Edge 513]

If it was done with style and substance like a professional publication such as AiR & Space...with great photography...I would pay what you are talking about for it. You have the eye Bruce, just don't let it become kitsch.

The trick is getting great photigraphy, not schleppy snapshots. Drew's got some good photo stuff. He understands lighting and angles and composition. That's the kind of elements needed for a ''nice coffee table book''. 'Course you might have a section in the back for Polaroid type work.

Anyway...

My .02

[Bruce]

If it was done with style and substance like a professional publication such as AiR & Space...with great photography...I would pay what you are talking about for it. You have the eye Bruce, just don't let it become kitsch.

The trick is getting great photigraphy, not schleppy snapshots. Drew's got some good photo stuff. He understands lighting and angles and composition. That's the kind of elements needed for a ''nice coffee table book''. 'Course you might have a section in the back for Polaroid type work.

Anyway...

My .02

You're absolutely correct about the quality and from the photos I'm getting so far, quality is not going to be an issue. I can see I'm going to have to use my "A" game for this project. Somewhere along the way I'll make a copy of the pages available so everyone can see what they'll be getting. At blurb.com you can see a preview of the first 15(?) pages only, I'd like to be able to see them all, kind of like you would thumb through a book at the book store.

 

That's a good idea about the Polaroid section, I'll keep that in mind.

 

Bruce

[Bruce]

I've had several people inquire about the progress of the book so here's a progress report. Things are going along very well, below is a link to a slide show of the book as of today. It's still a rough layout so far, most of the text is still missing, I've focused my efforts on the photo's thus far, color/exposure correcting, taking out lines, telephone poles, planes, people, trash, etc. With this slide show you'll get to see the quality of the photo's that everyone sent in and boy, are they beautiful. I still have several more photo's headed my way, so some that you see in this draft may not make the next cut or two and the order that they are in will not remain the same, things are still moving around.

 

http://picasaweb.google.com/bwsturgill/BigBookOfCanards#slideshow

 

If you have any questions or comments give me a shout. A great big thanks to everyone that's taken the time to send me your photo's and information. I'll give another update when I get closer to the final draft.

 

Best regards,

Bruce Sturgill

[CBarber]

Some realy breathtaking photo's

 

Not meaning to nit, but I do not recall seeing even one Velocity. Is there something we should know?

 

All the best,

 

Chris

[Cozy1200]

Bruce,

 

Looks fantastic so far. I've got a couple more good photos from the Australian Canard Fly-in. If you see any particular photo from my website that you like, let me know. I'll get you the original.

[Jon Matcho]

Bruce sent me a sample production of the book, which I'm forwarding on to another today. The quality of the book itself is no less than that you'd expect from your local bookstore.

[Bruce]

Some realy breathtaking photo's

 

Not meaning to nit, but I do not recall seeing even one Velocity. Is there something we should know?

 

All the best,

 

Chris

 

Well, actually I've talked with Ken (I think that was his name) at Velocity and he was going to send me a few shots, but, so far nothing yet. I'm even trying to get some from the Aerocanard folks, but, no success yet. I won't let you down Chris, there will be some shots of Velocities in there.

I'd like to get a shot of an SQ2000 in the air. The only shot so far is the one on the trailer in the dark, it looks kinda lonely.

 

I'll go to your site and take a look Drew, thanks. From the sounds of things I'll have a few to pick from.

 

I'm at the limit for the number of pages (80) so when I add new pictures some will need to go or get smaller.

 

Bruce

[Cozy Girrrl]

How about some German Speed Canards?, I know the name was an oxymoron but they sure are pretty to look at.

There was at least two of them down at Reid-Hillview (San Jose) up to a few years ago.

...Chrissi

[CBarber]

Thanks. My Velocity chums and I appreciate the effort:)

 

All the best,

 

Chris

[Bruce]

How about some German Speed Canards?, I know the name was an oxymoron but they sure are pretty to look at.

There was at least two of them down at Reid-Hillview (San Jose) up to a few years ago.

...Chrissi

Thanks Chrissi, they slipped my mind completely. I'll start looking for some shots and if any body knows of a contact be sure to shoot it my way.

 

I have a couple of shots of the Aeriks that are great, but can't seem to make contact with the photographer. That's a beautiful plane as well that I'd like to include.

 

Bruce

[Cozy Girrrl]

Though they are one-offs, how about some of Scaled's projects, the Aeries is pretty awesome and I hear it was back in the air for some studies with some sort of belly pod?

...Chrissi

[philc1]

One of my favorite canard Photos is on Nick Ugolini's website. It shows a long-ez dwarfed by some weather. Having been in a similar situation a friend's Long-ez, Nick's photo reminds me of the confidence in the aircraft that that situation evoked. For others not familiar with our aircraft it might help deliver the message that these are serious aircraft, not ultralights or toys.

 

I asked Nick about it a few years ago and at that time he still had the high resolution version. I don't know if Nick would be willing to have the photo published, but if so, I think it would make a great addition to the book.

 

Phil

Long-ez project Milwaukee

[Cozy1200]

If we're making suggestions of other admired shots, this one has to be one of my favorites.

 

http://www.avweb.com/avwebflash/potw/PictureOfTheWeek_193369-1.html

http://www.avweb.com/newspics/potw06_1240.jpg

[Bruce]

If we're making suggestions of other admired shots, this one has to be one of my favorites.

