Identities Now Update I’d like to give you an update on where we are with the IDENTITIES NOW book. When we first embarked on this project, I thought it would be a fairly contained book, its parameters defined by the fact that we weren’t taking the measure of everything going on in contemporary photography but rather were limiting ourselves to a particular focus - portrait photography. Initially, I thought that each artist would get a single page, with some basic information in a defined format. But then we got a ton of submissions. Thousands! So many of the photographs were terrific; it became clear it was going to be difficult to determine where to draw the line. Ultimately we decided to go big. Our team of first-rate editors, comprised of Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, David Harris, Laurie Kratochvil, David Schonauer, Sam Shahid, and me, really dove into the project. We ended up selecting 366 photographs by 166 photographers from 30 countries. What started out as a modestly-conceived book has become a much larger project. The scope of the book also seemed to call for something more ambitious in terms of layout and design. I was discussing the project with the other editors when one of them said “This book should be the best photography book it can be,” and it really clicked with me. Abandoning our initial formulaic, catalogue-like approach to the book, we decided to publish something more dynamic. While we’ve got extensive experience designing and publishing catalogues, it was clear that this was an opportunity to bring in some new talent to help take this book to another level. We interviewed a diverse range of designers here in the U.S. and in Europe before choosing Mark Rangel to design the book. Mark is the Design Director for Point C Studios, a boutique branding and advertising agency in New York City. Originally from Singapore, Mark has over 12 years of experience in the publishing industry as the Art Director for many national publications focusing on fashion, entertainment, the arts and business. That experience led to his appointment as Creative Director for a new men’s magazine titled ‘NewMan’ in 2001. He moved to New York City in 2003 and since then has been involved in branding for companies as well as national campaigns for Aerie by American Eagle, Plugg Jeans Co. and more. His strong graphic style has pushed this project to a point that we couldn’t be more excited about. We are also pleased to announce that writer Tim Blanks, Editor at Style.com, will be contributing text for the book. Starting out at Fashion File, a highly syndicated fashion television show, Tim has since written for GQ, Vogue, Interview, Flare, V, The New York Times and The Financial Times and many other international publications. Prolific, canny and always right on the mark, Blanks is one of the top journalists working in fashion today. Tim is also a serious photography collector, with a wide-ranging and well-informed eye. He’s right at the nexus where fashion and fine art photography meet. It is a great honour to have him on board. All of these enhancements to the project have impacted our timetable for publishing the book. We have finished the sequencing of the photographs, and will soon be completing the design phase. We’re now in discussions with printers in the U.S., Canada, United Kingdom, Italy, India, and China. The book will be self-marketed and distributed at independent bookstores and museum shops in the US, Canada and Europe as well as on Amazon and Barnes and Noble’s websites. We are currently working on getting distribution in Japan. In the meantime, if you have any suggestions for independent bookstores in your area that would be ideal for this book, please get in touch with their information. Driven by the quality of the photography, this book is going to be bigger, bolder, and more dynamic. With an eye towards now being available in Autumn 2012, we are hoping to launch the release with an event in New York City. Pre-publication discounts will be available to every artist included in the book. We will keep you up to date with all of the developments along the way. This has become our most ambitious publishing project ever, and I’m very excited with the way everything has come together. I can’t wait to show you all the book! Peter Hay Halpert Peter Hay Halpert Fine Art LLC Image: Thomas Bugarin View high resolution

Identities Now Update

I’d like to give you an update on where we are with the IDENTITIES NOW book. When we first embarked on this project, I thought it would be a fairly contained book, its parameters defined by the fact that we weren’t taking the measure of everything going on in contemporary photography but rather were limiting ourselves to a particular focus - portrait photography. Initially, I thought that each artist would get a single page, with some basic information in a defined format.

But then we got a ton of submissions. Thousands! So many of the photographs were terrific; it became clear it was going to be difficult to determine where to draw the line. Ultimately we decided to go big. Our team of first-rate editors, comprised of Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, David Harris, Laurie Kratochvil, David Schonauer, Sam Shahid, and me, really dove into the project. We ended up selecting 366 photographs by 166 photographers from 30 countries. What started out as a modestly-conceived book has become a much larger project.

The scope of the book also seemed to call for something more ambitious in terms of layout and design. I was discussing the project with the other editors when one of them said “This book should be the best photography book it can be,” and it really clicked with me. Abandoning our initial formulaic, catalogue-like approach to the book, we decided to publish something more dynamic. While we’ve got extensive experience designing and publishing catalogues, it was clear that this was an opportunity to bring in some new talent to help take this book to another level.

We interviewed a diverse range of designers here in the U.S. and in Europe before choosing Mark Rangel to design the book. Mark is the Design Director for Point C Studios, a boutique branding and advertising agency in New York City. Originally from Singapore, Mark has over 12 years of experience in the publishing industry as the Art Director for many national publications focusing on fashion, entertainment, the arts and business. That experience led to his appointment as Creative Director for a new men’s magazine titled ‘NewMan’ in 2001. He moved to New York City in 2003 and since then has been involved in branding for companies as well as national campaigns for Aerie by American Eagle, Plugg Jeans Co. and more. His strong graphic style has pushed this project to a point that we couldn’t be more excited about.

We are also pleased to announce that writer Tim Blanks, Editor at Style.com, will be contributing text for the book. Starting out at Fashion File, a highly syndicated fashion television show, Tim has since written for GQ, Vogue, Interview, Flare, V, The New York Times and The Financial Times and many other international publications. Prolific, canny and always right on the mark, Blanks is one of the top journalists working in fashion today. Tim is also a serious photography collector, with a wide-ranging and well-informed eye. He’s right at the nexus where fashion and fine art photography meet. It is a great honour to have him on board.

All of these enhancements to the project have impacted our timetable for publishing the book. We have finished the sequencing of the photographs, and will soon be completing the design phase. We’re now in discussions with printers in the U.S., Canada, United Kingdom, Italy, India, and China. The book will be self-marketed and distributed at independent bookstores and museum shops in the US, Canada and Europe as well as on Amazon and Barnes and Noble’s websites. We are currently working on getting distribution in Japan. In the meantime, if you have any suggestions for independent bookstores in your area that would be ideal for this book, please get in touch with their information.

Driven by the quality of the photography, this book is going to be bigger, bolder, and more dynamic. With an eye towards now being available in Autumn 2012, we are hoping to launch the release with an event in New York City. Pre-publication discounts will be available to every artist included in the book. We will keep you up to date with all of the developments along the way. This has become our most ambitious publishing project ever, and I’m very excited with the way everything has come together. I can’t wait to show you all the book!

Peter Hay Halpert

Peter Hay Halpert Fine Art LLC

Image: Thomas Bugarin

Notes

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