 

http://www.avweb.com/avwebflash/potw/PictureOfTheWeek_193369-1.html

http://www.avweb.com/newspics/potw06_1240.jpg

That's one of my favorites as well and was one of the first images I was looking for. Someone sent me that photo and didn't know whose plane it was, thanks for the info Drew. I must have missed these two pages when making the slide show, they'll end up somewhere in the first 2 or 3.

 

I'll have to send Nick an email and see if he's up for it.

 

Bruce

[ZUCZZ]

Ok, so how far advanced is the book?

 

is there still time to submit more photos?

[Bruce]

Ok, so how far advanced is the book?

 

is there still time to submit more photos?

 

From the rate I seem to be getting photos these days, I'd say within a couple of weeks I'll have to stop taking photos. The quality of the pictures are getting better each week.

 

Thinking out loud for a moment... The current page count is at 80 pages and they(Blurb) sell us the book at $75. If I increase the page count by one page to 81, it goes to the next price increase ($89) for the 81-120 page count. That's an extra 40 pages for only $14, but, I'd like to keep the cost down to a somewhat reasonable price for all of us. I don't now if I have enough good shots to fill another 40 pages, a lot are on the cutting room floor now.

 

The pictures that are being sent are really great as you've seen and I hate to not include each one of them, however, some pictures will just not make the cut and some will need to get smaller so I can include more photos if I stick with the 80 page book. It'll all work out...

 

I did get a response from the Speed Canard folks and will include a couple of shots from them, thanks for the idea Chrissi.

 

Bruce

[Cozy1200]

One of my favorites in-flight cozy pics was published in Kitplanes last year. It was offered as desktop photo on their website.

 

I'm not sure on their policy for re-posting or reuse. So I've created just a thumbnail for reference. That it was offered as a desktop photo certainly decreases the marketability of the photo. You may be able to obtain permission to use it. Great photo.

[Bruce]

First, thanks to everyone who sent in pictures, they're excellent.

 

Here's the short version... the book was finished, however, after 5 books from Blurb they have yet to print a book that does not have any major mistakes. Here's the last email from them.

 

Response - 03/29/2009 06:23 PM

Hi Bruce,

 

I'm sorry to hear this has happened again. I've refunded the cost of your initial order. You should see a credit of $90.00 on your next bank statement.

 

In case you'd like to make any changes to your book, I would like to extend a promotional code to you for $90. It is valid for one use and expires in three months...

 

I believe that the issues that are occurring are within printing, and not a fault of yours. Due to the time that has passed since your first printing, I believed there may be a chance that you may have wanted to make changes within your book, such as moving pictures around, or changing text. Because of this, I thought it best to give you a promotional code so this could be done, rather than to reprint your book.

 

Please check your email for a prepaid UPS return label so you can return the last defective book to us.

 

Please let me know if you have further questions, blah, blah, blah...

 

Each time they printed a new book it had completely different printing problems than the one before it. At $90 a book, I thought at the very least, it should be printed properly. I decided that Blurb wasn't going to be able to produce our book, so I found (after a lot of searching) another company to do the printing. I had to completely rebuild the book in another software program which took a little more time as you can imagine. They will have the files on Monday and we'll start the process with them, hopefully they'll do a better job than Blurb. It'll be about 2 weeks before the book is returned to me and I'll give you an update on their quality.

 

Sorry for the delay, we'll get there.

 

Bruce

[mfryer]

Bruce, thanks for all of your hard work on the book. I look forward to placing an order for one with you.

 

Martin

[Bruce]

You're welcome. I'm going to the Arlington fly-in again this year, I'd like to drop by and take a peak at your handy work. Will you be around?

 

Bruce

[mfryer]

You're welcome. I'm going to the Arlington fly-in again this year, I'd like to drop by and take a peak at your handy work. Will you be around?

 

Bruce

Absolutly. I also plan on visiting Arlington this year. Let me know when you plan to be around the Olympia area and Ill try and set asside some time.

[Bruce]

I can honestly say it's done and the printing company has done a beautiful job, sorry it took so long! Thanks to everybody that submitted a photo or several. I tried to get in as many as I could, sorry if one of yours did not make the book.

 

It did turn into a lot larger project than anticipated, however, I think the end result was worth the effort. Here's the final link to the book, you'll notice the design is different than the other one. Not as much black, I'm sure Terry will be pleased. :-)

 

http://picasaweb.google.com/BookofCanards/

 

Unfortunately, this company does not offer the books through a web site. So, you'll have to order them through me for the time being. I'm working on trying to get me out of that loop. Until then, I'll take care of getting the books to you.

 

These books are print on demand, so I won't place the order until I've received payment for your book, if you would like one. That's also the reason for the higher cost for each book. The book cost $85 (a few dollars cheaper than the other company) and I'll ship them USPS Priority, which will add $13.50 to the cost, total then is $98.50. It'll take them 7-10 days to print the book. My mailing address...

 

Bruce Sturgill Productions

PO Box 652

Troutdale, OR 97060

 

If you have any questions at all, give me a shout. Thanks again for all your donated photos.

 

Best regards,

Bruce

 

503-491-5040